Domestic.
Surface Preparation – Nationwide
Dirty Brick Cleaning
We can clean dirty bricks, or remove paint from them; we have various techniques or options for this depending on the dirt or paint, and the quality or softness of the brick – from the Sand Jet, to a full on Sand Blast, or even more aggressive high pressure water systems.
We specialise in using a listed building approved low pressure sand jetting system that has been used nationwide for property restoration. The system, in our trained hands, causes minimal damage to an underlying surface and is flexible enough to tackle most property restoration cleaning tasks.
Painted Brick Cleaning
We can clean painted bricks, or remove dirt from them; we have various techniques for this depending on the dirt or paint, and the quality or softness of the brick – from the Sand Jet, to a full on Sand Blast, or even more aggressive high pressure water systems. The photos below show samples of our work throughout the UK, and by using the menu selector on the top left of the picture box you can choose to see just painted brick samples, or just dirty brick samples In the photos below you can choose between dirty brick and painted brick .
Dirty and Painted Stone Cleaning
Greenleaf Contractors offer a stone cleaning service across the UK. We clean stone with a variety of methods or options, from superheated steam (DOFF type techniques) moving up (in aggressiveness) to our sand jet machine, through sandblasting or grit blasting, and up to high pressure water should you desire it. We can simply clean dirty stone, or strip paint from it. Post treatment we can seal the surface to prevent discolouration in the future. We typically work in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, but regularly travel to London, Derby, Newcastle and Scotland.
Dry Ice Blasting
There are times when alternative methods are called for, one of which is Dry Ice blasting. Here a surface to be cleaned is blasted with solid CO2 particles, and the surface is cleaned through thermal shock, the massive volume change as dry ice particles turn into gas, and some abrasion of the surface contaminant, making the process ‘grit or sand free’.
The advantage of this system is that the ‘abrasive’ evaporates on impact, so the only ‘debris’ is the material being removed. It is nearly ‘dustless’ – about as dustless as it is possible to get for an open blast system – however it will still blow cobwebs, birds nests, paint debris etc. fairly liberally!
It is used widely in the printing industry to clean print rollers, and for mould and weld cleaning.
Wood Sand Jet Cleaning
We specialise in using a low pressure sand jetting system that has been used nationwide for property restoration, including gaining approval for and subsequently working on many Listed Buildings.
The system, in our trained hands, causes minimal damage to an underlying surface and is flexible enough to tackle most property restoration cleaning tasks.
The low pressure sand jet can clean bricks without injecting large quantities of water into the surface, and with minimal surface damage. At the same time, the ‘wet’ system also captures dirt and abrasive, preventing the health and safety risks associated with dry blasting.
However, the damp nature of the blast does mean that the abrasive and removed dirt / paint stick to surfaces – this can be washed out, or left to dry and brushed out. But we have now re-discovered that dry blasting can, if the operator is careful, be quite effective; so we now offer that service as well. It is one of those ‘swings and roundabouts’ things – the dry blast will use more abrasive and create lots and lots of dust, but is perhaps a little easier to clean up on the day.
Wood – Traditional Grit Blasting / Sandblasting
We will undertake sand blasting of wood (also known as grit blasting) anywhere in the country, although we obviously work most often in our local communities such as Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, or cities such as Nottingham or Derby; but we have dry sandblasted as far south as London, and did a ‘sizeable’ job in Cheshire a few years ago. Traditional gritblasing or sandblasting relies on gravity to regulate a smooth flow of abrasive into the blast air stream, it tends to be more agressive than some of our other methods, is very dusty, but can be very cost effective.
Laser Cleaning
At long last, laser cleaning is becoming affordable for domestic and jobbing industrial applications. The system applies a scanning laser beam to a surface, and the contaminant is vapourised. We can now offer this service, it is possibly not the cheapest option, but if you are living in an open plan property then this could be the solution for you. It is very effective at removing smoke damage, less effective at removing white paint!
Steel, Cast Iron, Aluminium & Alloy Cleaning
We specialise in using a low pressure sand jetting system but obviously sometimes traditional sand/bead blasting is more appropriate for metal cleaning.
However The ‘damp’ system also captures dirt and abrasive, preventing the health and safety risks associated with dry blasting. It also acts as a coolant, and therefore can clean thin metals, such as steel motor vehicle shells, without heating the surface causing distortion. In particular though this capturing of dirt means that the system can safely clean lead based paints from structural steelwork ad Cast Iron . It is also ‘soft’ enough to clean Aluminium or Alloy surfaces without heavy scratching – but enough profile to allow paint coats to fully bind to the cleaned surface.
A further advantage of the system we use is that it also uses far less abrasive than traditional sandblasting, making expensive abrasives, such as garnet, cost effective, and more significantly reducing waste. Abrasive does not need to be recycled, preventing cross contamination between jobs, and apart from in specialist cases, is not a major part of the running costs.
Graffiti Removal from Brick, Metal or Concrete
Bricks can be sealed using Silane or even more slippery products to make it very difficult to reapply graffiti to a surface – paint doesn’t stick, and what does can be wiped or pressure washed clean. Subsequent sealing of surfaces can minimise re-occurrence of graffiti, but care must be taken to avoid providing a primed ‘background colour’ for new graffiti.
Sometimes, however, chemical stripping solutions offer a rapid and effective method for graffiti removal – they are particularly useful for removing graffiti from over painted surfaces or from surfaces such as galvanising that may be damaged by abrasives.
Spray Foam Insulation Removal
Over the last twenty or so years, sprayed polyurethane foam (closed or open cell) has been used to provide an consistent, rapid and structurally sound insulation to the undersides of roofs. However, in more recent years, householders have found that when they come to sell, surveyors are unable to assess the wood work of the roof spaces (because the foam is stuck to it) and won’t give any guarantee of a roof’s quality as a result. The knock on effect of this is that prospective purchasers of the property can’t get a mortgage.
We can remove the foam, although it needs to be noted that none of the 3 methods we use is without its drawbacks – and all are very messy, particluarly if there is no rooflight / window in the loft – and the only access is through a small hole on a landing. If that is the only way in, it is also the only way in and out for us and the only way out for the foam!