Over the past weeks we’ve been using super heated steam to gently cleanse the brickwork at Hawklaw
We’ve spent in excess of 50 hours, these past few weeks, cleaning the west and south elevation brickwork of our garage with a DOFF machine.
We stumbled upon the DOFF when we had contractors blast clean some of the main build internal brickwork last year. With large areas of render and brickwork to clean, and costly quotes to undertake the work, we took the plunge and purchased a machine for ourselves.
Stonehealth, who manufacture the DOFF, ordinarily sell to specialist stone cleaning contractors and stately homes. Despite being a rather unusual customer they gamely helped train all four of us in its safe, effective use. Eg discharging the steam lance down your brother’s rigger boots is a definite no-no!
The machine runs on kerosene, using around 20l per day. It can clean at varying temperatures, up to 150 degrees C , and pressures. The garage brickwork we’ve tackled at 140 degrees as it’s heavily covered in algae. The high temperature kills the algae, moss and any spores ensuring the brickwork stays clean for longer. Low pressure ensures no saturation or damage to the brickwork.
We estimate another 30 hours should finish the remaining accessible garage brickwork – our caravan is blocking a good part of the east wall!
We have two further jobs lined up for our DOFF in the next few weeks.
- remove plaster residue from the internal brickwork.
- remove flaking paint from the main build render ready for repairs and repainting.
Can’t say I’m looking forward to that job, the south elevation alone is 65m long!