New technologies can feel transformative, like the first time you realize that a power washer can clean the siding on a building far faster than taking a brush and bucket of water to the task.
In case you or a maintenance crew is still mired in the twentieth century, laser cleaners appear to be all the range. Multiple companies like Laser Photonics Corporation in the U.S. and P-Laser Industrial Laser Cleaning in Belgium make portable equipment that allows cleaning of rust, oxides, oil, or other contaminants from a range of materials, including concrete, ceramics, glass, stone, and plastic.
The systems work using laser ablation. High-energy lasers are pulsed onto the contaminant at specific wavelengths and pulse lengths. The energy either turns the surface contaminant into a vapor or breaks particles up and eliminates their molecular bond to the surface.
Often these technologies are used in industrial settings, but the technology has advanced enough to be used on building exteriors. In a recent press release, Laser Photonics wrote, “The CleanTech Handheld LPC-2000-CTHD is the perfect tool for exterior maintenance on facilities and infrastructure. The technology provides a time-efficient, cost-effective and eco-friendly method of removing corrosion from walls and other structures while remaining reliable and durable. Through the utilization of this cutting-edge technology, operators can prevent and address corrosion that is affecting facilities and other buildings.”
These are not inexpensive items to pick up at a big box home improvement store if you’re looking to get something to clean some spots on a building wall. They can run tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The capital costs are high, the consumables aren’t, and you don’t have the issue of toxic substances.
Maybe the working case currently is finding a cleaning company that has the equipment and contracting them to work on something that is particularly difficult and stubborn where ordinary cleaning methods aren’t working. But this is certainly a technology to consider and watch, as over time it will probably fall in price the way so many things do. According to the site Our World in Data, the cost per terabyte of hard drive storage, not adjusted for inflation, is $14.30. In 1990, it was $3.27 million. How things change.