WWII Monument

Restoring Graffiti-Marred WW II Monument with Safe n' Easy® Product Line
Masonry cleaning and restoration is serious business in Europe. In Germany, contractors attend one of five professional institutes providing instruction in the theory and practice of masonry cleaning and restoration techniques. Professional certification from one of these master trade schools directly affects the contractor's liability and dictates the types of jobs open to him. One such academy is Gabaeudereiniger Schule an der Innung Essen.

In 2001, Essen officials decided that the time had come to clean the monuments dotting the city's streets and squares. The restoration of a memorial created to commemorate Essen soldiers who died during World War II presented several challenges.

The 47-foot tall sandstone obelisk is adjacent to a large garden featuring environmentally sensitive plants as well as a busy bus stop where passengers gather several times an hour. Both bus stop and garden would be in use during the restoration and had to be protected from run-off. European standards prohibit the use of products containing methelyne chloride, muriatic acids, bleaches, abrasives and caustics; a line-up including many of the commercially available professional masonry restoration products here in the States.

High-pressure washing and rinsing were out of the question. The delicate green Lower Rhine sandstone is easily breakable at pressures exceeding 2,000 PSI. And then there were the brass nameplates, coated with an attractive patina that project managers did not want disturbed. Graffiti (both paint and lacquer) marred vast portions of the patina-coated brass. Graffiti also covered portions of the sandstone as well as the monument's adjacent lower walls.

Frank Holzber, who directed and coordinated the monument project on behalf of the City of Essen, did not hesitate to call upon the expertise of Peter Dornbrach, director of Gabaeudereiniger Schule. (In addition to his extensive professional masonry restoration credentials, Dornbrach heads the North-Rhine Westfalia environmental committee.) Working with Holzber, Dornbrach was directly involved in the process of specifying the products used to clean the monument.

Was there a product or method that could tackle this demanding restoration project without damaging the delicate stone, stripping the patina, or negatively impacting the adjacent areas? Enter Dumond Chemicals' Safe n' Easy® masonry restoration product line. Developed to provide outstanding benefits under event the most demanding conditions, these products are free of hydrofluoric and muriatic acids, bleach, abrasives and caustics, yet are capable of removing years of dirt and grime with just one application.

Already familiar with the Dumond's extensive line of masonry restoration and paint removal products, Dornbrach suggested that several Dumond products be patch tested. But first, the important process of testing the raw materials would take place at Gabaeudereiniger Schule.

"In our labs, we analyzed the products' raw materials to compare between material safety data sheets (MSDS) and the actual product. Professionals cannot take ingredients for granted, and we stress this kind of healthy caution to our students. This level of analysis lets them know what they are dealing with, because sometimes the MSDS does not correspond to the actual product materials," reported Dornbrach.
"But in this case," he stressed, "Dumond's data corresponded exactly with the product materials, as we found when we converted the MSDS to European standards."

European standards are rigorous when it comes to environmental safety, reported Andreas Ritter, president of RITHCO International, German distributor for Dumond Chemicals, Inc.
"Masonry professionals here in Germany are always looking for products that not only meet environmental standards but can also effectively and efficiently get the job done," Ritter said.
Product analysis in hand, the next step, reported Holzber, was to patch test Dumond's products on the monument's delicate sandstone.

Prior to testing, Dornbrach had some lingering doubts about the products' effectiveness. "We all remained somewhat skeptical that a product without acids, soaps, or tensioactive surfactants, and with a pH of between 3 - 5 could really clean masonry without using steam or high pressure," he recalled.
"But after completing the patch tests, I was fully convinced that these were the right products for the job," he added.

"Having an expert like Peter Dornbrach, who is known here as the 'Pope of Masonry Cleaning,' recommend Dumond products for this project says a great deal about their effectiveness," Ritter said.

Dornbrach specified Dumond's Lift Away® Graffiti Remover and Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner for the graffiti-marred sandstone column. "The other products that we tested either damaged the stone, or failed to fully remove the graffiti, or damaged the patina," he reported. "Only the Lift Away® was gentle on the stone, removed the graffiti with one application, and left the patina intact during patch testing."

Lift Away® Graffiti Remover was also used effectively on portions of the adjacent wall that had been tagged with graffiti. Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner and Safe n' Easy® Ultimate Cleaner were used on the walls as well.

Contractor for the masonry-cleaning project was THOSA gmbH, based in Mulheim, and owned by Lutz von Braunschweig.

The surrounding garden and bus stop areas were swathed in protective plastic sheeting, or foils, as they are called in Europe. A vacuum was used to absorb run-off. The bus stop, in use throughout the restoration, was covered with an oversized sheet of plastic to avoid any chance of splashing.
The Dumond products were applied using an automatic, low-pressure Gardena tank pump. Dwell time for all products was between 15 and 20 minutes. The stone then received a low-pressure (maximum of 1,500 PSI) power rinse of clean, clear water.

From start to finish, including one full day devoted to patch testing and evaluating, the monument restoration was completed in three days. More than 4,150 square feet of stone were cleaned and restored.
Product coverage rates, reported Ritter, were excellent, averaging about 189 feet per gallon for Safe n' Easy® Ultimate Cleaner, about 375 feet per gallon for Lift Away® Graffiti Remover, and, about 131 square feet per gallon for Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner.

"Coverage rates would likely have been even greater had we been able to use a higher water pressure during rinsing," Ritter commented, "but in this case, the fragile sandstone did not permit it."
The overall results, summed up von Braunschweig, were outstanding.

"The bulk of the graffiti was removed with one product application," he commented. "The Dumond products began working in minutes. Powerful enough to strip the unwanted paint from the stone and nameplates, they did not damage the sandstone or mar the patina covering the brass. And, they proved to be easy to work with while meeting all environmental specifications," von Braunschweig added.
This project represented the first time the masonry specialists of THOSA worked with the Dumond Chemicals product line. It will not, said von Braunschweig, be the last.

Problem: Graffiti, (in turquoise, white, blue and black), defacing the brass and copper signboard was a combination of paint and lacquer. (See top image.) The graffiti had to be removed without damaging the attractive patina coating the brass and copper. The sandstone of the column was damaged and tended to fall into parts, ruling out high pressure washing.

Solution: Lift Away® Graffiti Remover and Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner.

Result: (See bottom image.) The patina remained untouched, while the stubborn graffiti was easily removed. The delicate stone remained unharmed.

Problem: (See top image.) Stubborn graffiti mars the stone directly above new garden plantings, with more tender new plants to follow.

Solution: Lift Away® Graffiti Remover and Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner.

Result: Environmentally safe and easy to use, these products removed the graffiti without contaminating the tender plants or soil below. (See bottom image.) The paste and run off were easily controlled with foils and vacuum. Even in the worse case scenario, had spillage occurred, Lift Away® Graffiti Remover and Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner meet all European standards for environmental safety.

Problem: This portion of the wall (see top image) was adjacent to a city bus stop. It was to be cleaned as busses were stopping every 5 - 10 minutes, with riders using the bus stop constantly. Though free of graffiti, years woth of grime and grit coated the stone.

Solution: Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner.

Results: Environmentally safe and easy to use, Safe n' Easy® Limestone Cleaner quickly and easily cleaned the stone without impacting the people using the bus stop. (See bottom image.) The bus stop was swathed in a giant plastic foil, and run off was easily controlled using a vacuum. Even in the worse case scenario, had spillage occurred, the product meets all European standards for environmental safety.

Problem: This area of the adjacent wall was extremely dirty (see top "before" image) and included several plastic boxes, property of the public phone and city waterworks, which could not be damaged.

Solution: Safe n' Easy ®Ultimate Cleaner.

Result: Walls were stripped of grime with one application, revealing the character of the handsome sandstone that lay beneath the embedded coating of dirt. The plastic boxes remained unharmed.

Headquartered in New York, Dumond Chemicals, Inc. manufactures a full line of restoration and paint-removal products for commercial and industrial For information about the Peel Away Paint Removal System, contact: Dumond Chemicals, Inc., 212/869-6350.

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