Can Limestone Be Restored After Inclement Weather or Fire?
Limestone is beautiful, but it isn’t invincible. Unfortunately, just like other parts of your home, limestone can be damaged in inclement weather and fire. While restoration is possible, it’s important that you work quickly and efficiently in order to ensure the highest chances of success.
Inclement weather comes in several different forms but may include flooding and rainwater damage. Fires can also cause severe damage to your limestone. No matter what has affected your weather damaged limestone, here are some things to keep in mind when seeking restoration services.
What Damage Can Inclement Weather and Fire Do to Limestone?
Rain and Water
With most storms, you’ll get a lot of rain and water. Unfortunately, this moisture can have severe negative side effects on your limestone.
Limestone is porous, which means that water can very easily soak into your stone and cause damage that isn’t immediately visible. Over time, as more water sneaks into the pores of your stone, it can create cracks, discolor the stone, or weaken it.
Frost and Freezing
When water freezes, it expands. Unfortunately, as limestone is porous, it almost always has some water in it. As temperatures drop, the water in and around your limestone will expand and create cracks. Regular freezing and thawing can lead to rapid deterioration of your limestone.
Wind
Even wind can lead to damage to your limestone. It takes debris and dirt which, in turn, can scratch the surface of your limestone. With particularly strong windstorms or sharp and heavy debris, this damage may become visible sooner rather than later.
UV Rays
Constant sunshine can dull the color of your limestone and make it look old quickly. Even with a protective sealant, constant exposure to UV rays and sunlight will have a damaging effect on your limestone and lead to restoration needs.
Fire
Fires are always damaging, and limestone won’t escape the fray. Even though limestone is rather fire-resistant, it won’t be unscathed and often has heat damage, discoloration, or spalling (flaking) issues. For particularly large or strong fires, your limestone may even be structurally damaged in some areas.
Limestone Restoration
No matter what issue your limestone is facing, contacting our restoration company shortly after the damage is done will help increase the chances of successful restoration.
Depending on the damage, your limestone may require certain techniques to ensure complete restoration. Here are some of the techniques used to restore limestone after damage:
Cleaning
The first step, of course, is to clean the limestone. This will not only bring it back to life but also help reveal further damage that may have been hiding.
Crack Repair
If there are cracks in your limestone, our restoration services can repair them using a filler or epoxy.
Resurfacing
Most of the time, your limestone will need to be resurfaced. This involves grinding down the surface of your limestone and replacing it with new limestone. Instead of replacing all of your limestone, this ensures that the surface and damaged areas are cared for.
Sealing
To protect your limestone from further damage, it’s important that your limestone is sealed after the existing damage is taken care of. This will give it a barrier from future risks and reduce any damage that may be sustained in the future.
Replacement
In some cases, the damage may be so severe that parts of your limestone may need to be replaced. In this case, our restoration professionals will work to ensure that the replacement limestone matches your existing limestone as closely as possible.
Leave Your Limestone Restoration to Clean Image of Orlando
As you can see, restoring limestone after inclement weather or fire is possible. However, this only works if you act quickly. Waiting or delaying the restoration process lowers the chances of success, and you may be unable to restore your limestone if you wait too long. As such, be sure to get in contact with our restoration company as quickly as possible.