Painting Concrete Block, Brick, and Eifs for a Commercial Exterior

From the spring, through the summer, and into the autumn of 2019, Lakeside Painting has tackled a number of commercial exterior projects. One of the most recent of these was for a commercial printing company called Suttle-Straus, located in Waunakee, Wisconsin, a city near the state capitol in Madison. For this commercial exterior, Lakeside’s team had to clean, repair, and paint several different surfaces (brick, concrete block, and EIFS), with a major part of the effort being focused on giving the building a new color scheme for Suttle-Straus’ brand identity.

In its former incarnation, the building’s exterior had a few different hues of gray, which was paired with a blue-gray color. For the new scheme, the company wanted a trio of colors—a creamy off-white, a blue-gray with a bit grayer to it, and a yellow stripe running horizontally around the exterior.

As we do for all commercial exterior projects, we cleaned each of the three surfaces by pressure washing, followed by hand preparation and priming, before applying the off-white, blue-gray, and yellow coats of paint. To the top section, which is made of Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS), we applied 100% flat enamel acrylic paint with a combination of spray, roller, and hand brush. For the brick section, which runs along the middle of the building, we applied blue-gray masonry paint using the same application techniques. For the yellow stripe, we also used masonry paint.

The concrete block running along the bottom of the building had suffered some efflorescence (mineral deposits) from water, and cracks had begun to appear. After cleaning the concrete block, we tuck pointed the cracks (filled them in with masonry mortar), to protect them from the elements. After the cleaning and repair work, we applied two coats of creamy off-white masonry paint to the concrete block, which gives it a great new appearance and will protect it from future water damage.

If your commercial exterior has efflorescence and other water damage and is in need of new paint for its concrete block, brick, and EIFS to revitalize your company brand, contact Lakeside Painting at 262-642-9445 or email us at info@lakesidepainting.com, and we would be happy to discuss.