Fighting the D.C. slime

Reader Michael Juergens thinks he has a solution for the grayish biofilm slime that’s growing on the Jefferson Memorial, the topic of Monday’s column:

“The idea that occurs to me is heat. I don’t know how much heat the marble can take, but I suspect it’s quite a bit more than the algae-fungi-bacteria community ever wants to see. Use a device like a electric paint remover to kill the stuff. It should have a temperature control to make sure you get it hot enough, but not too hot. A little research and experimentation should easily establish these limits. …

“Hopefully you’ll be able to go hot enough to not only kill the slime, but completely incinerate it. The resulting ash can be easily removed with soap and water and a soft cloth.

“I believe this approach would solve the problem without danger to the stone.We certainly owe it to the memory of the inventive Mr. Jefferson to apply American ingenuity and solve this problem!”

I knew somebody had a good idea. Email rrollins@coxohio.com.

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