I'm a homeowner with two projects that, I think, would be greatly helped
by sandblasting, but I can't find knowledgeable people in the rental stores.
In fact, I only found one place that rents a sandblaster, and they tried to
talk me out of it. So, I'm seeking knowledge and advice.

1. I want to epoxy the garage floor so I need to strip the floor of
existing paint (or perhaps stain). While the paint is worn through in
places, where it hasn't it appears firmly on. The last place I did this I
tried a high pressure washer; it would cut under areas beginning to flake,
but wouldn't cut through solid areas. (So I ended up grinding down the
entire floor with a hand-held grinder-vac -- which I'll never do again.)

The nearest rental shotblaster appears to be 4 hours away and would
require a truck, which I don't have. Only one place in my vicinity
(Sarasota, FL) rents a sandblaster and they're trying to discourage me from
renting it -- apparently because of the liability of customers dealing with
silica-sand. Plus, it's quite expensive.

My questions:

1A. This sandblasting unit is on sale at my local Harbor Freight sto
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...unction=Search
Would it do the job?

1B. Would 'playbox sand' from Home Depot be different than (less toxic
than) silica-sand? (It's certainly cheaper.)

1C. Regardless, would playbox sand work? If so, what size tip/nozzle
would I need for this?

1D. How much sand might be needed to do a large 2-car garage?

1E. Alternatively, there is a gizmo that appears to allow an abrasive
(sand?) to be injected into the water stream of a pressure washer, which
would help it to cut through paint. See he
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...Id=8520&R=8520
Would it work? Any gotcha's to it?

1F. Any other suggestions?

2. Next I need to clean a driveway as well as decorative stone facing,
both with many coats of paint. (And I'm guessing the stone is fairly
porous).
Would any of the above answers in #1 differ for either the driveway or
stone?

MANY, MANY thanks in advance for whatever help you can provide me.