A historic barn near Boston is gaining new life with help from Nitrofreeze®. Recently, our Worcester, Massachusetts company completed an 11-day restoration project using dry ice blasting, an environmentally-friendly cleaning process. Nitrofreeze® dry ice blasted the 1860s-era barn, including beams, posts, and framing.

Adams + Beasley Associates, a custom builder from Carlisle, Massachusetts, selected Nitrofreeze® for this project, which will convert the historic barn into a recreational building. The cleaning process  that we used aimed a high-velocity stream of dry ice pellets at the barn’s wooden surfaces, including dusty, dirty troughs and stalls with old flaking paint.

Safe, Clean, and Effective

Dry ice cleaning won’t harm wooden surfaces and doesn’t require scraping or harsh chemicals. Plus, because dry ice blasters are adjustable, operators can change the ice and pressure levels to clean uneven surfaces and achieve a blended finish. That was especially important for this barn restoration project, and not just because of the building’s rough-hewn beams.

Some of the beams inside the barn had been inconsistently cut by nineteenth century sawmills. These surfaces were non-uniform, but there were also decades of dust above and in-between the beams. To safely and cleanly remove the dust from cracks and crevices, Nitrofreeze® used a one-inch nozzle and an air-only stream at maximum pressure.

Removing Dust, Grime, and Old Paint

Dust wasn’t the only problem. Since the barn wasn’t weatherized, wild birds had roosted and deposited dung. In addition, some beam surfaces had large areas with deep black grime. By using a two-inch nozzle and a variable rate of dry-ice per minute, the dry ice blaster could clean even the most challenging surfaces without damaging the historic barn’s wood.

There were also old horse stalls covered in flaking white paint. Using a dry ice blaster with a four-inch nozzle, Nitrofreeze® blasted the walls at 125 psi. The paint peeled away easily, and without any hand scraping. Other than the old paint and dust, there wasn’t any cleanup since dry ice blasting is an effectively media-less process.

Ask Nitrofreeze® about Dry Ice Blasting

During dry ice blasting, solid carbon dioxide turns directly into a gas with no intermediate liquid state. Dry ice is non-abrasive, non-toxic, non-flammable, and this safe, clean process is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nitrofreeze® has a proven record with historic restoration projects and used a five-person crew for this 11-day project.

Is dry ice cleaning the right choice for your historic restoration project? To learn more about our proven process, contact Nitrofreeze® at the phone number and email listed below.

(508) 459-7447 x 109 | info@nitrofreeze.com