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| Author | Post |
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Krueger
Director
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Wed Jun 24th, 2009 08:24 pm |
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A church in Detroit area recently had a fire - 1930's Frei windows.....they are asking about cleaning. Recommendations....thanks.
Barbara in Michigan
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bbates
Non AGG Member
| Joined: | Fri Sep 28th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 78 |
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Offline
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Posted: Thu Jun 25th, 2009 11:24 am |
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| I'm only speaking from experience, but we had to restored some painted work after a really nasty church fire. We began to clean, think that it was just soot on the work, but the pigment started to come up, too. My idea was to refire the peice, i thought that perhaps the church fire could have helped to seperate the "fired-on" colors. So we did a regular firing, and viola, the peice looked as good as new. I'm thinkin that the controlled firing fixed what the uncontrolled heat of the fire damaged. I don't know the science, but it worked!
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Courage
AGG Member
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Thu Jun 25th, 2009 02:04 pm |
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| Sometimes whiting mixed with distilled water can be brushed on with a soft brush. It dries to a soft paste, that can be dusted and rubbed off. Frei windows are usually well fired and on antique glass, but sometimes the more delicate enameled areas may lift. Always test a small area before any treatment. We also use a ph balanced liquid soap, mixed with non- ionic water. This can be in a spray bottle. Gently spray the area or a rag for more control, and wipe with lint free cotton rags. After it is clean, gently spray again with just the clean non-ionic water and then re-wipe. If this fails then you can be a little more aggressive. Soft natural bristle brushes can be used to scrub. They can be dunked into a mixture of ph balanced soaps and then brushed on. Museum services corp. sells some soap, Orvus paste, and glass fiber brushes. Glass fiber brushes can be used on textured areas, (if there are any), or more stubborn debris. If the windows are extracted, soak tanks can be built to treat the heavily sooted areas. This should be in a distilled water and you can mix whiting with this. Don't leave in tanks to long, usually over nite. Always test before any treatment. Re-cementing can help clean too, using conservation grade cement. Less is more, and never re-fire the pieces, this is not accepted in conservation techniques, oh well. Good luck! Last edited on Thu Jun 25th, 2009 02:08 pm by Courage
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Rebecca
Administrator
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Posted: Sat Jun 27th, 2009 12:51 am |
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What is conservation grade cement?
Rebecca
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Courage
AGG Member
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Sat Jun 27th, 2009 05:51 pm |
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| What I call conservation grade cement is the same cement everyone actively discusses globally. No turps, spirits, or plaster, but use boiled linseed oil with whiting, and lamp black. You can use a little pure gum turps to thin, but this is openly debated, it does evaporate out, but is not accepted by all practitioners as a conservation mix. Some people add a little plaster, but this also is debated, and should be left out of the mix for a more conservative approach. Cementing is one of the most discussed subjects, and I think we all tend to mix our cement the way we personally like it or taylor it to the projects needs.
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Vic
AGG Member
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Posted: Sat Jun 27th, 2009 08:21 pm |
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Krueger wrote: A church in Detroit area recently had a fire - 1930's Frei windows.....they are asking about cleaning. Recommendations....thanks.
Barbara in Michigan
If the paint is stable try these "soot" sponges
http://apps.webcreate.com/ecom/catalog/product_specific.cfm?ClientID=15&ProductID=21270
After all the loose dirt/soot is off then do final cleaning with steam.
[url=http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9oMGfz_DO1YJ:http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9oMGfz_DO1YJ:http://www.govacuum.com/eur370enmuls.html+eureka+370+steamer&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]http://www.govacuum.com/eur370enmuls.html+eureka+370+steamer&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9oMGfz_DO1YJ:http://www.govacuum.com/eur370enmuls.html+eureka+370+steamer&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us[/url]
This cleaning can be done in situ if needed.
Attached Image (viewed 33 times):
 Last edited on Sat Jun 27th, 2009 08:33 pm by Vic
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joseph2bears
AGG Member
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Sun Jun 28th, 2009 04:20 pm |
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Restoration is not my area of expertise, but after our home burned down in '96 we learned a few things about soot from the salvage crew.
1) Soot is highly acidic. When hot and combined with steam from the fire hoses it is highly corrosive. The longer it remains on surfaces, the more extensive the damage. The things that are potentially salvageable need to be cleaned ASAP to limit the damage. All of our pots & pans and silverware, while not exposed directly to the fire, were extensively pitted by the soot and were unsalvageable. The kitchen and living room in the front of the house were all that was left standing. The entire back of the house was simply gone!
2) Soot penetrated enamel painting on glassware and china and left permanent stains that could not be removed.
3) Soot is grease based. For the few things that were salvageable the cleaning crew used a commercial degreaser from Smart & Final, the stuff that restuaurants use to clean their kitchens. Normally, this degreaser is diluted 1 part degreaser to 5 parts water to clean stoves, grills, and hoods. The fire cleaning crew used it full strength, with protective gloves of course, and it immediately disolved and removed the soot from most surfaces.
4) Vicki and I tried unsuccessfully to salvage many items which were classified "unsalvageable" by the crew, but which we just had to try for many reasons. We tried Dawn dishwashing detergent, Formula 409, Fantastic, and a few other kitchen degreasing cleaners. All worked to some extent, but none were as effective or as quick as undiluted Smart & Final degreaser in removing soot.
I don't know if any of this is helpful, or if anyone has used commercial degreasers on soot damaged stained glass. Vicki and I cleaned a lot of glass, some of it enameled, with no visible effect on the glass from the full-strength degreaser. As I said, enamels were penetrated and stained by the soot, but the degreaser removed all surface traces of soot and did not appear to further surface etch the enamels. Glazed ceramics and other glassware seemed to clean up just fine.
There was a lot of heat damage, glass broke when handled, and ceramic glazes were crazed. Soot penetrated the cracks in ceramic glazes and could not be removed. This made many items unsalvageable and the initial assessments of the salvage crew were generally correct. It was a heartbreaking experience, particularly for the family heirlooms.
BTW, all stained glass in the house (unfortunately in the rear family room that was simply gone after the fire) became melted pools of glass in the ground, and all design files and drawings were totally consumed by the fire. It was a total loss. Kids were in school, the cats were outside, and Vicki and I were at work, so there were no injuries to the most important things. We just simply had to start over with everything.
--Joseph 2bears
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David Crane
AGG Member
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Posted: Sun Jun 28th, 2009 06:03 pm |
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Joseph, Sorry to hear of your fire.
Any clue as to what started it?
I know it is something all of us in glass work are constantly thinking about what with soldering irons, open gas flame, molten lead, etc.
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Krueger
Director
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Mon Jun 29th, 2009 02:16 am |
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Apparently there is no broken glass, only smoke damage....and I had been in the church several days earlier but there was no information that I ever saw in the newspaper, or I would have contacted them right away if they needed assistance in finding a studio to do this work - scaffolding for sure.
Barbara in Michigan
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