Commercial Case Study

Project Overview

This building was an original tilt-up structure that had a major addition added within the last decade. The structure is big, sitting at 30,000 square feet. Across the street is a gravel pit, which caused the building’s exterior to get regularly dirty. We were tasked with repairing the imperfections on the older parts of the building before painting the entire exterior.

Initial Condition

As mentioned above, the building was very dirty on the south and east sides due to dust from the gravel pit across the street. Where dirt didn’t collect, the building had white paint with a blue atrium and blue stripes. The older part of the structure’s caulk and backer rod were also failing and its windows were peeling.

Scope of Work

• Power wash the entire structure to prepare it for painting
• Replace the caulking and the backer rod on the older parts of the structure
• Give the entire structure a new paint color, including the atrium windows

Challenges and Solutions

Before we began any painting or repair work, we had to power wash the entire structure to remove all dirt and grime. This involved using a 60 foot boom lift to wash off higher areas that had been affected by the gravel pit. After power washing, we replaced the caulking and the backer rod in the older part of the building.

To avoid visible dirt build up in the future, we replaced the white paint with gray. Dirt, mildew, and other build up tends to show up a lot less prominently on gray. We also recommended using Sherwin William Emerald Rain Refresh on the 2 sides that receive heavy dirt. This product allows helps dirt wash off much easier in the rain. With all this being said, we kept the blue stripes of the building’s design, but repainted these stripes to give them a refreshed look. To make sure every part of the surface was covered, we removed the “MCR” sign from the building temporarily and painted it.

During the entire painting process, we had to coordinate with on-site staff to make sure we weren’t getting in the way of the receiving and shipping areas during normal customer work hours.

Conclusion

Overall, the project took us around 7 days to complete in August 2024. This project really emphasized our expert painting process from start to finish. Not only did we have to make sure the surfaces were properly prepared for painting through tasks like power washing, but we needed to strain our paint color and product knowledge to come up with the perfect solution to their continued building maintenance. Now, MCR has a coat of paint that will keep their structure looking great for years to come!