German cleaning specialist Kärcher will perform a free cleaning of the Cenotaph in Kingstown, which is a monument to the 65 residents of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who served and died in the First and Second World Wars.
The cleaning is scheduled to begin today, Oct. 17 and be completed by Oct. 21.
“I am very pleased that by cleaning the Cenotaph we can contribute to the protection and preservation of an important cultural monument in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Nick Heyden, cleaning expert from Kärcher’s headquarters in Germany said.
Heyden specialises in cleaning historical monuments and is deployed around the world in his role.
The two-part cleaning procedure was coordinated with the local authorities.
In the first step, the Kärcher expert will remove biological growth and loose deposits on the statue, the base and the ground area around the monument.
To do this, he will use a hot water high-pressure cleaner in the gentle steam mode at 95 degrees Celsius and a reduced pressure of just 0.5 – 1 bar.
Hot steam cleaning is one of the most effective and at the same time most gentle cleaning techniques and must not be confused with pure high pressure.
Heyden would then use the so-called low-pressure microparticle blasting process to remove emission deposits from the base of the monument and to remove lime efflorescence and paint residues from the floor slabs surrounding the monument.
In principle, the process works in a similar way to sandblasting, except that the procedure is much more sensitive.
With only 1 – 2 bar and the fine aluminum silicate with a grain size of 40-80 micrometres as the blasting medium, it is possible to work precisely so that only the dirt is removed and the original substance remains undamaged.