Why soda?

Sodium bicarbonate is softer than steel, aluminium, glass, fibreglass, brick and most timbers. It shatters on impact and lifts the coating off instead of cutting into what is underneath, so the original surface keeps its shape, edges and finish.

That matters most on things that cannot be replaced: original car panels, carved sandstone, Federation brick, antique furniture and boat gel coat. There is no heat build-up to warp thin metal, and glass, chrome and rubber can often stay in place with masking.

Soda strips and degreases in the same pass, so engine bays, kitchen equipment and machinery come out clean as well as bare. Jobs that would take days of sanding, scraping or chemical stripping are usually done in hours.

Because Soda Tec is mobile, there is no transport, no crane or float hire and no yard fees. Equipment stays where it works, which cuts downtime for businesses.

The media is food-grade, water soluble and contains no crystalline silica. No caustic strippers or solvents are used, so there are no chemical fumes and no chemical residue to neutralise before painting.

The coating that comes off still has to be handled properly. Run-off is contained and kept out of stormwater, and old paint that may contain lead is tested and managed before work starts.

Soda is slow on thick rust, mill scale and heavy industrial coatings on structural steel. For those jobs, dustless blasting or sandblasting reaches bare metal faster and costs less.

Soda also leaves no surface profile, so some paint systems need a suitable primer. Craig will tell you which method suits your job, even when the answer is not soda. Read the full comparison with traditional blasting.