News

Posted On: 08/04/2005

Cleaning of Presidents' faces reflects corporate citizenry

PlantServices.com

Tornado Industries' European partner, Karcher, in cooperation with the National Park Service, has begun to clean the famous presidents' faces on Mount Rushmore, located near Rapid City, SD.

The project appropriately began on Independence Day, July 4, 2005 and is scheduled for completion in early August.  This is the first time that the monument has ever been cleaned.  

The goal is to remove lichen, algae, moss, and other organic stains that have built-up over the decades and can possibly damage the underlying rock as well as the faces' appearance.

The faces of American Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln were carved between 1927 and 1941 by Gutzon Borglum.  The memorial stands
approximately 60 feet tall and is considered one of the best-known monuments in the United States.

Green Cleaning Even Here

According to Mike Schaffer, president of Tornado Industries, no chemicals are being used for this task.  "They are using water only," he says.  "Five diesel-powered hot water pressure washers will spray near-boiling water on the granite surfaces with precision, rotary nozzles."

A critical component of Green cleaning, Schaffer explains, is to not only use certified-Green cleaning products, but to use as little cleaning chemicals as necessary to satisfactorily do a particular job. 

He adds that the decision to clean the monument without any chemical additives but use water near the boiling point was deemed effective and safe by two independent scientific experts. 

"Water at this temperature will also help delay any recurrence of growth on the rock sculptures," Schaffer continues.  "The scientists discovered this by performing cleaning trials on the monuments earlier this year."