Goop Off … (you were waiting for this, weren't you?)

The goop drooled down the bricks for two days, and those were two warm days with temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s, which is good for the chemical reaction that's needed to soften the paint.

On Thursday morning, I stopped on my way out of town to snap this photo. Rusty had just started removing the goop with water.




When I returned just before 5:00, this is what I discovered.



Not exactly what we imagined, but definitely a step in that direction. If you look closely, you can see the natural color of the cement hoods over the windows.

During the 1870s, fancy window hoods like these were often used on commercial buildings because someone had figured out how to make the molds and fill them with a high sand content concrete. This was new technology, and much cheaper and faster than having stone hoods carved by hand. In addition, it allowed more intricate designs to be made.
(source: Victorian Architecture of Iowa, Wm. Plymat Jr.)

With the change in the weather, this might be as far as we get with paint removal this fall. We'll have to wait and see.