October 16th, 2008
Plaster Restoration, Monumento de la Constitucion
Monumento de la Constitucion, Day Two
At the end of the day on Wednesday we had all the pieces to restore the render (that’s what we call the first coat on masonry). The mixer, the lime, the sand, the tools and the logistics. I can’t thank the contractor here enough for smoothing the way for this project to go forward. (More on them in another post.)
Due to the fiable nature of the render that was on the monument we removed the it but our actions left the coquina (the stone sub strata) dusty. So we brushed and blew it clean.
Then we wet down the coquina. As it turns out the stone does not have alot of suction. It only has a rather large surface area. So we wet it down and wet it down…
Then it was time to apply the render that we spent the morning making.
Yours truly covering up the coquina!
Being a town square, in a tourist town, in a college town, during motorcycle month you would think that people would stop and ask question. Well they did, WOW. Everyone is pleased that the monument is being restored.
Her we are finishing up the last of the render. Notice that we are working out of the sun, following the shadow around the monument.
To make sure the render (we used fat lime and sand for the render) did not dry out prior to curing we wrapped the monument up in two layers of wet burlap covered loosely by sheet plastic. This will prevent the render from drying out from the sun and breeze while providing a damp environment with lots of CO2 for the lime to cure properly.
Here’s our little beauty all dressed up and ready for the evening in the plaza.
Check tomorrow to see what fun we are having. Instead of images of grass growing or paint drying we will have exciting images of plaster curing. Hold onto your hats its going to be a wild ride!
