Mastering Floor Preparation with REFINA’s Surface Grinding and Sanding Equipment
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Every great flooring or tiling finish starts with solid groundwork, literally. Surface preparation is the foundation of quality workmanship. Without it, even the best finishes are doomed to fail. That’s why professional tradespeople across the UK trust REFINA’s surface preparation range to prepare floors with precision, efficiency, and consistency.
This practical guide explores:
- Why surface preparation is so essential
- Step-by-step methods for flawless results
- The best REFINA tools for each task and surface
- Expert tips for using grinders, sanders, and accessories
Let’s break down the tools, techniques, and insider know-how that lead to outstanding surface preparation every time.
Why Surface Preparation Matters
Poorly prepared surfaces are one of the main causes of adhesion failure in coatings, delamination in floor coverings, and cracking in screeds. Surface preparation ensures the substrate is clean, level, and adequately textured to accept the next layer, whether that’s a skim coat, tile adhesive, screed, or resin.
REFINA’s tools are developed specifically for:
- Grinding down uneven areas
- Smoothing plaster or screed
- Stripping adhesives or floor paint
- Aiding moisture dispersion and bonding
What Are the Steps of Surface Preparation?
While each substrate has different needs, the preparation process generally follows five essential stages:
- Assessment – Identify uneven areas, laitance, cracks, or contaminants.
- Initial Clean – Remove dust, dirt, oil, or coatings.
- Mechanical Prep – Grind, sand, or abrade the surface for profile and level.
- Repair & Patch – Fill cracks or hollows as needed.
- Final Vacuum – Clear all residues to ensure bond integrity.
Choose the Right REFINA Tool for the Job
With an expansive range of sanding and grinding tools, REFINA makes it easy to match your machine to the material you’re working with, whether that’s concrete, screed, or wooden floors.
Below are the best tools for each task.
1. Grinding Floors
The PD 23 is a compact yet powerful diamond grinder built for professional surface preparation. With a 230mm working width and adjustable guard, it’s perfect for tackling high spots, removing surface coatings, and levelling concrete floors. Its integrated dust skirt helps minimise airborne particles when used with REFINA’s M-Class dust extractors.
Perfect For:
- Floor preparation prior to coatings or screeds
- Stripping paint, epoxy, or adhesive residues
- Grinding high points and laitance on concrete substrates
Pro Tip: Pair the PD 23 with the XD20-2 Dustex Vac for an efficient dust extraction system that ensures a cleaner working environment and compliance with on-site safety regulations.
A versatile heavy-duty floor grinder with 230mm diamond plates. Ideal for levelling & prepping floor surfaces, coatings, grinding and polishing.
The XD20/2 is a twin motor dustex vac to control dust at source, to give a cleaner working environment. Use with a dedicated cyclone pre-separator.
2. Sanding Floors
PGR 43 Rotary Floor Multi-Surfacer
The REFINA PGR 43 is a robust, heavy-duty rotary multi-finisher powered by a 1100w motor. It comes with a rubber drive plate for use with double-sided abrasive discs, making it an excellent choice for rubbing down floor coatings, liquid screeds, and latex toppings.
Designed for factory maintenance teams and flooring contractors, this machine delivers reliable performance across a wide range of demanding tasks.
Typical Applications:
- Surface preparation and renovation
- Buffing and cleaning shop floors
- Removing paints, coatings, and adhesives
- Routine factory floor maintenance
- Rubbing down latex and floor toppings
- Cleaning vinyl and lino flooring
PGO 43 Orbital Floor Multi-Surfacer
The REFINA PGO 43 orbital multi-finisher is equipped with a direct-drive 1100w motor and gearbox. Unlike rotary models, it operates in a straight-line motion, providing smooth and consistent results. A safety start switch, tilting handle, and durable metal housing enhance usability and safety, making it ideal for a broad range of finishing and maintenance tasks.
Typical Applications:
- Finishing and polishing concrete surfaces
- Sanding parquet and timber floors
- Factory floor maintenance
- Removing paints and surface coatings
- Preparing latex and micro cement toppings
- Polishing and refurbishing terrazzo
- Cleaning vinyl and lino flooring
Pro Tip: Use the PGR43/40 when you need deeper material removal, and switch to the PGO43/50 for finishing passes.
Heavy duty single disc rotary machine with direct drive 1100w motor. Ideal for finishing wooden floors, polishing concrete and micro cement toppings, & renovating terrazzo & tile surfaces.
The PGO 43 is a walk-behind machine suitable for finishing wooden floors, polishing concrete & micro cement toppings, renovating terrazzo, removing laitance & tile surfaces.
3. Stripping Floors Before Preparation
When tackling old floor coverings such as vinyl, linoleum, carpet tiles, or adhesive layers, mechanical floor stripping is essential to ensure clean, level surfaces for further preparation. The RFX210 8″ Floor Stripper is a compact yet high-torque machine, purpose-built for fast, controlled stripping of bonded flooring materials.
With its ergonomic design and robust motor, the RFX210 enables operators to remove coverings without damaging the substrate beneath, saving time and minimising follow-up grinding.
Perfect For:
- Stripping vinyl or lino tiles from concrete floors
- Removing carpet tiles and stuck-down foam underlay
- Lifting old adhesive layers or rubber floor sheeting
- Preparing commercial floors for grinding or sanding
Pro Tip: Start from the edges and work toward the centre using a methodical path. For tougher adhesives, allow the blade to warm slightly with friction before advancing – this helps reduce tearing and improves lift quality.
A powerful stripper used for lifting floor coverings, carpet tiles, foam-backed carpet, lino, vinyl and LVT floor coverings.
What Is the Most Useful Power Tool for Surface Preparation?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to choosing the most useful tool for surface preparation. The best machine depends entirely on the surface material, the job requirements, and the level of finish needed. That’s why REFINA offers a versatile and specialised range of machines designed to handle everything from heavy-duty floor grinding to fine surface sanding and texture removal.
Here’s how to choose based on project needs:
Diamond Grinders & Polishers
Ideal for hard surfaces like concrete, terrazzo, or epoxy-coated floors. Diamond grinders and polishers are built for aggressive material removal, levelling, and polishing.
Best For:
- Grinding high spots on concrete
- Removing thick coatings, adhesives, and sealants
- Preparing floors for screeds or resin systems
Sanders
Sanders are versatile machines designed to smooth, prepare, and finish a wide variety of surfaces. In flooring and surface preparation, they are commonly used for removing coatings, paints, and adhesives, as well as for buffing, polishing, and cleaning different floor types. Equipped with powerful motors and adaptable drive plates, sanders are effective on materials such as concrete, wood, latex, vinyl, lino, and terrazzo.
Rotary sanders, like the PGR 43, are best suited to heavy-duty preparation work, including rubbing down screeds and latex toppings, while orbital sanders, such as the PGO 43, excel at producing smooth, even finishes on surfaces like parquet, micro cement, and concrete. This makes them invaluable for flooring contractors, factory maintenance teams, and refurbishment projects, where efficiency and a high-quality finish are essential.
Scabblers
Scabblers are ideal tools for efficiently resurfacing concrete, adding texture, and removing surface imperfections to prepare it for overlays without damaging the substrate.
Best For:
- Removing laitance (the weak top layer of concrete)
- Texturing smooth concrete to improve slip resistance
- Preparing concrete surfaces before applying coatings, screeds, or overlays
- Stripping adhesives, paints, and surface contaminants
- Removing old coatings, such as external render materials, to prepare for new coatings
- Creating a mechanical key for epoxy, waterproofing, or repair materials
- Heavy-duty surface removal where grinders or sanders aren’t aggressive enough
REFINA Delivers Performance-Ready Surfaces
Surface preparation is a non-negotiable part of achieving long-lasting, high-quality finishes. No matter the size of your project, REFINA has the right tools and equipment for your trade.
With a comprehensive range, from diamond grinders to sanders and dust-extraction vacuums, REFINA equips you to work smarter, faster, and cleaner.
Explore the full range or contact our technical team for further recommendations and assistance.
