Scraping construction residues in Marrakech

On a construction site, "marks" do not exist. There are materials, each with its own behaviour.

• Cement haze — a mineral film left by grouting. It is not scraped: it comes off through mechanical action spread across the surface, with a rotary machine and the right product. The subject is covered in our article removing cement haze from new tiles.
• Tile adhesive — hardened and brittle. It is cracked off with the edge of the blade, never by pushing flat, then the fine residue is softened with product.
• Paint — see the dedicated section below: the method depends entirely on what it is.
• Silicone and sealant — elastic, they stretch instead of coming away. They are cut with a blade flush to the substrate, then the film is removed with a compatible solvent.
• Expanding polyurethane foam — cut back mechanically, dry, once cured. A solvent has no effect on cured foam and attacks the substrate instead.
• Plaster and filler — softened with water, then removed without a blade in most cases.
• Tapes, films and manufacturer's labels — gentle heat to soften the adhesive, then a slow pull back at a tight angle, then degreasing of the adhesive residue.

Three simple rules, and they explain most of the damage we find on jobs taken over from another contractor.

The angle. A blade is presented at a shallow angle to the surface, never square on. Flat, it slides and does not cut; too upright, it bites into the substrate.

Sharpness. A blunt blade no longer removes, it scratches. On glass, a worn blade leaves parallel micro-scratches visible against the light — invisible at handover, obvious in the first low sun. Blades are changed often; they are a consumable, not a tool.

Direction. You always work in a single direction, with no back-and-forth, and you never go back dry over an area already cleaned: a grain of cement trapped under the blade becomes an abrasive.

Glass is wetted and soaped before any scraping: the blade has to glide on a film, never on a dry surface.

Paint spatter is not treated the same way depending on its composition, and that is the question we ask before the visit.

Water-based acrylic — the most common indoors. While still fresh, it comes off with water. Dry, it is softened with hot water then removed mechanically.

Oil-based paint and lacquer — a solvent is needed, compatible with the substrate and tested on a discreet patch. On plastic, a seal or lacquered joinery, the wrong solvent does more damage than the paint did.

Spray mist — thousands of microscopic droplets settled over a large area. It cannot be dealt with drop by drop: this is the typical case of marks on almost every surface, which take +40% after assessment from photographs. That is a point we flag before the date, never afterwards.

Knowing when not to scrape matters as much as knowing how to scrape. On the following substrates the blade is banned and another method is required:

• Coated, self-cleaning, frosted or screen-printed glass: the functional coating is on the surface, and a blade takes it off permanently. Gentle chemical treatment only.
• Acrylic sheet and polycarbonate: too soft, they scratch at the slightest contact.
• Aluminium and lacquered joinery: the lacquer is thin and a blade goes straight through it.
• Brushed stainless steel: worked in the direction of the grain with the right paste, never across it and never with a blade.
• Acrylic sanitaryware: acrylic shower trays and baths scratch more easily than enamel.
• Polished marble and limestone: any blade leaves a visible mark; the work is done with a rotary machine, described on marble treatment with a rotary machine.
• Zellige and tadelakt: a thin glaze and a lime plaster, both treated by hand under the protocol set out on the zellige and tadelakt page.

And we do no sanding: a mark etched into the substrate is pointed out, not ground away.

Scraping is neither the first nor the last operation. It slots in precisely between dust removal and washing:

1. Dust removal top down, from ceiling to floor, vacuumed with fine filtration.
2. Scraping the bonded residues, material by material, surface by surface.
3. Machine washing of the floors with a rotary machine, and rinsing.
4. Washing of surfaces, contact points and sanitaryware.
5. Final inspection in raking light and signed checklist, described on the final inspection and checklist.

Scraping after washing means dirtying what has just been done. Scraping before dust removal means working with sand under the blade.

Scraping has no price of its own: it is a stage of the builders clean, and it is the amount of residue that changes the price, because it eats time. You declare it when you request an estimate, and we check it from photographs:

• a few minor marks of paint, adhesive or cement: base price, minor construction marks are included
• many marks, longer clean: +20% on the base price
• thick residue or marks on almost every surface: +40%, assessed from photographs before the treatment is confirmed

The base is 20 MAD/m² incl. VAT on standard tiles and 30 MAD/m² incl. VAT on other floors, with a minimum of 2,000 MAD for a studio, 3,000 MAD for an apartment or premises and 7,500 MAD for a villa or riad, terraces added.

Example: a 300 m² villa with 200 m² of marble and a 40 m² tiled terrace. 100 × 20 = 2,000 MAD, plus 200 × 30 = 6,000 MAD, plus 40 × 10 = 400 MAD: a base of 8,400 MAD incl. VAT with a few marks.

Many marks: +1,680 MAD, so 10,080 MAD incl. VAT. Thick residue almost everywhere: +3,360 MAD, so 11,760 MAD incl. VAT. Time follows the same slope: with a team of 3, this villa goes from 5.5 to 7 then 9 estimated working days.

A quotation given without seeing the real state of the surfaces is a quotation that will be revised on site. That is why we ask for photographs or a visit before confirming. Depending on the property, see a villa job, an apartment after works or a new studio.

The full process is described on the stages of a clean handover, the prices for this range on the post-construction price page, and every service we sell on our schedule. For a figure, send photographs of the surfaces concerned.