Towering restoration

Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors, Topeka, are cleaning Topeka High School, a three-story Gothic building opened in 1931, with Enviro Klean SafRestorer. — Stephen Falls photo

Built for $1.75 million and opened Sept. 17, 1931, Topeka High School, Topeka, Kan., is arguably one of the most beautiful high school buildings anywhere.

Ever.

With its 165-foot bell tower containing a working 18-note Deagan Chime System, stained glass windows, and limestone and masonry exterior, Topeka High School looks more like a church or cathedral than a high school.

A closer look, however, shows that time and environment have begun to take their toll.

“The building was due for a general cleaning,” says David L. Falley, project manager with Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors, Topeka. “It’s got mostly atmospheric and biological staining on the limestone, severe in places. There’s also some smoke residue on the back of the building from a fire a few years ago.

“It’s not as dirty as it could be, considering the last major work on it was 30 years ago.”

PROSOCO’s Enviro Klean SafRestorer got the nod to remove the black stains and give the building an overall cleaner, brighter appearance. While decades of embedded staining called for a cleaner with horsepower, SafRestorer is designed to safely clean around architectural metals and other sensitive surfaces.

David said the high school’s metal-framed stained glass windows were one reason he chose SafRestorer.

“And it’s effective,” he said. “I’ve used SafRestorer on other projects and gotten good results.

These merlons atop the bell tower of Topeka High School show, left to right, uncleaned, pressure-washed with hot water only, and cleaned with SafRestorer and hot water. –Stephen Falls photo

The Restoration and Waterproofing contractors crew, led by Foreman Steven Balser, began work at the end of June. They’re aiming at completion by mid-August, before the students return.

Along with cleaning the exterior, they’re tuckpointing where masonry joints have deteriorated due to time and weather. The repairs are minimal, David says.

“The building is in good condition overall,” he says. “It’s got good workmanship and has weathered well.”

He added that it’s a good idea to have cleaning and repairs done before deterioration becomes severe.

Despite the building’s minimal problems, cleaning it still presents challenges, David says. The famous Kansas winds can twirl the hanging basket on the crane, used to reach areas inaccessible by scaffold. It’s stabilized by people holding lines on the roof or ground, David said.

And the hanging scaffold, though secure, can sway in the Kansas breeze.

“You get a 7 to 10 mile-per-hour breeze up there, you’d think it was 50,” David says. “Keeping your knees flexed helps. But when the wind kicks up higher than 10 or 15 miles per hour, it’s time to get off.”

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Motor Oil vs. Consolideck Concrete Protector

It’s not as long or as brutal as the fight between John Wayne and Victor McGlaglen in 1939′s “The Quiet Man,” or more recently, between Henry Cavill and Michael Shannon in 2013′s “Man of Steel,” But I think our new video “Motor Oil vs. Consolideck Concrete Protector” is still pretty snappy.

Motor oil, of course, is one of the worst “bad guys” ever to attack innocent concrete. Raise your hand if you’ve seen or have got blotchy stains on concrete surfaces from oil. Spills of food and drink on expensive polished concrete floors in homes, restaurants, stores and other places can also be a problem.

Never ceases to amaze me — milk can etch concrete. It’s got lactic acid, and acid is concrete’s vulnerable point, sort of like kryptonite for Superman.

Some liquids, like vinegar, can etch concrete within minutes of a spill.

This damage occurred when someone dropped a glass jar of pickles on the floor. The acidic pickle juice, left too long, etched the polished concrete floor. Incorrect removal technique — wiping instead of blotting — compounded the damage.

What protective treatments do in general, and Concrete Protector does in particular, is give you a window of time you otherwise wouldn’t have to get that staining material off the concrete with little or no harm. On untreated concrete, that window is virtually non-existent.

And the fact is, no matter what you protect your floors with, if the spill stays on the floor long enough, you’re likely to get a stain.

So that brings up the question — exactly how long do I have to clean up a spill of this or that on concrete protected with Concrete Protector?

Glad you asked. We wanted to know the same thing, so we asked AMT Laboratories, a materials testing lab, to test Concrete Protector’s stain and chemical resistance according to ASTM D1308 – Standard Test Method for Effect of Household Chemicals on Clear and Pigmented Organic Finishes.

AMT Labs tested Concrete Protector, not just against motor oil, like in the video, but against a range of acids, caustics, solvents and more. Test results on Concrete Protector and untreated control follow.

I think they’re pretty good, even against challenging substances like vinegar and motor oil. But along with protecting your concrete, the best advice is to clean spills up as quick as you can.

That’s why they’re moving so fast in the video.

Click Concrete Protector Stain and Chemical Resistance Testing Summary to view the Concrete Protector ASTM D1308 test results.

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