Relevant Products

Architectural Restoration

Architectural restoration is the process of restoring and reviving damaged or degraded architectural elements. The preservation of old architecture is important, especially if it holds historical significance to an area. Since older buildings are made of valuable materials, restoration tends to be more practical than replacement. It improves a building’s aesthetics, value, and service life.

Architecture can be restored in several ways, but one of the most common is with molding rubber. The process starts by removing and repairing the original model to produce a mold. An intact model identical to the one you are restoring can also be used to form a mold. Liquid urethane rubber is poured over the model and left to cure to create the mold. From the mold, a new casting is made and installed back on the building to replace the damaged piece.

The casting will resemble high-value stonework but is made of more affordable materials such as concrete, plaster, or gypsum. There’s no limit to what realistic, decorative features you can recreate, including stone, marble, and even wood.

Restoration experts have used polyurethane and silicone for years to make molds of damaged architecture. VFI offers a variety of pourable liquid rubbers for the restoration of architectural elements. Each rubber comes with its own unique properties to create strong, durable molds. Our urethane also has superior abrasion resistance for casting concrete. Silicone molds may seem appealing because of their great release properties, but urethane outweighs it in cost, longevity, and hardness range.

Polyurethane rubber is great for producing molds of stone-like panels, columns, corbels, cornice molding, statuary, and more. The molds can be reused repeatedly depending on the structure but also work perfectly for low-volume use. The pliable nature of urethane allows detailed designs to be copied from the original piece into the new castings. It typically offers quick turnaround for fast completion of restoration projects.