Facade Cleaning Methods

Over time, the exterior part of the buildings, like the interior, also gets polluted. It is a detail to be considered for both hygienically and visually in terms of the building and the surrounding silhouette that exterior part of the buildings should be kept clean as well as the interior where people are in direct contact. These cleanings, which take place at certain periodic intervals, allow living spaces to look beautiful as a whole and provide a more livable space for the people using the building. In general, facade cleaning involves the cleaning of the facade glass and facade cladding material. Facades get a stained appearance over time, become darker and wear out in some cases depending on the exposed materials by gases of factories etc. facilities in industrialized cities, the exhaust gases of the vehicles, the particles carried by the effects of wind and precipitation. In order to avoid such situations, cleaning of the facades should be done at regular intervals.

Facade cleaning process should be performed only by experts in the field, using equipment that does not harm human and environmental health, in accordance with standards and periodically checked, in order to prevent loss of life and property. Facade cleaning companies will determine the most suitable method, platform, equipment, type of the tools etc. to be used for your facade in accordance with the hanger arm height , the building’s terrace dimensions, the parapet height etc. by visiting your building and provide solutions.

The commonly used cleaning method is called micro sensitive sandblasting for facades having materials such as CBOARD Panel and CBOARD Decorative products which are manufactured from precast GRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete), constituted technological stone CBOARD Mare and ultra-high performance precast concrete facade cladding panel, CBOARD UHPC. Micro sensitive sandblasting is done by pressure surface cleaning machine and it is aimed to remove atmospheric dirt on the facade cladding material. During cleaning, the utmost care is taken not to damage the facade paint and facade cladding material by using organic and ecological materials as cleaning agents. The mixture to be applied to the facade surface usually contains garnet, glass powder and some nutshells together with water. Sodium bicarbonate may also be added to the mixture depending on the type of facade material. In cases where the atmospheric environment is more polluted, acetic acid etc. chemicals which will not damage the facade paint and material may also be used. In addition to these methods, similar to sensitive sandblasting, dry ice pressure spraying to the facade with the help of a compressor is also being used to remove dirt. Dry ice is the name given to the solid state of carbon dioxide under the conditions of high pressure and low temperature whereas it is gaseous under normal atmospheric conditions. Since dry ice quickly expands and evaporates naturally when it hits a warmer surface than itself, it does not remain on the facade cladding material after application.

After cleaning, it is usually aimed to keep the facade claddings clean for longer periods of time by applying water repellents such as silane / siloxane based ticm WR101 reacting with the facade cladding material in nano and micro scale.