Page 28 - Demo

28|July 2019
Stone Restoration and
Maintenance Corner
What Are Ancillary Projects?
ASa restoration profes- sional, I always strive to provide assistance to clients regarding most anything stone restoration related. This includes many options that we may not even normally offer as part of our service. I call these ancillary
projects.
Some examples: I personally do not install stone. I’m not talking about a tile or two, which most restoration pros will happily do.
I suggest leaving the installa- tion, especially of dimensional stone (slab material), to those professionals who do this type of work routinely. These have to be blind hole drilled and anchored properly, and all according to code. As another example, there is a building located downtown in a medium-sized city (which I won’t mention), where the granite cladding began to fail and fall off. Needless to say, this was a major and potentially deadly mistake.
I will, however, schedule and manage the replacement of di- mensional stone for the client. So basically, I would subcontract these types of operations that are out of the normal range of resto- ration offerings. There are really not that many services in the
Slippery rock Gazette
Bob Murrell
M3 Technologies
Photos by Bob Murrell
restoration field that restoration professionals don’t offer. I mean, I have done core drilling for new faucets or accessories on counter- tops, but I would not attempt 16- inch core drilling for new HVAC work — know what I mean?
A recent project had just that: giant core drilling for new HVAC ducting through solid marble and concrete. Special equipment and experience is required for this type of operation. So this was subcontracted by a professional core drilling company.
Pressure washing is and should be part of the restoration profes- sional’s offering, in most cases. However, not everyone has a $35,000 truck-mounted piece of equipment, with water recovery. In some areas, where the EPA and other code officials are strict, effluent to storm drains is prohib- ited. Many cities have these issues where the water from cleaning must be recovered and disposed of properly.
Stone patios and walkways are typically pressure washed with a 3,500 psi machine. Care must be
Pressure washing a quilted marble patio and stone balustrade. Care must be taken to avoid blasting out the mortar in installations, especially old ones. Here, I’m using a 3,500 psi pressure washer.
Travertine column before restoration (left) and after (right) cleaning and chemical consolidation treatment.
taken in order to avoid blasting out the mortar and/or grout from certain installations, especially older ones. Use of the correct tips is application specific, as well. In some cases, the smaller electric pressure washers are sufficient, easier to handle, and pose less of a hazard than the commercial grade higher- pressure machines.
A telescoping wand was used on a recent project to remove both mold and leftover growth from ivy on a stucco and stone exterior wall that was up to 30 feet high. Talk about strenuous work, that wand was extremely difficult to manage!
Another type of work which may need to be subcontracted might be sand, bead, or soda blasting, for certain applications. This is another example of a $35k
machine required to accomplish the job. This was the case on a small porch stoop in which the cli- ent requested a high grip surface profile, without grinding marks left behind. The blasting profes- sional was called and made quick work of this small project.
Of course we have all repaired, removed, and replaced grout in situations that required it. The same is true for caulking on coun- tertops, shower stalls, and other applications. Dremel tools and grout saws are very handy pieces of equipment to have in your tool box for these types of applica- tions. Of course, you will need a dental pick set and some manual grout scraping and removal tools, too.
On a recent project, a team of unexperienced general laborers
was used to remove and replace the caulk on some exterior solid marble staircases. They managed to absolutely destroy the risers and treads by using a screw or nail to gouge out the old caulk. Of course that’s when we, as resto- ration professionals are called in. Fixing someone else’s screw up (pun intended) will cost the proj- ect manager more than just having the Restoration Pro do it right, in the first place.
For this particular problem, the marble was actually textured, but had to be gently ground to mini- mize flattening of the stone. Once the scratching was minimized, a color enhancer was used to blend the stone, virtually hiding the mistake.
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