Andesite Stone Masonry Cleaning & Algae Removal - Labas Construction

The andesite stone face was very porous, and with the long-wet climate that they have in Vancouver, there were a lot of algae forming. This algal growth created a slipping hazard: when the stones were wet, they were as slippery as ice. An additional challenge to this job was that the pathway was beside fish ponds, therefore no chemicals could be used. The owners had tried different biological cleaning products in previous years, however none was successful in cleaning the stone.

For this job Labas contacted Restorative Techniques and we recommended using the rotary floor cleaner with their electric ThermaTech. The rotary floor cleaner cleaned majority of the algae. The remaining tough spots, which were embedded in the porous andesite, were cleaned with the turbo nozzle attachment. These two attachments combined helped clean the stone and turn it back to its original state.

The scrubber combined with the turbo nozzle outpreformed the expectations of Labas and their client. It did everything Labas could ask for, not to mention that from now on they will only use the turbo nozzle on concrete or porous masonry as this tool cut their labour time in half. Their client was blown away and said, “it looks better than the day it was installed”.