Bronze Door Cleaning and Restoration
The U.S. Department of Commerce Building, known as the Herbert C. Hoover Building (HCHB) was built in 1932. The HCHB is a 1.8 million gross square foot office building with approximately 3,500 tenants, and is considered to be a historic National Landmark building. The Office of Building Management (OBM) is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the HCHB.
The historic bronze doors, handrails, elevator door kick plates and floor sills within the HCHB are located on the first floor level, between corridors 1 through 7. After a detailed inspection it was determined that the bronze doors, hand rails, elevator door kick plates and floor sills needed to be re-stored to their original condition. The awarded contractor must have previous experience with the restoration of bronze decorative architectural elements, and will be held liable for any destruction done inadvertently or otherwise
The purpose of this acquisition is to clean and restore the historic finishes of the exterior bronze doors, handrails, elevator door kick plates and floor sills at select locations within the HCHB. The vestibules at the exterior door entrances consist of a set of double doors and transoms, and handrails, each with a dark colored patina at the exterior. The elevator doors have a satin finish. All conservation shall be executed in accordance with the latest editions of guidelines set forth by the following organizations:
* US Department of the Interior's Standard for the treatment of Historic Properties
* American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Code of Ethics and guidelines for Practice.
The scope of this effort shall include all labor, management, supervision, material, supplies and equipment necessary to restore each exterior bronze door and transom, handrails, elevator kick plate and floor sill to its original appearance. All bronze elements shall be stripped using acceptable non-abrasive products. A minimum of three (3) coats of lacquer shall be re-applied to all surfaces. This includes hardware, trim, molding, transoms, and thresholds.
a) Testing and Mockups: Provide small scale mock-ups of the recommended treatment methods for review and acceptance prior to the commencement of any large scale restoration.
b) Surface Treatment of Abraded Bronze Metal: areas that have been abraded may be lightly polished or honed to restore surface consistency.
c) Cleaning of Bronze Metals:
* Dissolve and remove previous coatings from exposed bronze surfaces.
* Wash bronze surfaces with clean running water and a nonionic detergent to remove soiling and debris, natural bristle brushes should be used to avoid scratching the surface. Loose corrosion and remaining soiling shall be removed by hand cleaning with fine nylon abrasive pads and bronze brushes. Care shall be taken to assure the complete and even removal of loose corrosion.
d) Patination of Bronze Doors:
* Exterior Doors; Patination and coating method shall match the existing scheme of the bronze entrance doors located between the entrances for corridors 3 through 7. This includes polished highlights for all lettering at the exterior door transoms. Wearing surfaces such as door pulls and hand rails shall not be polished to a bright finish.
e) Patination of Bronze Hand Railings:
* Railing and Posts; Patination and coating method shall match the existing scheme of the Bronze Handrails and Posts located at the Secretary's entrance, corridors 3 through 8/ first floor.
f) Touch-Up and Maintenance for Exterior Doors/ 15 total entrances:
Remove existing build-up of dirt and oxidation on all surfaces. Remove all gouges and scratches. Maintenance services for the recently restored surfaces shall include touch-up of all door handles and entrance sills, and re-apply lacquer. The Offeror shall wash down and wax the entire exterior side for each door entrance.
g) Coating of Bronze Metals: Apply three (3) coats of exterior grade corrosion inhibiting nitrocellulose laquer to protect metal finishes. The bronze shall be dried surface moisture prior to the application of the first coat.
(See RFQ)
Mario A. Cadori, Phone 2024823557, Email mcadori@doc.gov
