Presto Restoration has decades of experience cleaning and sealing precast stone and concrete. Our skilled technicians can quickly and expertly identify specific problem areas and recommend a restoration and maintenance plan that’s right for you.
Managing commercial structures built with precast stone comes with its specific challenges. Over time, concrete develops corrosion issues, unsightly minor staining and discoloration, and potentially dangerous major issues. Cleaning and sealing precast stone helps you avoid these problems and can save you significant money over the short and long term.
5 Signs of Precast Façade Problems
Just like preventative maintenance for your car, home, or even your health, early detection of precast facade problems limits future losses. Here are the top five tell-tale signs of problems.
- Spalling. Water intrusion causes concrete spalling, a process where the steel’s interior reinforcing steel comes in contact with moisture or carbon dioxide and then cracks and breaks away. This poses a serious risk to pedestrians and building occupants. Spalling and horizontal and vertical cracking are frequent problems on precast concrete parking garages.
- Displacement. All building materials move in response to temperature changes; some shift in response to moisture changes. Undealt with displacement issues can result in severe damage to the affected materials and danger to the public. A quick visual inspection will tell you if pieces of the building’s cladding are out of plane with the rest of its facade.
- Leaks are a sure sign your commercial structure needs restoration and repairs. And the longer you go without addressing the issue, the more expensive the restoration is likely to be, including window repairs. Signs of water leakage include staining, efflorescence, and exposed metals rusting.
- Failing concrete joints. When expansion joints fail, water can penetrate precast, often leading to corrosion. Expansion joint repair is much simpler than dealing with corrosion of underlying building materials.
- Corrosion. Ever notice how quickly a bicycle rusts when it’s left out in the rain? When the steel inside building facades gets wet and rusts, the rust product expands with enough force to crack the surrounding precast and cause it to fall off. Early signs of corrosion include orange rust stains and cracks in locations where steel is likely to be found, such as over windows. The sooner you act to cut off water intrusion and repair the corrosion, the less damage the building will suffer down the road.
Cleaning and Sealing Precast Stone and Concrete
The only solution to preventing any of these problems occurring with your commercial structure is sealing the precast. Sealing benefits new construction immediately, while the cleaning and sealing of older buildings improves existing precast damage and adds years to the structure’s lifespan. Other benefits include:
- Delaying or avoiding altogether more costly repairs and reconstruction.
- Decreased liability.
- Maintaining your commercial building’s value.
Presto’s advanced cleaning and sealing services for precast stone, including our proprietary coatings and sealants, are guaranteed to extend the life of your precast concrete building, parking garage, or other structure. Keep in mind that all sealant has a lifespan, so some buildings may need to be resealed at some point.
Does Your Commercial Building Need Precast Restoration & Protection Services?
If your building’s precast concrete darkens when it comes into contact with water or rain, now’s the time to apply a protective sealant to preserve it. Our precast sealing services seal the surface’s natural pores and prevent water from entering the structure. You also benefit by not having to clean the stone as frequently moving forward. For example, without our cleaning and sealing protection, you’ll need to clean the precast stone every one to two years. With protection? You can typically wait a decade before resealing!
How do we do it? Presto’s Stone Restore CB2® keeps precast clean and restores its natural beauty while effectively removing all biological staining. We next apply a high-performance sealant such as our LeachStop® mineral leaching mitigation treatment. This invisible, protective barrier was formulated to help prevent precast stone from leaching minerals onto adjacent metal and glass surfaces.
Once your commercial building’s cleaned and sealed, we recommend developing a maintenance program that keeps it in pristine condition. The maintenance services Presto performs include:
- Checking joints for proper sealing.
- Cleaning any unsealed surfaces every four to six years.
- Replacing damaged joint caulking.
- Preventing staining by ensuring window cleaning solutions are cleaned from the precast.
Schedule Precast Stone Services For Your Commercial Building Today
Did you know Presto Restoration can do more than clean and seal your building’s facade? Our expert team can also:
- Provide needed repair services.
- Help plan maintenance schedules.
- Perform other services your building’s exterior might need.
For more than 25 years, Presto Restoration has been a leader in cleaning, sealing, and restoring commercial precast stone buildings throughout the country. Let us bring our decades of experience and expertise to your building! Talk to us today to learn more.
