The revitalization of many downtown areas includes a face lift for storefronts and older buildings’ facades and interiors. The current trend exposes the original patina of timber and removes layers of paint, concrete and weather damage from the surface of bricks and mortar. Revealing these features via sandblasting is an arduous job involving heavy lifting and attention to detail. Enter Chris Wallschlaeger, owner of New Era Dustless Blasting. “Our clients want to see the old exposed wood and concrete. I’ve seen some of the timbers where you could see old saw blade marks the size of your hand. We have blasted log homes that were pretty crusty but came out gorgeous,” he said. “Our focus is on architectural blasting, but we do also blast things like bike frames, fountains and car bodies.”
Residence neighborhood: Sifton.
Employer/business name: New Era Dustless Blasting LLC.
Business address: 6108 N.E. 121st Ave., Vancouver, 360-609-6274; www.newerablasting.com and on Facebook
Age: 39.
Educational/professional background: I grew up in Vancouver and attended Evergreen High School and the Clark County Skills Center’s automotive program. In my early years, my interest was anything with motors. I worked more than 20 years in the automotive field, the last 18 years in auto body.
How — and when — you got started in your business: My interest got sparked when I was working as a body man at Northwest Auto Body. They were sending out projects to be sandblasted. So I looked into a mobile sandblasting system and decided to purchase one. I started doing it part time, splitting my time between auto body and sandblasting. Within a year, it turned into a full time job; in March 2015, I got my business license and had to step away from auto body.
Personal/business philosophy: New Era Dustless Blasting LLC is your go-to for mobile or in-house blasting. Our goal is to exceed your expectations.
Most rewarding part of job: Self-set schedule and seeing the huge transformations on big projects.
Most challenging part of job: Learning a whole new trade, and switching to the construction world after being in the automotive field for so long. The physical part of the work isn’t fun sometimes. We lift 100-pound bags all day long some days. On one recent large job, we used 56,000 pounds of material.
When the job is done, we have to sweep it all up and put it back in what we call “super sacks,” then our supplier picks it up for proper disposal.
Something surprising about your work: How versatile sandblasting can be, between the different types of jobs and different places it can take you. Sandblasting can be done on very small things or very large things. There’s always something different.
Also many don’t know that the material we use is “green.” Because the EPA has been cracking down on the use of silica sand, we use material such as ground walnut shells and crushed bottle glass.
Best feature of my Clark County community: The willingness of other local business to help assist in a small-business owner’s journey.
What would make your community a better place: Better mental health and substance abuse assistance programs for our veterans and homeless population.
Your favorite travel destination and type: A car trip to the beach.
Favorite restaurant/pub/coffee shop/store: Beaches Restaurant.
Hobbies: Playing with cars and shooting guns.
Most enjoyable book/play/movie in past 12 months: “The Accountant.”
Something you’d like to do this year/within five years: Have a real vacation without kids; just my girlfriend and I.
One word to describe yourself: Motivated.
