[TheForge] interesting project

Tue May 20 02:25:59 2003

Actually this is quite simple....

Baking soda will solve all of your problems.  Find someone who does baking
soda blasting like me, and it can be done wet or dry, it will remove the tar
form all surfaces.   It will also remove any other contaminates without
etching or damaging them....paints etc.  I do it all the time, we can ever
remove graffiti, from soft sandstone brick surfaces with no damage.  It will
not hurt the copper but may give it a nice shine which can be etched with
ammonia to restore the "patina" look.

Baking soda can be swept up, broomed up then washed down with a hose and its
gone end of story, also its 100% EPA and DEQ legal.........

You can email me directly @ [email protected]

Paul Hewitt

H&H Custom Solutions

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry l. ridder" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2003 11:08 PM
Subject: [TheForge] interesting project

> hello;
>
> a couple weeks ago i received a call from a person who asked me if i
> would look at a problem with a house that was being restored and he felt
> that i would either know how or know of someone who would be able to do
> the work. yesterday, monday, i took a break from the seemingly
> neverending legal nightmares i went and looked at the house and the
> problem. interesting project, solution may not be that easy.
>
> the house is a historic house in dekalb, illinois. the house was built
> in the late 1800s or early 1900s. it is an eggshell colored terra cotta
> brick and stone mansion. the main roof the part copper and part tile.
> the main roof is fine. the problem is the single story, flat roof,
> "breakfast" porch. someone in the last century tarred the roof. they
> were not to careful as to where the tar oversprayed. roughly fifty feet
> of copper sheet roofing to partial covered with tar. approximately 35
> square feet of stone work and brick work is either covered with tar or
> has severe overspray.
>
> given the age and composition of the brick and stone work acid or base
> cleaning is out of the question. in researching several restoration
> sites on the web which especially deal with stone and/or brick masonary
> historical building there seem to be few options.
>
> copper sheet on roof. there are several reasonable restrictions. attempt
> to preserve the original copper patina if at all possible. if not
> possible propose a way to artifically recreate the patina to match the
> original existing copper patina elsewhere on the roof. they are aware
> that once the tar is removed from the copper sheet that the newly
> exposed copper will need to be artifically aged. the national park
> service site on restoration of historical sites suggests using liquid
> nitrogen to freeze the tar and chip it off the metal with plastic or
> nylon tools. that seems like a reasonable possibility.
>
> the masonary ( stone and brick ) is a different problem. the moisture
> content of the brick and stone would seem to prevent the use of liquid
> nitrogen. the fear i have would be that will freezing the tar and
> hydroscopic moisture content of the mansory would also freeze and cause
> the masonary to crack or spall. abrasive removal is out of the question
> since the stone work is soft stone. so how to remove the tar from the
> masonary. again in researching the web several commerical products were
> suggested. upon reading the msds they all contain dichloromethane
> (methylene chloride), xylene, and ethyl benzene. dichloromethane and
> ethyl benzene are listed as carcingens. the safety measures required to
> work with these chemicals and given the close proximity of neighboring
> houses really prohibits their use. the hazardous waste disposal would
> also tend to be cost prohibitive.
>
>
> two web sites listed using kerosene to remove the tar. they suggested
> soaking heavy paper towels or cotton rags in kerosene and draping them
> or securing them to the areas and let the kerosene soaked paper towel
> or cotton rags through capillary action dissolve the tar and soak it
> into the paper towel or cotton rags. this would appear to be a workable
> solution. yet another solution was to use an extremely small nozzle on a
> liquid nitrogen hose and freeze the tar in small sections and remove it
> a bit at a time.
>
> i am interesting in observations, comments, suggestions, etc.
>
> btw, this project has to be done by the weekend. there is a party at
> this house on saturday of roughly 150 people.
>
>
> --
> Terry L. Ridder ><>
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