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Another Set of Wood Front Doors Rescued From the Brink

Wood Front Door - Stripping Stage

Wood Front Door Refinishing - After

As house painting contractors in the Chicago area, we are often called to refinish wood front doors and wood garage doors. The chief enemies of these wood doors are moisture and the sun. They cause the varnish to crack and flake, which provides an opening for moisture to decay the wood and cause it to rot.

In our most recent wood door restoration project, the varnish and stain had worn off in the lower portions of the doors, exposing the raw wood. Fortunately, our client did not wait too long before calling on us – no rot was detected! In this case, the wood restoration consisted in the stripping of the old finish and the application of three coats of a German tinted varnish. The doors had never been revarnished in the past. They therefore only had a thin layer of varnish, which made the removal process that much easier. In other situations, the doors have been recoated on multiple occasions, often with a brittle marine or spar varnish. The more varnish coats, the more time is required to strip them.

In this last project, by not delaying the door maintenance, our client also avoided expensive epoxy restoration and wood replacement. Because of their location, the doors get at least 6 hours of sun during the day. With such sun exposure, the doors should be cleaned and revarnished every two to three years. By so doing, we avoid having to strip the doors again for a long time, thereby greatly reducing the maintenance cost.

Enjoy your refinished wood doors!

Getting the Old Barn Ready for Resale

Old Barn in Need of Restoration

Getting this old barn ready for resale required a serious dose of restoration to its cedar siding and its coating. As Chicago’s experts in the nurturing of old buildings, this new client called on us to help her in getting her 9-acre property ready for resale. Having now raised her family and lost her husband several years earlier, she was now ready to let go of her beloved property in the rolling meadows of Barrington Hills.

Our client’s immediate concern was for her eighty-year-old barn. She felt badly that her 8-horse barn had been so neglected over the years. It now looked like a liability – a problem that a future owner would have to deal with. Many boards had cracked, warped and decayed. The coating on the siding also showed extensive peeling. Her need was for us to help transform the barn from a liability into an asset in the eyes of a future owner.

Epoxy Restoration, Caulking, Wood Replacement and Lots of Scraping

The restoration of the barn involved extensive scraping of the failing coating. It also involved a mixture of wood replacement, epoxy restoration and caulking to arrest or reverse the damage to the cedar siding. In one corner of the barn, water had been infiltrating into the barn and ruining the drywall in a front room. We used cold asphalt to fill a wide space between the driveway and the barn’s siding. We then replaced the damaged drywall with cement board to minimize the effect of any possible future water intrusion. Over one hundred hours were invested in the restoration part of the work, including the carpentry.

As historical restoration experts, we believe that old buildings have intrinsic value and are worth preserving, often time because of the materials used and the craftsmanship involved in the construction. This old barn was a good example of that. The barn’s inside was clad with 12×2 planks arranged horizontally. The exterior was clad in 12×1 cedar vertical planks and 2×1 boards to cover the gaps between the planks. For a future owner interested in having horses on their property, the barn is now a true asset!

Periodic Maintenance to Exterior Caulk, Paint and Woodwork Makes Sense and Saves Money

Generally, when people think of exterior painting, they think of a complete repaint of the building. The reason is that it has usually been many years since any painting was done. Often, the paint is flaking in a lot of places, the stain has worn off and the woodwork shows serious rotting. When such signs are visible, it generally means expensive scraping, sanding and caulking, as well as a substantial carpentry bill. If periodic paint maintenance had been performed, such an outcome could have been avoided.

Caulking Failure on Wood Casing

Rotting Wood on Window

In the Chicago area, the elements conspire to undermine the integrity of the caulking, paint film and wood components. The most vulnerable areas are the wood joints and the areas where the wood elements meet other surfaces. If the caulk or paint film breaks, moisture will be allowed to enter the joints and wreak havoc with the paint film and the wood. The first picture depicts such a break in the caulking. Such a minimal failure, if corrected early, can be repaired at little expense.

The second picture shows what happens when the water is allowed to enter the wood joints for a prolonged period of time. Intervening at that stage will mean a more expensive epoxy repair of the window casing and sill. If the repair is delayed further, the entire window might have to be replaced. In some cases, the problem may have as well caused water damage to interior surfaces of the house.

As house painting contractors in the Chicago area, we believe that an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of correction. Paint maintenance saves money and avoids headaches! To make it easier for our clients to do that sort of paint maintenance, we offer them a FREE inspection of the exterior surfaces of their house. After making a through inspection, we prepare a list of corrective actions, if necessary. Following such a maintenance program adds years to the useful life of a paint job and keeps the house looking good. Email us to schedule a free inspection.

The Paint Restoration of an Old Chicago Building Gets National Recognition – A Craftsmanship Story

The historical restoration of the painted metal bay windows and cornice of this 1889 Chicago commercial building required an exceptional level of craftsmanship, to ensure a successful outcome. That craftsmanship was recently acknowledged by winning the Grand Prize of the Top Job Awards, a national painting competition organized by the American Painting Contractor magazine. Additionally, the project won the Commercial Exterior Restoration Award from the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America. Let’s look at the meaning of craftsmanship and what it involved on such a painting project.

Restored Painted Facade of 1889 Chicago Condominium Building

I view craftsmanship as:
– The COMMITMENT to do the right thing
– The KNOWLEDGE to take the right action
– The SKILL to execute impeccably

In the case of this forty-foot high, old Chicago condominium building, overlooking a busy city sidewalk, with overhead power lines and next to an alley, what did craftsmanship entail?

Historical Color Scheme: Developing a historical color palette and a color placement concept that met the approval of the ten owners.

Gaining Access: Planning for the rentals and City permits for a 50 foot canopy, four layers of scaffolding and boom. Making arrangements with the City to move the power lines, and wrap the communication wire.

Meeting EPA’s RRP Rules: Building 3-stage dust containment barriers on scaffolding, sealing the windows and using special respirators and coveralls.

Meeting OSHA and City Regulations: Wearing fall-arrest harnesses and hard hats at all times. Tying off ladder to scaffolding. Providing night lighting for canopy. Closing sidewalk for two days and creating a street barricade for pedestrians.

Restoration of Surfaces: Rusty steel, corroded galvanized steel, extensive coating failure, rotted original window casings, missing decorative ornamentation. Rust converters and large amounts of epoxy were used on the metal surfaces. Custom millwork and plaster recreations of the missing ornamentations were produced for the project.

Painting: High-solid alkyd, direct-to-metal primer was used on all metal surfaces. High-solid waterborne exterior paints were used. To promote painting efficiency, we numbered the paint cans for the six different colors, along with all the color breaks for the complex array of painted surfaces, located over 5 levels of scaffolding. It was a little bit like “painting by the number”!

When paint restoration is executed with this level of detail, it not only produces great short-term results, but also saves money in the long-run. Craftsmanship creates value for the owners and the community where the building is located!

Drywall Repairs: Holes Can Be Disappeared

Drywall Hole Repair 1

Drywall Hole Repair 2

Drywall Hole Repair 3

As house painting contractors in the Chicago area, we often have to do significant repairs to drywall surfaces before tackling an interior painting project. The most common reasons that cause holes in the drywall are as follows. First, electricians and plumbers are known to make exploratory holes, or to open walls in order to install new pipes, conduits and electrical boxes. Rarely do they dare to tackle the delicate job of repairing the drywall (thank God!). Also, water damaged drywall, needs to be cut out and therefore leaves gaping holes as well. Over-active teenagers can also on occasion cause drywall damage – I will not mention the many ways this can happen.

How do you professionally repair holes in drywall? First, we square off the hole to a workable size. If the hole is relatively small, from 12 to 15 inch in length, we will create bracing on the sides of the hole by screwing pieces of 2×1 lumber to the edges of the hole. For smaller holes, two braces will suffice. For holes from 4 to 6 inch in diameter, we often use a ready-made patch, made of a light-weight perforated metal and fiberglass mesh. For larger holes, we will attempt to use the studs as part our bracing. In those cases, we still have to use bracing between the studs, on the ends of the opening.

The next step is to cut a piece of drywall, of the same thickness, to fit the opening. We then screw it to the wood braces to secure it in place. We then tape the joints with paper tape and apply two or three coats of joint compound. After properly sanding the area, we spot prime the patched area and repaint the wall or ceiling. The drywall whole has now disappeared! The drywall repair is complete!