theres something about mary

[kevinc250]

i thought i would start a bit of a benz biocide blog as,tbh most people are of the opinion of hypoing everything regardless.

this is not a willy waving post but more of a time lapse so maybe people who haven't used biocides before can get an idea of what happens over a period of time,i'll try and pop back every week to capture a pic or two off the progress.

anyway,here we are mary and little baby jesus,she don't look too dirty but the caretaker has tried everything over the years to clean her,i offered to give her a clean up and explained the process of how a biocide like benz works and stressing she'll look a whole lot worse when i have left her than she did before.

in the worser looking photo's you can see she's not looking her most radiant-its probably ten to fifteen mins after spraying and the cell walls have been punctured and the carotine is coming out-hence the different colours and shades,within the hour everything on her should be dead-the green alghi being killed within five to ten mins,there is lichen on the stone plinths and would be dead/dieing within the hour and may need a little brush/agitation in the near future to remove the dead tissue

anyway as i said i'm not willy waving or saying how good am i? (the biocide does the work not me)its kinda more of a blog for others that go for the hypo first

by the way the cost of the benz biocide to treat her would be around £3.00 and the time taken about 15mins-the invoice total is into three figures-makes you think doesn't it.

 

[Big sul]

I'm a fan of Benz products .[emoji106]

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[tench0771]

the big question for me is witch biocide is best  and value for money

algoclear pro

benz

soft wash pro 50

biocide max

there is so meny to chouse from i can see biocide is quicker to treat and longer lasting  but not instent resaults its a hard sell for shore i think this alone is y most use hypo 

 

[tench0771]

p.s had to laff at the title as i thault it was about that program on tv chick with a dxxxck :1f602:

 

[Pjj]

I don't want to be negative about what you have done it is looking a lot cleaner but my customers wouldn't pay unless it looked a lot better than that , that's why we use hypo it would be like new in under an hour , Ime all for new ideals and products but we have been asked to clean products that have been done With biocides and the customers arnt happy with the finished results Evan months later . Only time we use biocides is to slow down regrowth  after hypoing them first . This isn't a criticism I would genuinely like to use less hypo for a more environmentally friendly product that's safer for the operator to use as well but choice is very limited 

 

[tench0771]

i think there is more pix to come as its still in the cleaning prosess 

 

[Pjj]

i think there is more pix to come as its still in the cleaning prosess 

Yes I understand that but the customer wants to see it instantly clean not wait days weeks or months as I said several jobs we have picked up had been done with biocides and months later still don't look good the customers weren't happy , they want it to look as like new as possible straight away unfortunately the only product I've found to do that is hypo 

 

[tench0771]

i persnly think hypo first then bio after is best on some jobs but it depends on how you sell it what your working on what sort of custmer your working with 

 

[kevinc250]

I don't want to be negative about what you have done it is looking a lot cleaner but my customers wouldn't pay unless it looked a lot better than that , that's why we use hypo it would be like new in under an hour , Ime all for new ideals and products but we have been asked to clean products that have been done With biocides and the customers arnt happy with the finished results Evan months later . Only time we use biocides is to slow down regrowth  after hypoing them first . This isn't a criticism I would genuinely like to use less hypo for a more environmentally friendly product that's safer for the operator to use as well but choice is very limited 

okay,so how would you approach this problem then? the photos would give you enough info to get an idea of what to use

 

[Pjj]

okay,so how would you approach this problem then? the photos would give you enough info to get an idea of what to use

Looking at the pictures I would wet it down hypo mix leave for 20 mins or so see what it's looking like apply more hypo if needed light rub with the pole rinse with water job done . Clean no waiting for results , happy customer walk away with payment ?????

 

[kevinc250]

why wet it down? and what  % hypo

 

[tench0771]

@Pjj    would hypo clean this with  beta resaults than bio

 

[Pjj]

why wet it down? and what  % hypo

If you wet it down first with the garden hose the surface will absorb the water until it's saturated, then spray it with hypo we generally use 10-15% strength hypo,mixed at 1 ltr hypo to 5 ltr water then add a surficant and a sent mask when you then apply  it to the object to be cleaned it stayes on the surface rather than being absorbed which is where you want it to remove the algy etc light rub with the pole rinse with tap water job done 

 

[Pjj]

@Pjj    would hypo clean this with  beta resaults than bio

We have picked up a lot of work where others have done it with biocides and the customer s haven't been at all happy with the results , some things look better than others but generally hypo will give instant results looking almost like new on most surfaces , generally we use biocides as an after cleaning with hypo as a way of slowing down re growth we are in Cornwall where it's very damp and a lot of jobs we clean will go green again in 3-6 months but if treated with bio after cleaning it will look good for up to 2 years or sometimes longer . We give the customer a number of options and prices and let them chose what they want after explaining all options to them . As I said previously I don't like using hypo but to date haven't found anything that gives instant results like it . 

 

[kevinc250]

just an update on the photos taken on sunday,work is still "in progress" and hopefully by next week the finished result will be much improved

 

[tench0771]

@Pjj have you tryed different types of biocide in these realy wet damp areas if so wich would you say is best ? ive hurd algo clear pro is best in these condisions but its blady expencive compaired to benz biocide

 

[Pjj]

@Pjj have you tryed different types of biocide in these realy wet damp areas if so wich would you say is best ? ive hurd algo clear pro is best in these condisions but its blady expencive compaired to benz biocide

To be fair I've only used the algo clear pro as it is supposed to be the best so opted for that . It's good stuff but still feel generally you need to hypo first then apply bio as an ongoing deterrent to re growth 

 

[kevinc250]

well,i had a morning with mary today,its not often you get the chance nowadays to get soaped up with a virgin-and a famous one at that,no i'm not talking about cliff richard

as you'll have read or seen the photos from start to finish of this job i initially started off by saying theres more to just going for hypo first.

i applied ddac or benz biocide as its known first,this was to see what lies underneath the surface-the alghi burst its cell walls and all sort of crud came out,to be fair she was not looking that good but hey no damage was caused to the materials and that was the whole point of the job.

mary is made from calcite,a material like marble but a lot softer,its very easy to work with as in shaping folds etc and masons often stained the material black in places to suggest shadows etc as you'll see in the finished photos.

the ddac once it had done its job left a clean slate and all that was left was dead lichen,this was softened by the ddac and so was quite easy but time consuming to brush off with a nylon brush and a mixture of warm water and sodium laureth ether sulphate (27% technichal grade solution)the stone plinth had a wire brush treatment to remove the lichen and a warm water mix as above to clean as much dirt as possible.

now its not often i get paid to be up close and personal soaping up a virgin-well never really but we can live in hope,mary's feet were well filthy and needed a brass bristled brush to clean the toes same with jesus.

ok so after all the initial pre cleaning was done,mary was treated with sodium percarbonate,a gentle bleach,mixed with warm water and a surfactant to suit,this was done/applied at five minite intervals and rinsed inbetween to check the cleaning process,once the deeper stains oxidised and she was coming cleaner then i applied blackwash to the plinth,once done and rinsed another coat was applied,at the same time a very very weak coat of the remaining blackwash was applied to mary just to even out the remaining stains and to give an even colour.

if i had took the advice of previous comments that were to just bleach her-and bleach her again until she came clean her material would not have stood up to this infact the stains would have been drawn further into the calcite causing untold damage-and an insurance claim i guess in the region of 30k? to get the stains out.

thankfully i did a bit of research/half an hour on google told me what i needed to do-its that simple really.

moral of the story-if there is one,don't listen to forum members,do a bit of research for yourself,learn the material you are working with and what is best to use and all will be good

 

[kevinc250]

total cost in materials for this one job using benzs blackwash and biocide including the wire brush was just a tad over £15

i give blackwash its due-i had to use it for this job due to benz having all the paperwork which was needed before the go ahead,its probably cleaned better and quicker than my cheaper more concentrated (in theory) farm yard bleach

its food for thought

 

[Big sul]

Marys looking good !!
Good job kevinc250 [emoji106][emoji106]
Hope you were well rewarded.

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[BigFoot]

Top job!

I hope you use this in future marketing, might be worth asking for a comment from the organisation.

Again, great job!