Heritage Buildings
Church of The Immaculate Conception, Rathcormack
Rathcormack Catholic Church was built in 1818 and Canon Michael Leamy wanted to prepare the church for the upcoming bi-centennial celebrations. The main spire had, to his knowledge, never been cleaned and was covered with a heavy layer of biomass, mainly made up of algae, fungus and lichens.

Limestone and sandstone are the main building materials. The roof is slate tiles with decorative terracotta ridges. These are soft and delicate materials that can be severely damaged by acids, alkalis and traditional cleaning methods of power washing and sand blasting.
The roof was dull and lifeless and the front gates and walls were heavily covered with fungus and lichens.
The headstones in the grounds of the church were also very dirty with the delicate inlaid lead engraving being almost unreadable.


Biocide Softwash was suggested as the preferred method for the cleaning as it is pH neutral and is applied with a very gentle spray. This would ensure that no harm would be done to the fabric of the building.
