Frequently Asked Questions About Industrial Cleaning and Disaster Restoration

Wickens operates a fully mobile fleet of self-contained industrial cleaning units available across Ontario, allowing us to deploy directly to your facility in Toronto, the GTA, Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Barrie, and Northern Ontario.

While our core hubs are in Ontario, we routinely mobilize for high-stakes, specialized industrial projects across all Canadian provinces and territories. We have a proven track record of handling complex logistics in remote environments, including projects in the Northern Territories. If you have a project in a remote region, contact us with a request and our team will build a custom mobilization and transport plan to get our specialized crews on-site.

“Jet cleaning” and “CO₂ blasting” are alternative terms for dry ice blasting. This process uses kinetic energy and micro-thermal shock to fracture and lift surface contaminants rather than relying on the high-pressure flooding or harsh grit abrasion common in traditional power washing.

• Zero Waste: Traditional cleaning methods force you to dam, collect, test, and filter thousands of litres of contaminated runoff. Because CO₂ pellets sublimate instantly into gas on impact, there is no secondary waste to manage.
• Substrate Preservation: Grit blasting and wire brushing can alter critical machining profiles or erode base metals over time. Dry ice is a soft, non-abrasive medium that clears the grime without scratching or profiling the underlying asset.
• Chemical-Free Process: This is a mechanical cleaning method that doesn’t rely on toxic liquid solvents or acid washes, eliminating chemical exposure risks for your personnel.

Learn more about dry ice blasting here.

Manufacturing facilities can safely eliminate heavy oils, grease, and sludge using dry ice blasting. Because carbon dioxide is completely non-conductive and moisture-free, it allows our crews to safely clean complex equipment groups where water washdowns would be catastrophic.

• Safe for Complex Electronics: Our technicians directly clean intricate electrical components – including wiring harnesses, electric motors, proximity sensors, and PLC control panels – without moisture intrusion or short circuits.
• No Trapped Residue: Liquid chemical degreasers can pool in hard-to-reach mechanical recesses, creating a sticky film that quickly traps ambient facility dust. CO₂ blasting leaves the metal completely bare, dry, and clean.
• Corrosion Prevention: Eliminating water from the maintenance cycle means there is zero risk of flash rusting or deep-seated moisture getting trapped in internal housings.
• Debris Blown Free: The high-velocity air stream mechanics strip viscous sludge out of tight tracks and blow it into designated containment zones for quick vacuuming or squeegee disposal.

Yes. Because dry ice turns into an inert gas upon impact, automated production machinery can often be cleaned “online” while hot and fully operational. This completely bypasses the traditional cool-down, tear-down, wash, and reassembly cycle that normally kills plant productivity.

Cleaning tooling while it is at operating temperature can actually speed up our process. The extreme temperature variance between dry ice (-78.5°C) and the hot machinery causes stubborn resins, adhesives, or rubber deposits to instantly shrink, crack, and release from metal.

Food-grade CO₂ blasting is the gold standard for commercial baking operations. It relies on localized micro-thermal shock to fracture the bond of stubborn, baked-on carbon residue from oven surfaces without damaging underlying metals or introducing liquid chemicals.

• Total Regulatory Compliance: Wickens can utilize pure, food-grade carbon dioxide that leaves zero chemical residues, taints, or odours behind, fully satisfying stringent health and safety audits.
• Bypassing the “Bake-Out” Cycle: Because the process is entirely dry, ovens don’t require long post-clean drying windows or structural bake-outs to evaporate trapped moisture. Your lines can return to active production after our crews pack up.
• Chain and Conveyor Precision: Dry ice blasting cleans deeply into complex conveyor links, modular belts, and drive sprockets, removing packed carbon that causes mechanical binding.

Because dry ice pellets sublimate upon impact, they lift surface contaminants without causing any mechanical wear to the substrate. This completely protects the critical micro-tolerances of expensive foundry core boxes, permanent moulds, and precision injection tooling.

• Extended Tooling Lifespan: Traditional manual scraping or grit blasting slowly rounds off sharp edges and degrades tool profiles over time. Non-abrasive cleaning preserves original machine specifications perfectly.
• Reduced Handling Damage: Moulds can be cleaned while still mounted in the press, minimizing the risk of core damage or alignment shifts that frequently occur during heavy mechanical teardowns.
• Vent Cleanout Accuracy: Dry ice blasting clears out microscopic gas vents in the tooling that manual methods miss, reducing part defects and flash lines in your final product.

Remediating combustible dust requires a strict combination of localized containment, spark-free tools, and specialized extraction systems. Under Ontario Regulation 851, industrial facilities must systematically eliminate explosive dust layers (such as sugar, flour, wood, or fine chemicals) from overhead structures without allowing the particles to suspend in the air.

• Prohibition of Standard Methods: Using standard broom sweeping or open compressed air lines is dangerous and illegal in these settings. Redirection of air kicks the dust into a suspended cloud, creating the exact conditions required for a catastrophic secondary dust explosion.
• Class II, Division 1 Engineering Controls: We deploy specialized, fully grounded explosion-proof vacuum systems designed to eliminate static discharge or electrical ignition risks during collection.
• Overhead Structural Specialist: Our crews work systematically along rafters, crane rails, electronics, and cable trays, utilizing containment curtains to isolate the work zone from any active heat or ignition sources in the plant.
• Spark-Free Manual Detailing: Where manual scraping is required to dislodge dust, our technicians use strictly non-ferrous, non-sparking brass or plastic tooling.
• Pre-Start Review Documentation: Our cleaning protocols provide the verifiable, documented baseline cleaning required to satisfy Ministry of Labour safety inspectors and NFPA safety standards.

Printing operations can eliminate the bottleneck of slow manual scraping and hazardous solvents by switching to high-velocity dry ice blasting. This process safely shears dried ink, grease, and heavy varnishes off delicate press mechanisms.

• Solvent-Free Cleaning: Transitioning to a media-less mechanical clean significantly lowers your facility’s VOC footprint and eliminates the paperwork and costs associated with hazardous solvent disposal.
• Intricate Detailing: Dry ice blasting reaches directly into tight gear teeth, side frames, and fountain rollers without causing the surface scratches or gouges associated with metal scrapers.
• Minimized Damage: Soft dry ice allows us to clean directly around sensitive ink keys and fountain blades without throwing the press out of calibration.

Yes. Dry ice is fundamentally non-conductive, allowing specialized crews to clean high-voltage electrical equipment, sub-stations, and transformers safely while minimizing or entirely preventing power disruptions.

• Carbon Tracking Removal: Dry ice blasting sweeps away airborne contaminants, grease, and carbon tracking tracks that cause catastrophic electrical arc flashes.
• No Shutdown Required: In many commercial settings, critical infrastructure can remain live, protecting facility uptime during preventative maintenance cycles.
• Preserving Insulation Wraps: The non-abrasive nature of the dry ice blasting process ensures that sensitive paper-insulated wiring and protective varnish coatings on transformer coils are never degraded.
• Busbar & Switch Cleanliness: Dry ice clears out oxidation film and atmospheric grime from busbars, insulators, and disconnect switches to maintain optimal electrical conductivity.

Robotic welding cells can be restored efficiently using targeted dry ice blasting. The process quickly strips built-up weld slag, toxic smoke films, and spatter from robot arms, sensors, and protective guarding.

• Sensor Protection: Automated lines rely heavily on precise optical sensors and proximity switches. Non-abrasive cleaning restores clarity to sensor faces without scratching delicate lenses.
• Uninterrupted Automation: Keeping fixtures free of slag ensures consistent part nesting and maintains the mechanical accuracy of the robotic tracking system.
• Cabling Longevity: Removing abrasive spatter from flexible cable tracks and pneumatic lines prevents premature line punctures and internal wire breaks.

Decontaminating industrial process vessels requires a combination of strict confined-space entry compliance and dust-free containment cleaning. Wickens utilizes specialized source-capture media blasting and high-efficiency vacuum systems to strip out chemical linings, residues, and scaling safely.

• Source-Capture Engineering: Our blasting nozzles are paired with industrial containment to remove chemical residues safely, ensuring no hazardous dust plumes escape into the surrounding facility.
• Confined Space Competency: Every technician deployed for vessel cleaning is fully trained and certified in confined-space entry, supplied-air respirators, lockout/tagout (LOTO) protocols, and emergency extraction procedures.

When you clean an industrial facility with traditional sand, grit, glass bead, or slag blasting, the media doesn’t just disappear. If you shoot 5 tons of sand at a wall, you are legally responsible for disposing of 5 tons of sand plus the weight of the contaminant you stripped off. If that grime contains heavy oils or lead, your entire waste pile is classified as hazardous, leading to staggering environmental tipping fees at Ontario waste management sites.

Switching to dry ice blasting eliminates this logistical nightmare. Because the solid CO₂ pellets sublimate into an inert gas on impact, the blasting media vanishes back into the atmosphere. Your only clean-up and disposal requirement is the literal weight of the contaminant itself, slashing your disposal volume, tracking documentation, and landfill costs to an absolute minimum.

Yes. By precisely calibrating our blasting pressures, feed rates, and pellet sizes, we can carefully detail highly sensitive industrial electronics without causing mechanical fractures or moisture damage.

• Micro-Particle Calibration: We lower blast pressures to a gentle stream and utilize micro-shaved ice particles, allowing us to sweep away fine carbon dust, oil mist, or ambient soot from intricate circuit boards and logic controllers.
• Signal Reliability: Removing the insulating layer of grime from electrical components prevents overheating and erratic signal interference, restoring production tracking accuracy without the risk of solvent erosion on plastic housings.

Because high-velocity compressed air inherently creates elevated decibel levels, safety directors require strict operational parameters. Wickens handles these challenges transparently:

• Acoustic Management: We erect localized, heavy-duty acoustic containment curtains around the work zone to isolate sound travel and protect your surrounding facility staff.
• PPE Perimeters: We establish strict safety exclusion zones, requiring any personnel within the boundary to wear double hearing protection, impact-resistant eye shields, and appropriate respiratory gear for the specific contaminant being removed.
• Continuous Gas Monitoring: When blasting in enclosed areas or deep basements, our safety officers deploy continuous ambient CO₂ gas monitors and set up dedicated low-level exhaust ventilation lines to ensure a continuous, safe supply of oxygen for the work crew.

Routine contract cleaning acts as a critical reliability strategy rather than an afterthought. Removing caked grime, grease, and abrasive dust before they migrate into moving parts delivers massive structural benefits to your production lines:

Thick accumulations of manufacturing residue, grease, oil, and grime can hinder mechanical performance if left unaddressed. Professional maintenance keeps production infrastructure in optimal running condition, which extends the operating lifespan of heavy plant equipment and safeguards the facility budget.

The safest and most reliable method for commercial and residential attic mould remediation is targeted dry ice blasting. Traditional manual sanding or wire brushing takes days, creates massive amounts of airborne dust, and physically thins the wood framing.

• Deep Spore Extraction: The pressurized stream of dry ice particles penetrates deep into the microscopic pores of structural wood, lifting the hyphae (mould roots) out of the timber with minimal wood erosion.
• Zero Moisture Left Behind: Traditional liquid chemical antimicrobials can saturate old wood decks, trapped inside tight insulation channels and creating moisture pockets that foster future rot. Because dry ice is entirely moisture-free, it treats the wood safely.
• Navigating Intricate Rafters: Dry ice blasting easily reaches tight roof pitches, joist pockets, and cross-bracing angles that manual tools simply cannot touch, delivering a complete, verifiable clean.

Completely removing fire damage from porous masonry requires stripping away the charred carbon layer. This process extracts the embedded soot and removes toxic smoke odours directly at the substrate level.

• True Odour Eradication: Scent particles embed deeply into concrete and brick pores. Instead of simply masking the odour with cosmetic sealants or temporary deodorizers, we remove the carbon layer responsible for it.
• Optimal Surface Preparation: Stripping away soot down to the clean structural base ensures that any post-restoration primers or structural coatings adhere properly.

In Ontario, all asbestos abatement projects are strictly governed by Ontario Regulation 278/05 under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Before any renovation, demolition, or structural repair begins on a property built before 1990, the building owner has a strict statutory duty to complete a Designated Substances Survey (DSS). This comprehensive report identifies the exact location, condition, and concentration of any Asbestos-Containing Materials (ACMs).

O. Reg. 278/05 classifies asbestos operations into three distinct tiers, enforcing exact containment, safety, and operational rules for each:

Failing to provide a DSS report or misclassifying an abatement project exposes building owners, property managers, and constructors to immediate stop-work orders, severe Ministry enforcement fines, and massive long-term liability risks.

Commercial property managers must look beyond basic pricing when hiring an environmental contractor. Because hazardous materials carry strict legal liabilities, your chosen contractor must prove they have the engineering controls and legal coverage to isolate the threat safely:

• MOL Certified Supervisors: Verify that the crew and the on-site supervisor hold formal Type 3 Asbestos Abatement Certification (Conestoga/IHSA equivalent) as required by Ontario law.
• Dedicated Pollution Liability: Standard commercial general liability insurance completely excludes claims related to hazardous materials. Your contractor must carry specialized Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) or Pollution Liability Insurance to shield your corporation from cross-contamination claims.
• Chain of Custody Tracking: Ensure the contractor provides certified, documented waste manifest receipts proving the hazardous material was legally transported and disposed of at an Ontario Ministry of the Environment-approved landfill site.

Wickens utilizes non-destructive media blasting to gently strip charred wood layers down to the sound, undamaged timber underneath. This process often saves building owners from costly structural teardowns.

• Preserving Load Capacity: Adjusting our blasting pressures allows us to lift the black char layer while leaving the structural integrity of the heavy wood framing completely intact.
• Speed and Cost Reduction: Saving the existing framing bypasses the long engineering reviews, shoring steps, and material lead times required for structural replacement.

Hazardous abatement protects indoor air quality by building airtight, negative-pressure containment enclosures that stop toxic asbestos fibres, lead dust, or mould spores from migrating through the building’s HVAC system.

• True Isolation: We isolate the active work zone from the rest of the facility, allowing business operations to continue safely in adjacent offices or public areas.
• Advanced HEPA Filtration: Industrial negative-air machines pull airborne particles through certified HEPA filtration systems, continuously exhausting clean, filtered air out of the building.

Wickens maintains a 24/7 disaster mobilization fleet to stabilize properties immediately after a fire, flood, or structural failure, helping businesses secure their assets and limit operational downtime.

Our initial steps focus on structural stabilization, setting up containment fields, managing hazardous debris, and deploying moisture controls to halt secondary property degradation. We collaborate directly with your facility managers, structural engineers, and insurance adjusters to clear out hazards quickly and establish a safe environment for reconstruction crews.

Remediating mould in an active commercial office building focuses heavily on localized containment and preventing workplace disruptions. However, when executing a project in an institutional setting such as a healthcare facility, hospital, or school, safety protocols are elevated to a strict zero-tolerance threshold due to the presence of immunocompromised individuals or children.

• Multi-Stage Decontamination Locks: Institutional projects utilize rigid, hard-walled containment zones equipped with three-stage airlocks, protective clothing discard rooms, and absolute pressure monitoring.
• Continuous Particle Counting: We run real-time laser particle counters outside the containment barriers to instantly alert supervisors if any microscopic dust or fungal spores breach the boundary.
• Off-Hours Execution: We structure our project timelines around school holidays, shutdowns, or low-occupancy hospital shifts as needed to minimize institutional disruption.

Lead abatement in public spaces demands total environmental containment, wet-scraping or vacuum-shrouded blasting methods, and meticulous HEPA-vacuum cleaning to keep lead dust levels at zero.

• Lead Dust Management: We avoid dry sandblasting or open sanding, which generate dangerous airborne lead dust. Instead, we use source-capture techniques that vacuum up debris instantly.
• Environmental Disposal: All collected lead waste is handled, labelled, and hauled away in strict compliance with Ontario Ministry of the Environment hazardous waste transport regulations.

Yes. Wickens utilizes specialized low-pressure wet and dry thermal techniques – specifically DOFF and JOS/TORC cleaning systems – to safely rinse away decades of soot, heavy carbon crusting, and graffiti without damaging historic building faces.

• DOFF Steam Cleaning: This system uses superheated water (up to 150°C) delivered at ultra-low pressure. The heat does the work, melting away heavy carbon crusts, biological growth, and paint layers without needing harsh abrasives or chemical stripping agents.
• JOS/TORC Low-Pressure Swirl: For fragile sandstone or delicate historic carvings, the JOS/TORC system creates a gentle, swirling vortex of air, water, and an inert fine powder. It literally “erases” dirt from the surface without eroding the underlying stone or rounding off historic architectural details.
• Mortar Joint Integrity: Because these systems rely on specialized thermodynamic engineering rather than raw impact pressure, they lift surface stains cleanly without washing out old, fragile lime mortar joints.

Remediating mechanical air loops requires isolating the system completely to ensure fungal spores do not contaminate occupied spaces.

• Negative System Air Pressure: We hook up powerful, truck-mounted HEPA vacuum extraction lines to the end of the duct run, creating a high-velocity negative air draw inside the metal channels.
• Mechanical Agitation: Our technicians introduce specialized internal rotary duct whips and air brushes through strategic access ports, dislodging the caked black mould from the internal walls so it is pulled directly into our filtration collectors.
• Substrate Sanitation: Once the physical growth is extracted, we apply an approved, broad-spectrum botanical antimicrobial sanitizer inside the duct lines to eliminate residual fungal structures and prevent spores from re-rooting.

Negative-air machines create a lower atmospheric pressure inside the containment zone than outside it. This structural pressure differential ensures that air only flows into the workspace, preventing hazardous dust from escaping.

• Continuous Airborne Capture: These heavy-duty air scrubbers run continuously, pulling air through multi-stage filters to trap fine particulate matter before it can settle.
• Airtight Containment Checks: Our technicians use digital manometers to verify that proper pressure levels are maintained inside the plastic containment walls.

We understand that a disaster claim requires transparent, defensible, and highly detailed field documentation to clear administrative hurdles.

• Detailed Scope Validation: Our project managers supply insurance adjusters with exhaustive daily field logs, comprehensive thermal imaging reports, precise moisture mapping data, and clear high-resolution photo progress reports.
• Defensible Pricing Compliance: By cleanly defining the separation between structural cleaning, hazardous material abatement, and general debris disposal, we deliver a transparent audit trail that matches structural engineer reports perfectly.

The 48-Hour Fungal Window: Latent mould spores naturally activate and begin rooting into porous building substrates within 24 to 48 hours of water exposure. To halt this secondary disaster, property managers must deploy an immediate mitigation protocol:

• Rapid Water Extraction: Crews utilize industrial-grade submersible pumps and weighted extraction tools to pull standing water completely out of carpets, concrete slabs, and subfloors.
• Aggressive Structural Drying: We place high-velocity air movers and heavy-duty desiccant dehumidifiers throughout the environment to drop the relative humidity below 50%, stopping spore activation.
• Controlled Non-Salvageable Demolition: Saturated insulation, compromised drywall, and swelled fiberboard are systematically cut away and removed under localized containment to ensure trapped wall moisture can evaporate freely.

Restoring charred structural steel involves using non-abrasive blasting to remove baked-on soot and heat scale. This lets structural engineers inspect the metal and connections accurately for heat damage.

• Revealing True Structural Status: Removing thick soot coatings uncovers underlying steel buckling, warped web sections, or compromised weld joints that require repair.
• Clean Surface Profiling: Removing all fire residues creates a clean, sound surface that profile-matches perfectly with replacement intumescent fireproofing or structural paints.