Concrete Turtle Statue Care & Maintenance

If you have a particular fondness for turtles, you may have a turtle statue in your yard, garden, flower bed, or other peaceful area of your property. If so, you may be wondering how to care for my concrete turtle statue. In this article, we will take a look concrete turtle statue care & maintenance. As we do, we will talk a bit about concrete in general and what kinds of surface treatments might be good to think about.

Factors Affecting Concrete Statue Care & Maintenance

ALthough your concrete statue is of a turtle, it really gets cared for like most other concrete you may have around your home. However, there are some factors that might impact how you care for your concrete turtle statue. Statues are made of all sorts of materials and concrete is just one of them. Additionally, where your concrete turtle statue is located will impact the care and maintenance methods you choose to use. Cleaning will be approached differently depending on what kind of cleaning you are doing. Finally, what steps you take to protect your statue will play a role as well. So let's begin our consideration of how to care for turtle statues.

Is Your Turtle Made of Concrete?

This might seem like a strange question, but it is a good one to consider. Not all turtle statues are made from concrete. Several materials are used for statuary. For example, resin, plastic, and metal are all materials that are used for statues. You may be thinking though, "my turtle statue feels too light to be concrete." However cast stone statuary is concrete nonetheless; even though it is lighter. If you want to know more about cast stone you will find a nice description of it in the article answering the question: What is cast stone? on wikipedia.com. That page defines it as:

Cast stone or reconstructed stone is a highly refined architectural precast concrete masonry unit intended to simulate natural-cut stone. It is used for architectural features: trim, or ornament; facing buildings or other structures; statuary; and for garden ornaments.

If your turtle statue is concrete, then the rest of this article will apply. But if you have a different material, you will want to research the care and maintenance of that material.

Painted Turtle Statues

The surface of the turtle statue will make a difference in how you care for it. A statue that is painted will require different care and maintenance than a statue without a painted surface. Therefore, the rest of this article will consider how to care for and maintain your turtle statue if it is not painted.

Turtle Statue Location

Now that we have the pre-qualifiers out of the way, we are ready to get into concrete turtle statue care & maintenance specifics. The first specific we will look at is the location. Why does the location of your concrete statue matter? Because moist, shaded areas will require a specific facet of care and maintenance. Areas that are moist and shaded perpetuate the growing of mold, mildew, algae and other types of fungi. Fungal stains need to be cleaned using products formulated to clean this type of substance from concrete. Using a mold remover for concrete statues and other stone materials will yield better results than other cleaners. As always, we recommend that no matter what cleaner you use, you test it on a small inconspicuous part of the concrete before using.

Regular Cleaning of Concrete Statuary

It is easy to overlook regular cleaning of your lawn statues. However just like other concrete surfaces around your home, your turtle statue will only look its best with periodic cleaning. Cleaning your concrete turtle statue with a stain remover designed for concrete and other stone-like materials gives you the best looking statue and helps you prepare the ornament for the next aspect of the care and maintenance of your turtle that we will discuss.

Sealer for Turtle Statues

Even if you keep the mold and other fungal life off your turtle and clean it regularly using a concrete stain remover. You can also make the follow up treatments easier by sealing you turtle statue with a sealer that is compatible with concrete. By applying an effective concrete statue sealer to your turtle, you will be slowing the absorption of moisture, which slows the algae build up. Additionally, it keeps liquids form getting into the pores of the concrete statue wheres stains end up living.

As we have considered, even though having a concrete turtle statue is enjoyable, it will require a bit of TLC to keep it looking its best. Yet, taking a few simple things into consideration, the care and maintenance will not be too difficult and your concrete turtle statue will continue to add life to your garden, lawn, or courtyard!