DJ Cooper Building Conservation for Minehead, Somerset

In the 15th century Minehead was still a mainly agricultural area. However, the position of the settlement, on the north coast of Somerset, soon made it a very important fishing port, with herring being the staple local catch. This in turn led to development of the port as an important international trading harbour with ships full of livestock, cotton and wines. However, the advent of bigger ships that needed larger harbours set a downward trend in traffic to Minehead. The local textile industry went into decline and the seal was set on the town's fate as an international port when a great fire destroyed many of the buildings in 1791.<br /><br />With historic buildings in and around the town, some national monuments, some still in use, owned privately or by the local council, we often find ourselves called on in the Minehead area to ensure that when the grime from traffic, bird fouling, general day to day soiling or even graffiti is removed from a treasured building, there is no damage to the often delicate stonework beneath.<br /><br />From removal of old paint for a domestic redecoration project, or the intricate cleaning of stone work in a cathedral using the poultice method, you will find that wherever you are in Minehead or Somerset, you will get a quick response, highly competitive quotation and thorough cleaning from DJ Cooper. Our number is shown above, or if you prefer to send us an email, simply click in the header of any page.

Photo from Featured Project near Minehead, Somerset
Sandblasting
<p> Abrasive blasting, commonly referred to as 'Sandblasting', is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface, or remove surface contaminants.<br /><br />Despite the common use of the term, it is illegal in the UK to use most forms of sand for abrasive blasting, as the fine dust particles which are created when the sand is projected at high speed, can cause silicosis – a potentially fatal lung disease.<br /><br />With a wide choice of abrasive media available, the process can be fine tuned to suit the contamination to be removed and the surface from which it is to be cleaned. By choosing correctly and applying the process skilfully, excellent results can be achieved on a great variety of cleaning tasks.<br /><br />There are several variants of the process, using various media; some are highly abrasive, whereas others are milder. The most abrasive are shot blasting (with metal shot) and sandblasting (with sand). Moderately abrasive variants include glass bead blasting (with glass beads) and plastic media blasting (PMB) with ground-up plastic stock or walnut shells and corncobs. Some of these substances can cause anaphylactic shock to both operators and passers by.[2] A mild version is sodablasting (with baking soda). In addition, there are alternatives that are barely abrasive or nonabrasive, such as ice blasting and dry-ice blasting. </p><h4></h4><p></p><p></p>