Wet blasting questions people actually ask.
Cost, the water, the silica rules, and the flash-rust step. If yours is not here, call (318) 666-4671 and ask the operator directly.
What does wet sandblasting cost around Bossier City?
The rates are published: $200 to $300 per hour with a two-hour minimum, day rates of $1,800 to $2,600, attachments $250 to $600, trailers $800 to $2,000, machines $900 to $2,500, pump jacks $700 to $1,800, structural steel $3.50 to $8.00 per square foot, and fab-shop lots from $400. The cost page carries the whole sheet and the invoice matches the quote.
Is wet sandblasting as effective as regular dry blasting?
On the steel, identical: the abrasive does the cutting either way and both reach the same SSPC prep standards, which we verify with a profile gauge. The difference is the air. Dry throws a dust cloud; wet captures dust at the nozzle, which is why jobs next to live equipment, open businesses, and running yards get done wet or not at all.
What is the deal with silica and sandblasting?
The federal respirable crystalline silica rule tightly limits blast-dust exposure, which killed casual dry blasting with actual sand. We run silica-free garnet and crushed glass media inside a water stream, dust suppressed at the source and media choice safe on top of it. The people most protected are the operator and whoever works in that yard tomorrow.
Does the water rust the steel?
Left alone, damp bare steel flash-rusts in hours, which is why no strip of ours ends bare: a rust-inhibitor rinse finishes every job, holding the surface clean for days, or primer goes on the same visit when the coating plan allows. Managed properly, wet-blasted steel coats exactly as well as dry-blasted steel.
Can you blast next to things that cannot get dusty?
That is the specialty: producing well pads, working truck yards, storefronts with the sidewalk open, mills where dust is a fire word. Containment catches what falls and the wet stream keeps the air clear, so the neighbors mostly notice the pressure-washer sound and nothing else.
What happens if the old paint has lead in it?
Suspect coatings, mostly pre-1980 paint on old steel, get tested before blasting: the test is $75 and takes days. Positives change method to full containment with documented disposal at the published adder, never a shortcut, because blasting lead paint into a neighborhood is illegal in every method.
Do you work for other shops, or only end customers?
Both, at the same published rates: fabricators and coating shops buy batch prep on standing schedules, with profiles gauge-verified per lot because their warranties cite the numbers. The fab-shops page covers the arrangement; nothing we do competes with the shops we prep for.
How fast can the rig get to a job?
Metro calls usually schedule inside the week, and most quotes go out the same day from photos. Batched parish-edge runs, Springhill, Vivian, book a few days further out so the trip carries more than one job. A coating crew standing by moves any job to the front.
What is the fastest way to get a real number?
Photos and a sentence: the steel, the worst rust, and where it sits, texted to (318) 666-4671. That is enough to quote most work off the published sheet the same day, and anything a site look would change gets said at the site, never on the invoice.
The numbers behind every answer live on the rate sheet. The method is explained on the wet vs dry page, equipment work on the equipment page, and everything starts at the homepage.