6-Story Class A Office
Full Exterior Repaint — Midtown Atlanta

Class A building, 90% tenant occupancy, tight refresh deadline.

A Midtown Atlanta property management company had a 7-week window before their annual tenant satisfaction survey — they wanted the building exterior in top condition. The six-story masonry building had deferred maintenance from a previous owner: cracking stucco at the parapet, efflorescence at the ground-floor base, faded paint at all four elevations, and corroded steel window frames. The building was at 90% occupancy, with two law firms and a financial services group as anchor tenants — no goodwill for scaffold noise or paint fumes during business hours.

Atlanta's summer humidity added another layer: dew point windows of 65–75°F meant painting after 10am was off the table in July. Any missed morning window had to be absorbed into the schedule without extending the deadline. Georgia fire code required all coatings used on a commercial building above four stories to meet Class A fire-resistance ratings — ruling out a lower-cost acrylic latex product the property manager had initially proposed.

Elevation phasing. Early-morning windows. Elastomeric system. Zero disruption.

We structured the work as four elevation phases — north face first, then east, south, and west — each completed over a sequence of early-morning windows (7–10am) when dew point was below the threshold and the sun hadn't hit the masonry face. The building's east face got the longest windows; west received the final phase and the most flex in the schedule.

Surface prep was the longest phase. All stucco cracks were routed and filled with an acrylic-modified patching compound; efflorescence at the base was treated with a diluted phosphoric acid solution, neutralized, and allowed to dry. The entire facade received a pressure wash at 2,500 PSI using a 25° fan tip — no chemicals, just water — followed by 48 hours of drying before primer.

System specified: elastomeric acrylic binder coating (Sherlastic or equivalent, Class A fire-rated per ASTM E108) applied in three coats — primer at 1.0 mil DFT, base coat at 8–10 mils DFT, top coat at 4–6 mils DFT for a total dry film thickness of 13–17 mils. This is the specification that actually bridges cracks (up to 1/8") rather than coating over them — critical on a building with active thermal movement. Steel window frames were wire-brushed to SSPC SP-2, primed with rust-inhibitive primer, and topcoated with an alkyd enamel matching the facade.

Color: owner-approved Sherwin-Williams matched elastomeric formulation. All three coats logged with wet-film mil readings on a per-section basis; documentation delivered at close.

No tenant complaints. Two PMs specifically noted the early-morning scheduling and said it was the most organized exterior work they'd seen on the building. We finished in 7 weeks — on time.

On time. Zero complaints. Tenant survey score up.

The building exterior delivered on schedule: no punch-list items, no callbacks. The property management company reported a notable improvement in the tenant satisfaction survey exterior/facility score — up from 72 to 88 in the cycle following the repaint. The Class A fire rating is documented and on file with the building's insurance carrier. The elastomeric system has a 10-year expected service life per manufacturer specs — compared to 5 years for a standard acrylic system — which the owner documented in their asset management software for future budget planning.

Documentation package included: surface prep report, coating spec with lot numbers, wet-film readings per section, photographs of each elevation pre- and post-coat, and a 10-year coating warranty from the manufacturer, backed by FloorForge's workmanship guarantee.