My husband and I are converting an old house that has been vacant for years and was last used as a pig sty?
Question:We are doing all of the clearing out ourselves before the contractors move in to try and keep the cost down. The house is well over 200 years old, with very thick stone walls which are full of spiders, cobwebs, pigeon dirt, and God knows what else. Should we power-wash the walls inside (would this do any damage?) or does anyone have any suggestions as to how to clean up the interior walls without making a mess or doing damage. Thanks.
Answers:
Jet washing the interior would be a good way of getting rid of the muck on the walls. Just bare in mind, that the floors are going to get saturated, so you may have to replace or allow them time to dry fully. Also, are you going to keep the walls as a feature, or board and skim over, in which case, the muck won't matter, as it will be trapped and hidden.
i would get a small electric pow. washer. and a wet dry vac. another tool i would use is a scrub brush that can be attached to a pole like a mini push broom. bleach and laundry detergent(liquid) are very effective cleaners. i dont think u can avoid getting the floors wet but if u can suck up the water fairly quickly u will keep from drenching them.
Well, that depends on the floor, are you keeping it, refinishing it, what? I would find a steam washer, you want to kill all the bacteria and God knows what else. Rent it. See power washing will cause the water hitting the walls to hit you right in the face and everywhere else. So, if you want to power wash dress in something waterproof and wear goggles and masks. Then you'll have to clean the water from the floors. This is not going to be worth your time. Believe me. The cost of having it done will pay for itself 20 times over not to get sick.
if ther is no damp inside and the stone is either sand stone or lime stone then you would power wash and clean out as much of the pointing that is loose and repoint with 2.5 n.h.l. lime mixed 2.5;1 with sharp sand ,if you use cement the stone cannot breathe and dampness will occur and cannot be cured
Be careful with strong power washers they can cause damage I know someone who did his cellar and ruined his neighbours house.
I would use scrapers and wire brushes and remember to use a dust mask. We just scraped shovelled and gently hosed down when we did our barn as we wanted to preserve as much as possible.
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