Is the Renofix RG 130 the right tool for waterproofer on concrete block?

[LLesniak]

My son recently purchased an older house (1935) with a concrete block foundation that has some sort of material up to about 1/8" thick applied to the walls that is now falling off in places but adhered in others.  We'd like to strip the block completely then apply a modern waterproofing coating and I'm wondering if the new Renofix would be the right tool, with the appropriate disk, to do this job.  I searched the forum and found very little on the Renofix and a few posts about using the discontinued RAS 115 for this type of job.  While I have quite a collection of Festool I don't have the RAS or anything else that would fit this task and we really don't want to scrape the entire basement by hand.  I know that the Renofix is new to the U.S. but has been available in one form or another in other parts of the world and I'd appreciate any input you can provide regarding the tool and the right disk to remove the coating without grinding away the block.  Also, if the Renofix isn't the right tool I'd appreciate any recommendation you can give for an alternative.  Thanks in advance for your help with my question.  Larry

 

[Cheese]

Larry if this was my problem, my first choice would be to look at the Renofix. It's been used for years in Europe for exactly this function. Festool also offers a disc for removing thermoelastic coatings and another disc for removing paints so that would seem to cover most of your bases.

Festool Live recently reviewed (within the last month) the new USA Renofix although Sedge didn't do a great job on the coating removal process.  [sad]

I've used an RAS 115 for removing multiple layers of paint on wood and that went well except the discs do load up easily, the diamond discs on the Renofix should help reduce that issue in this case. The larger diameter on the Renofix may also prove to be a large improvement.

Here's Festool Live Episode 135
=4

I'll also add that I've removed bathroom tile mastic from plaster walls using a LS 130 with the scraper blade. It's not a 100% solution...it maybe comes in at the 50-60% rate but it does work if the coating isn't too stubborn.

 

[woodwise]

I bought the RG130 off of recon a few months back for a similar project. Wish I had known that the new model was coming to the states... I think it would work well for your intended application. It is a powerful machine but I bet the new model works better at lower speeds. I preferred the surface finish I could achieve with lower speeds, but I was learning to use the tool and it requires a bit of finess. Paired with a CT26 it will trip a 15A breaker easily if you push it too hard at lower speeds. Completed the rest of the project by increasing the speed and being more diligent to let the tool do the work.
It also does a good job of removing paint with the diamond paint disk but the surface finish is a bit course (as you would probably expect).

 

[nvalinski]

No experience with the Renofix, looks like a good tool to strip what you describe. However, are you describing a coating on the interior or exterior? If you are interior, I'd note that any sort of waterproofing will likely fail. This is usually from water pressure on the outside making it's way through the foundation walls and pushing on that last interior layer which no longer has support. Waterproofing layers applied on the exterior will have the wall supporting it, but this is difficult to apply once the foundation is backfilled. I'd suggest that if you want to clean up the wall for aesthetic reasons that you use just a mortar skim coat that can let moisture out so that it doesn't fail over time and try tackling any actual moisture issues with perimeter drains/sump pumps/exterior improvements/etc. I may be assuming too much with this response.

 

[LLesniak]

Many thanks for the responses!  As luck would have it, Festool Recon has been running the original Renofix with the paint removal disc so I bought one then added a standard diamond disc and the thermoplastic removal disc.  I know the new version will be available soon but I decided the previous version would work for me.  I'll give the tool and discs a try and will post a follow-up with the results.  Thanks again for your input.