Page 22 - Demo

22 | January 2024
Stone Restoration Corner
Continued from page 17
These layers upon layers of coatings would melt and turn into a viscous, snot- ty-looking membrane. Using the machine, with one horseshoe weight (about 125 pounds total) and the black pad at the right moment, was essential. If you started too soon, the stripper wouldn’t have adequate contact time and may not have loosened or melted the layer being attacked yet. If you waited too long, the membrane will sim- ply settle back down and re-adhere to the surface again. It is best to get into an effi- cient rhythm when removing many years of heavy layers of multiple product coatings. It goes much easier when you are prepared and can make the necessary adjustments when needed.
It took several stripping applications to remove the coatings. The borders or edges required razor blades, as did the stairs (this was the most back-breaking part of the proj- ect). Basically, all of the detail 90° joints required both stripper and razor blades to successfully remove all of the plasticized coatings. Razor blades were also used on the stringers and baseboards, which had “slapwax” all over them. Slapwax is the result of slapping the mop or applicator against the baseboards when applying the coating to the floors. It is paramount to fre- quently change to a fresh, sharp razor blade to avoid scratching the marble. Pro tip: Buy razor blades in large quantity packs of at least 100. Doing the coatings removal right required a lot of detail hand work.
Disposal of your wastewater (stripper and coatings) is also an issue that must be dealt with. You can strain the wastewater with some sort of cheesecloth or similar material to help remove the solids (coatings) before disposal down the drains. Remember, this stuff was like a thick film the consistency of mucous. Check with the property owners to see where the best location for disposal is. In some cases, you may be required to haul any and all effluent away from the work site for disposal.
Slippery Rock Gazette
Slapwax on the Belgian Black baseboards. Right: Restoring the stairs involved some serious (and tedious) handwork.
Once the coatings were completely removed, a PLP 400 grit pad was used to basically exfoliate the marble surface. This helped to remove any residual coat- ing, dirt, and light scratching. The floors looked pretty good at this point. However, after many years of seeing shine from the floor coatings, you know what the property owners said – they would like to see more shine, of course. So a 3,000 grit PLP was then used to create a nice patina (shine). This looked really nice and the owners were very happy with this look.
Tenax Ager was used on the darker pink marble borders, baseboards, and string- ers. The field of lighter pink was impreg- nated with AkemI Color Intensifier to help enhance color and give protection.
The project turned out very nice and the church was very pleased with the results. Maintenance going forward will be much easier and the surfaces should look great for many years to come. Basically, dust mopping and damp mopping with either Majestic No-Rinse Neutral Cleaner or Majestic Stone Soap will be all that is required. Maybe every few years the floors might need freshening up with a 12,000 grit PLP pad and that’s it.
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“The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.” —Alexander Hamilton
Tennessee Pink Marble stairs after coating removal. Tenax Ager was applied to the Dark Pink Tennessee marble to restore the deep, rich contrast.