Stick to It
CASE STUDY
A client felt that discarded, blackened gum stuck to the brick outside their high-end retail facility was beginning to compromise their aesthetic standards and consequently their brand. Resicom was contacted to effectively remove the gum without damaging the brick.
Scope
The scope of work needed to complete this project:
- Remove all gum and tar from brick at 3 separate entrances.
- Research cleaning solvent and/ or methods to effectively remove gum without damaging or discoloring brick.
Challenges
The challenges of this project included:
- The gum was old and had hardened making removal extremely difficult.
- The brick is porous and extreme care had to be taken to not damage the brick.
- Scraping off the gum and using certain cleaning products could permanently discolor or possibly chip the brick.
Solution
Resicom was able to leverage knowledge from our team of experts to research and then create a process on how to effectively remove the gum without damaging the brick surface.
Our solution to the project included:
- Allow the product to sit for several minutes to dislodge gum.
- Using a pressure washer to not only remove all gum remnants, but also clean the brick.
- Manually scrubbing in between cracks of the bricks to be sure that all gum is removed.
Summary
Although Resicom had not previously executed a brick/ gum removal work order, we were confident in our ability to execute an effective project using our tried and true standard- process- audit. Resicom gathered the necessary information from our in-house experts so that we did not waste valuable time in trial and error methods. Resicom understands that poor planning leads to poor execution, so we invest the necessary energy to develop a well-detailed plan.
