This exterior painting job in Gainesville covered a group of two story concrete block buildings at a student housing cooperative near the University of Florida campus. The block had been a pale yellow green with cream bands at each floor line. Now it is deep navy with white bands, white fascia and white downspouts.
Gainesville is a long drive from our shop in South Daytona. We took the job because it is the kind our commercial crew is set up for: several buildings, residents living in them the whole time, and a color change so big that a thin spot would show from the street. Finished photos are first. Two from while the work was underway follow, labeled.
- Location
- Gainesville, FL
- Property
- Two story block student housing buildings
- Surfaces
- Block walls, floor line bands, fascia, downspouts and breezeway ceilings
- Work shown
- Finished and in progress
Finished Photos
Both of these show the buildings after the job was done.
During the Job
Neither of these is finished work. Masking and plastic are still up in both.
Can You Paint Concrete Block a Dark Color Like Navy?
Yes. It looks sharp, but a dark color on block in Florida sun takes more care than a light one.
Concrete block is porous and rough. Paint has to get worked down into the pits on every face and into the mortar joints, or pinholes show through as light specks, and with navy going over pale yellow green, every one of them would show. In the first during photo, the color is going on with an airless spray gun, low on the wall first. Dark colors also soak up heat. A navy wall in Gainesville's afternoon sun runs much hotter than a pale one, and that heat fades the color faster on the sunny sides of a building. Pick a paint made for masonry that is rated for dark exterior colors. Expect the south and west walls to need attention before the shaded ones.
The white bands earn their place too. They break up a lot of dark wall and give each building a crisp line at every floor. Masonry and stucco prep is covered in more detail on our exterior painting in Daytona Beach page.
How Do You Paint a Building While Students Live in It?
In pieces, with the masking done before the spray gun comes out. Residents still need their doors, windows, bikes and breezeways every single day.
The breezeway photo shows what that looks like up close. The glass is wrapped in plastic, blue tape runs up the edge of a split face block column, and the ceiling above is half old tan and half new white. Out on the walls, windows get covered the same way before a side is sprayed. Bike racks sit right against several of these buildings, and in the finished photos the bikes are still there. We work around them.
If you manage the property, give residents notice before each side gets painted. One day's warning keeps windows shut and bikes moved, and it saves a lot of awkward conversations about overspray. Our commercial projects page has more jobs where people kept living and working inside while we painted.
Will a Daytona Beach Painter Travel to Gainesville?
For the right job, yes. Most of our work is in Volusia County, close to our shop on Chicago Avenue in South Daytona, but a larger commercial job can be worth the drive.
Gainesville is roughly two hours away by road. A job that far out runs differently from one down the street. The crew shows up with everything, because a forgotten box of roller covers is not a quick trip back to the shop, and travel time goes into the bid in writing so it never shows up later as a surprise. Multi building jobs make the most sense. Once the crew and the sprayer are there, they can keep moving from one building to the next.
If you manage apartments, student housing or other property in North Central Florida, call and describe the job. We will tell you straight whether it makes sense for us to come out. Start with our commercial painting in Daytona Beach page, or call Color Masters Painting and ask for Robert.
Manage a Building That Needs a New Color?
We price multi building repaints in writing, with prep, coats and travel spelled out. Call Robert or send a request and we will set up a walkthrough.