Dust Wipes

By Kreeson Naidu, Mr

A practical floor note on dust wipes before coating work, so prep starts on a clean surface.

Dust left after grinding or sweeping can spoil an otherwise sound floor coating application. Dust Wipes is our note on final surface cleaning before primers, screeds or topcoats go down on South African plant floors.

Dust Wipes deals with the last loose residue before primers, screeds or topcoats are mixed. On sites in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, that usually means fine concrete dust after grinding, plus settled dirt from traffic and open doors. If this note matches your area, send the path name through the contact form with a short description of the surface condition.

Residue checks before coating prep

• Grinding dust still visible at edges
• One clear photo of joints, corners or machine bases
• Primer, screed or topcoat stage noted correctly
• Contact name written as used on site paperwork

Use Dust Wipes alongside the relevant system note and application instructions. This page focuses on final cleaning before coating work starts, not on product selection. That split helps teams check whether adhesion trouble came from residue on the slab or from the coating build itself.

How Dust Wipes sit inside a floor-notes week

Dust Wipes covers the simple wipe-downs that help floor prep start on a clean surface. It is aimed at plant areas where settled dust can sit on concrete before coating work begins. The note helps teams see what should be cleaned before they start reading the floor.

Start with the concrete condition, the work window and how much dust can settle before coating begins. Highveld air movement, coastal humidity, shutdown timing and forklift traffic all change how quickly a cleaned area picks up residue again. We write for plant spaces in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and smaller industrial sites where prep conditions are rarely ideal.

Take the first photo after grinding and before the final wipe. Keep a simple record of the cloth type, cleaning method and the sections completed. That note is useful when the next shift arrives and the surface looks clean but still carries fine powder along the edges.

Site conditions that affect wipe-downs

We account for open factory doors, loading activity, older concrete and areas that cannot be isolated for long. Dust near dispatch lanes, plant rooms and workshop thresholds tends to return quickly after sweeping. If the plant is live, note what equipment stays running and which sections can be cleaned without fresh contamination.

Coastal moisture can leave a slightly tacky film that catches fine particles after cleaning. Inland sites often deal with dry airborne dust that resettles soon after grinding stops. Load-shedding also changes timing, especially where extraction, lighting or vacuums are part of the prep sequence.

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