sometimes it doesn't always go to plan

I thought i'd  post this as sometimes with the best planning etc things don't always turn out as you expect.

softwashing is the same, you always see pictures of the success jobs and  the before and after pictures always look good etc but never the ones that don't go to plan - I guess that's why they never get posted so it saves face and keeps that "internet integrity" in place, 

this is a job I was asked to clean and upon initial inspection the statue shall we call it had loads of lichen all over more more importantly the worlds supply of carbon deposits,more so when you got up close and personal for inspection  the stone in parts wasn't the best, it clearly wasn't a job for a bit of hypo.

anyway I asked a "prominent" person on facebook to give me a hand, this is fine as he has a, the equipment to do this and b, the reputation for cleaning difficult jobs like this

we looked at it again and sent photos to the chemists who said this product would be the best on this with all the heavy carbon build up, so, £140 lighter plus vat we got to work, scaffold tower up and we started with the steam on a low pressure to remove what carbon and crud we could, then a coat of said chemical (looks so good in the advertising photos), the stone came up great but not the heavy carbon we resorted to a wire brush in the end to break down the carbon  layer by layer as it was so so thick and many applications of said chemical was applied and the results were getting better but when do you call it a day?, we could go on for another two or three days and get better results I am sure you've all heard the saying that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear 

but it is possible to make a good pork pie also.

so, photos are below to view, yes there is a difference but still not to what I would like but, where do you stop?, 

the point to this post is more for the newbies who think hypo this or that will sort it and softwashing  can be profitable and its so easy well, here I am  admitting that as someone who's been doing this for a while its not all a bed of roses and it doesn't always go to plan even with the chemists and a doff machine on your side.

I appreciate your honesty. To be honest, you can clearly see a major improvement. While i agree it’s not 100% turn around, i would certainly say it’s 80% better at least. Doesn’t look like a job for the faint hearted either. Top two corners are the most obvious in terms of “least improvement” other than that you can’t really grumble. Think of it from a doctors perspective, patient comes in “i am ill, can you make me better” i guess you can say

“i’ve got all the medicines and experience under the sun lad and i’ll try my damdest but i can’t guarantee i can make you well”

my chiropractor made a 80-90% improvement on my back. I still paid him and would rate him 10/10.

from a customers point of view, yes, if i had accepted the quote, i would indeed pay for that result ? chin up fella.

as you say.....when exactly do you call it a day ?‍

Looking at that I'm surprised they didn't want a company that specialises in restoring statues of that period. You did a good job.

doctors have a 100% failaure rate mate as they can't keep someone alive forever

Forgive me if i’m wrong but the priests staff appears to have gone missing? Is it off somewhere being treated as it had turned a blue ish color in the first pic

You did a good job by the look of it mate. I reckon they probably needed to look at the entire building not just the statue by the look of it.

ahh sorry,@incheck i'm re spraying that black to re-install once I've sorted the copper stain my bad

kevinc250 said:

ahh sorry,@incheck i'm re spraying that black to re-install once I've sorted the copper stain my bad

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Cool, thought i was going mad for a minute ?

theres copper sulphate stains down the stonework to resolve, from that staff-its more of an ongoing project I guess

THL4KEL said:

Looking at that I'm surprised they didn't want a company that specialises in restoring statues of that period. You did a good job.

Click to expand...

we enlisted the chemists who supply the materials to said companies but,even with a doff it wouldn't budge some of the stains, yes we could eventually remove them with more steam and chems but where do you stop? both regards to how clean it looks and the long term damage that could be caused to the stone? this is my point here and more so to the guys with a bucket of  bleach ready to spray to their hearts content there comes a point where untold damage can be caused by the wrong chemicals or incorrect methods.

I am well aware of the paints used to create shadows in the Victorian era and have dealt with a few of them but,this is not paint  just heavy coal tar and is a cow to remove 

This is very intresting , we do a lot of softwashing but instantly you can see that isn’t a job for hypo , I have no experience removing carbon deposits like this , looks like sandstone ?? I think I would be contacting Kevin Martin of tiling logistics in Birmingham and asking his advice as he is a “stone restoration specialist”. However looking at that statue I wouldn’t have wanted to take the job on as I would be afrade of not being able to get the results required and or causing damage , I belive for this type of clean an acid is used ?? But certainly wouldn’t want to tackel it . It does look a lot better than it did but I agree I wouldn’t be happy with those results either . 

Where I live the town hall is made of cut granite stone the building was green with algy , it’s a listed building and the council had a specialist company “ simpatheticaly pressurewash it “ that was there expression , it took three months to do off full scaffold I don’t know what it cost but must have been tens of thousands , when the scaffolding was taken down the building doesn’t look any different, there was a public outcry at the waist of tax payers money . 

Softwashing is a skill like any other job but it’s not suitable for all applications, my local post office has some large stone pillars holding up a flying freehold building above I was asked to clean the pillars , I looked at it and decided the best way to do it was with the pressure washer and turbo nozzle, did a thorough job didn’t touch the dirt ,it looked like gone off varnish , I tried hypo neat  didn’t do a thing , brick acid , and several other options , it was a slight improvement must I never was happy with it . I explained to the customer I had done all I could and he was happy with it but I wasn’t , you live and learn I thought it was going to be an easy job .

going back to softwashing  you need to be able to accurately identify the contaminant ,red, green,black algy , mould , licken green silver black , and the worst to try and remove the yellow/red / orange untill you have done that you don’t know what you need to use to clean it , there are also several different ways to get it off and looking good , all this comes from experience , training and knowing which chemical to use and in what strength . It’s certainly not just a case of chucking some bleach at it , the old saying a little knowledge is dangerous comes to mind .

It looks a whole load better and I am sure it does more so in the flesh so to speak compared to the rest of the building.

In those type of jobs one is best to do a test patch round the back of where it can't be easily seen. This is the best experience one will get at what you are up against. I have a massive statue in the church to do, so we agreed to do the feet and see what happens. They used to sandblast buildings but that was banned and all they do is pressure wash them now. A 400 bar PW may be the answer to carbon but 250 bar doesn't get it cleanly off, that's what I have found out.

Pretty good job I think. Shame you missed that bit though....