Masonry Magazine June 2009 Page. 25
Product Watch
Sioux Dakota II Series
Beresford, S.D.-based Sioux Corporation's Dakota II Series hot-water pressure washers and steam cleaners provide application specific, industrial cleaning solutions. The products feature rugged, steel frames. Fuel-fired burners offer efficient, consistent combustion, saving fuel and reducing emissions. A watertight NEMA 4 electrical enclosure keeps electrical components safe and dry, and adjustable digital temperature control is perfect for temperature-specific cleaning and sterilizing applications. The Dakota II Series is CETA performance tested and ETL/UL third-party approved. Learn more at www.sioux.com. IMAS
GETTING IN YOUR HOUSE OR CAR WITHOUT THE KEYS CAN BE TOUGH. Cleaning masonry architecture, new or old, without one or more of the three, simple keys to successful masonry cleaning can be devastating. The keys are: The correct cleaner, The proper personnel, The right equipment. Here are three cases where contractors, all of whom knew better, tried to get the job done without one or more of the keys.
Incorrect cleaner
IT WAS A MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR luxury home on the north side of Chicago. The exterior was red brick and gray mortar except that the mortar joints weren't gray. They'd turned to an ugly yellow after new-construction cleaning in 2008 with muriatic acid. The raw acid had eaten away the cement paste, exposing yellow sand.
To cut costs, the mason contractor had forced the cleaning contractor - over the cleaning contractor's objections to use muriatic acid to remove excess mortar and common jobsite soiling.
The problem wasn't mere unsightliness, explains Jim Lucas, architectural consultant, J.N. Lucas and Associates, Hammond, Ind. The muriatic acid had eaten the joints to such an extent that they were no longer weather resistant.
Wrong equipment
AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Akron, Ohio, with a concrete brick exterior, looked fine after its new-construction cleaning in 2007- for about three weeks. That's when the rich, deep red of the concrete brick faded to a dull, listless pink. To save time, the contractor had applied the cleaner at pressures six- to eight-times the manufacturer's recommended maximum.
The high pressure jammed the cleaner into the concrete brick pores to a depth of 1/8- to 1/4-inch, says Mike Trotta, contractor training specialist for PROSOCO in Lawrence, Kan. That was too deep for rinse water to flush out. Later, as the embedded cleaner effloresced out of the brick, it faded the color. Though the concrete brick, a good product, was not to blame, it's now banned from the Akron school system, Trotta says.
OPPOSITE PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Project Foreman Eduardo Erazo, Sparklewash Construction Services. Omaha. Neb., uses the comect equipment to apply an appropriate masonry cleaner to clay brick and precast concrete at the Bank of West Omaha. This photo shows why you should always test before overall cleaning. Here, a contractor tested a cleaner made for clay brick on concrete brick. Project Foreman Eduardo Erazo, Sparklewash Construction Services, Omaha, Neb, thoroughly flushes spent cleaner and dissolved contaminants from limestone after new-construction cleaning at the Bank of West Omaha.
Personnel problem
A STRIP MALL in Wausau, Wis, looked great, on three sides. The clay brick front and split-face block sides all looked terrific after post-construction cleaning in 2008. But the rear of the building, also split-face block, was scarred with wand marks.
The project superintendant explained what happened, Lucas says. Though the super had cleaned the building's sides personally, he'd let an inexperienced apprentice clean the back without proper supervision. Wand marks resulted.
In this case, and the other two, the damage was at least partly reversed. But the cost in time, money, reputation and aggravation could have-and should have been avoided altogether.
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