Sanctuaries and halls
Interiors that are painted around a week of use
A sanctuary has services, funerals and weddings. A hall has suppers, classes and meetings. We plan the work by zone so each room is closed for as few days as the work allows.
Before any paint, we cover pews, rails, carpet and floors, and we mark with your sexton what stays and what moves.
Plaster cracks and failed patches repaired first
Ceilings reached from a rolling scaffold or a lift
Doors, trim and handrails finished in the same visit
A closing walk-through with the person who signs off
Prep, in order
What happens before the first coat
Old plaster and old paint decide how long a room takes. We look at both on the walk-through.
- 01
Step 1: Cover and protect
Pews, organ, rails, carpet and floors covered and taped, with fragile items left to your sexton's plan.
- 02
Step 2: Scrape and repair
Loose paint scraped, cracks opened and filled, and failed plaster patched until the wall is sound.
- 03
Step 3: Prime what needs it
Bare plaster, patches and stains primed so the finish coats dry evenly.
- 04
Step 4: Finish a zone at a time
Two finish coats in the sheen you chose on the board's color schedule, one zone before the next.
The details
Where the careful hours go
Plaster, arches and niches
Curved walls and recesses patched and skimmed, then painted so the repair disappears.
Covered and protected
Furniture, fixtures and floors sheeted and taped before a scraper comes out.
Trim, windows and doors
Cut in by hand along tape lines, one frame at a time.
Interiors
Questions about working inside
Do you work while services, classes or funerals are going on?
Not in the same space. The proposal splits the building into zones and says which are closed on which days. Sanctuary entrances stay clear on service days, funerals and weddings are put on the schedule before we start, and a school wing is painted when the school says it is empty.
How do you protect pews, the organ and the floors?
Pews, rails, carpet and floors are covered, and anything fragile or consecrated stays with your sexton or music director's plan: they tell us what must be moved by your people and what we may cover in place.
Was our building built before 1978, and does that change how you work?
Paint in buildings built before 1978 may contain lead. The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers paid work that disturbs paint in homes and in child-occupied facilities built before 1978, such as a day care, a preschool or a kindergarten class. A firm doing that work has to be certified by the EPA, and ours adds its firm number under Credentials. A church or hall with no program of that kind may fall outside the federal rule, and your state or city may have its own. We ask for the building's age before we write a proposal, and we tell you in writing which rules the work follows.
How long does a steeple or a sanctuary take?
It depends on the height, the condition of the wood and plaster, and the weather. The proposal gives a range of working days for each zone. It is a range because weather and what we find under old paint can move it, and we tell you as soon as it moves.
Walk the building with us
Send the building's name and the rooms you are thinking about. We will set a day with your trustees or your administrator.