Progrout Plaudits:
Friday, June 13, 2003
11.22am
Progrout Ltd
FAO Beryl Fenwick
Sunny Bar Sculpture, Doncaster
Dear Beryl, and all at Progrout,
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for
assisting with the Doncaster sculpture by providing the Progrouting
equipment on extended demonstration loan, and to say that without
your help, the project would have been much harder to complete.
What started out as a relatively straightforward design and concept,
became increasingly more complex over the three years it took to
produce, and unfortunately my budget was constrained by the original
conntract, which I wish I had never signed! But I cannot look back.
The work is now finished and I am immensely proud of the sculpture,
and hope that I have learned something about costing in the prosses.
One the most important feature of the brick columns was the way
in which they were grouted. With over a thousand hand-made bricks
glued into position by epoxy adhesives, the daunting task of trying
to successfully grout them in-situ was something that I had not
been looking forward to, as none off the joints were flat or particularly
easy to get to with the scaffolding in place. I had initially registered
myself to applying the grout in the conventional manner, i.e. by
throwing it into the joints as a way of forcing it into the vertical
vertical and age removing the excess with sponge and water. An additional
problem here was that a lot of the bricks had an extremely rough
surface that "help" the quick setting grout, making removal
a nightmare. I knew there had to be a better way! Enter the Progrout
system, which was when I knew my problems had been solved.
From the minute I assembled the tool, I knew I had a quality product
that had been thought out, that was ergonomic in design and function,
and that would tackle the most difficult application with ease.
Having never used a nozzle application system for grouting before,
it took no time at all to get the process, and with the hour felt
like an expert, although I kept refining the technique over the
6 days it took to apply the grout, experimenting with the consistency
and mix of the material. At the end of the job I knew with conviction
that I could never apply grout in any other way.
I had looked at other systems, particularly methods that required
the use of a "triger-pull" cartgidge type gun, but knew
that after a few weeks of use, I would need to book into intensive
care to get my hand sorted out. The beauty of the Progrout system
is that it causes no hand or muscle strain (repetitive strain injury)
to the applicator, and can be easily carried out over a long period
of time without any problems. The other additional benefit is that
because the grout can be injected directly into the joint, there
is far less cleaning up to do afterwards, saving both material and
time, which translates into a direct cost save, potentially quite
significant if working on site
As a professional sculptor and designer working throughout the country,
I am continually faced with new technical challenges for each new
piece of work that I undertake, as nothing is ever the same. What
I find so frustrating is that it has taken me so long to discover
the joys of Progrouting, which must surely be one of the best kept
secrets in industry. My life will never be the same.
Tanks again for all you help,
Yours sincerely,
Sebastien Boyesen (civic artist)
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