[REGINA]

Just wondering... I have a science lad where bunson (sp?) burners are used and the use has caused a slight smoke damage on the long ago painted white brickwork.

Any good ideas on what to clean this up with or technics for cleaning? Should it just be cleaned in prep for repainting? Or can painting be eliminated with the proper cleaning.

Have gone over it a few times and original soot cast was removed but ultimately it appears smoke stained.

Thanks GINA

[martin19842]

hi there,

what have you used to clean it ?

blasting of the brickwork would remove the smoke damage, but also stands to remove some of the paintedd surface.

if the brickwork is painted, you would expect the smoke damage to sit on the paint and not the actual brick, therefore after cleaning you would expect a  level of satisfactory cleanliness.

alternatively, you could then over coat the damaged area with a barrier coat, and then just repaint.

regards

martin

[REGINA]

Yes sorry for the delay in replying.

At the end of the day we realized upon further examination that the brickwork had been painted many moons ago and not sealed. The bricks being porous ultimately had no salvaging.

I found that a surface cleaning was about the most I could do and advised customer.

I did not want it to appear that we had not cleaned - much less not attempted to clean the moldy wall. Yet there comes a fine line I feel where a cleaner, a carpet cleaner, a blaster, a tile setter, a wood worker will be needed.

I additionally made the customer aware of the situation.

Another question... if when cleaning a premise... are you/should you/do you make the customer aware of your findings i.e moisture/mold. wood rot, broken glass (windows/crack in pane), etc.)?

I have made it known I am only pointing out as a matter of fact - so that they are aware in the event they weren't.

I am so messing this up aren't I???

REGINA

[Tim Downer]

Hiya Regina

No, you are not messing things up.

I would always point everything out to the customer, even if you write them down in a report when you hand the Quotation in. This would be part of your cleaning survey. This i feel shows you are a professional, plus writing things down such as a cracked window BEFORE you clean....shows you were not the ones who broke it!! Thus not liable for replacing it.

Even during the cleaning process, when we clean new builds, anything we find damaged gets written down, otherwise when checked by the client after we have gone, they will assume my cleaners have done the damage. It saves a lot of grieve.

Kind Regards

Tim

[REGINA]

You know at this late hour I thought I was alone and well -- quite refreshing to know I am not the only one up alone thinking about business etc

Thank you your info is very usefull. You can email me at

onemoongddess@yahoo.com

look forward to hearing more from you - vice versa

GINA

[Tim Downer]

Mad isn't it. Time is now just after midnight.....but real time is 1 in the morning.....clocks have only just moved back an hour!!

Getting my head into gear for the onslaught tomorrow morning and whatever the week throws at me!!

Think i will call it a day now.......

Tim