In the world of restoration, two of the most difficult jobs are fire and mold remediation. Both of these jobs can be made much simpler and safer by abrasive blasting with baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate).
Baking soda abrasive blasting originated back in the 1980’s during the mammoth restoration project of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. During the planning of this project, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. maker of ARM & HAMMER™ baking soda was contacted by the project engineers looking for a way to remove the final two interior layers of cold tar epoxy all without damaging Lady Liberty’s delicate copper skin. Through trial and error, the engineers tested many different methods and blasting abrasives without success. Harder blasting abrasives were damaging and blowing holes through Lady Liberty’s delicate copper skin. The project engineers then had the idea to try abrasive blasting with baking soda and soon discovered that baking soda had extraordinary cleaning properties all while not causing any surface damage. Following this success, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. launched the first baking soda blasting abrasive, ARMEX™.