Settle Station Water Tower

[watertower]

I am restoring the former water tower at Settle Railway Station. See our Blog at

http://settlestationwatertower.blogspot.com/

Presently I am setting about painting the tank side panels (there are 72 of them) in the original Midland Railway colours - see the Blog.
After painting the first six panels it is clear that the tank is going to look stunning but it will emphasise the discoloured state of the stone plinth immediately below it - stained with a mixture of moss, lichen and general grime. It looks as though it will clean up well enough with pressure washing with water. I do not want to use anything harsher.
My question is how to deter re-growth of unwanted material once it has been pressure washed. My experience with pressure washing so far has been that re-growth occurs rapidly.
I am wondering about using bleach, borax or anything else people can recommend.

 

[LadyArowana]

That looks like an intersting project. Have to say I love that you gave the gondola a name, I am sure inanimate objects work better if given a name, but I seem to be a minority opinion. I'm sorry I have nothing useful to add in answer to your question, if I did I wouldn't need to go outside later and scrub the balcony :lol:

 

[Moo]

I've seen products advertised as discouraging the regrowth of moss etc on paving - would they be worth investigating?

 

[Schoolmarm]

Algon, original, concentrated.

Buy the very large one approx 20 litres then mix 3:1 water:algon.


Sprayed on it soon kills all green moss and algae. You can then brush off the grey black residue or power wash if you really want but the stuff will be dead and not spread all over by your washing. Spreading allows it to grow back everywhere.

A light spraying every couple of years will keep it clean.

 

[Schoolmarm]

I have just looked and you might not want to be spraying stuff up there regularly lol!!

 

[worms]

Could you fix a copper wire to the top of stonework to prevent re-growth?

 

[Feltwell]

I rather enjoyed this on "Restoration Man" tonight. Always tricky, converting a building away from it's former use without spoiling it's character - but I thought this was done rather well, especially the fact that the large internal space was not sub-divided too much just to get more liveable space inside. The "floating" internal staircase was particularly impressive.

 

[Penners]

Feltwell - do I infer from your post that last night's programme featured Settle Water Tower?

 

[Feltwell]

It was indeed, and I know a few of this forum's readers tend to watch it. It's now on 4OD for anyone who wants to view it.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restoration-man/4od

 

[Penners]

Thank you. I shall try to fit it into my busy schedule. :wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Penners, I suspect you might also like the situation-comedy "The Big Bang Theory".

 

[Penners]

I've seen it advertised, FW, but I've never ventured to watch it. I tend to try and avoid new TV attractions, as they eat into my dozing time.

But thanks for the recommendation.