HYDRO GUARD & PURE GUARD PROTECT A LIMESTONE façade FROM ENVIRONMENTAL SOILING

THE CHALLENGE

This limestone building’s proximity to the La Guardia makes the façade susceptible to excessive soiling caused by airborne pollutants. The humidity of New York also creates an ideal environment for organic growth to take hold on the limestone façade.

THE SOLUTION

After our site visit, Armus recommended both Hydro Guard and Pure Guard as treatment solutions for the limestone façade. We determined that the top left corner of the north-facing façade would show best proof of concept, as it was the section with the heaviest soiling. Armus offered a product demo to show proof of concept with labor provided by Skyline Restoration.

IMPLEMENTATION

1. Surface Preparation: The section of the north-facing façade was professionally power washed and cleaned. 

2. Application: On the far left of the façade, Pure Guard used alone to demonstrate its self-cleaning efficacy. In the center section of our demo, Hydro Guard was applied as a base treatment and left to dry for a day. Pure Guard was then applied the next day over the Hydro Guard-treated section as a secondary treatment to show the effects of using both treatments in combination. All power-washed surfaces to the right of the leftmost window frame were left untreated.

6 MONTHS POST-APPLICATION RESULTS & evaluation

8-months post-application, Armus returned to the site together with engineers. Using a 10x loupe, engineers observed no changes to the characteristics of the Armus-treated limestone compared to the untreated sections. Light soiling can be seen on the Pure Guard-only treated section on the far left and not in the section of the façade treated with both Hydro Guard and Pure Guard.


Our results show that the water-repellent treatment of Hydro Guard when paired with the self-cleaning properties of Pure Guard is the best-performing combination for protecting and maintaining this limestone façade.