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Originally published in PPC Magazine.

There was no room for error in the coatings portion of this Wisconsin country club restoration.

Revitalizing a classic club

"As a contractor, you want everything from your paint supplier," says Tony Gavic, owner of AG Construction in Glendale, Wis. "You want products that are easy to apply. You want a finish that will last a long time. And you want a good price." That's why, when faced with the biggest coatings job of his career, he turned to Sherwin-Williams.

Originally built in 1963, the Mequon Country Club was known for its 27-hole championship golf course, large clubhouse and banquet facility complete with swimming pool and six tennis courts, all nestled in an idyllic setting on the Milwaukee River in Wisconsin's Ozaukee County. But, according to Golf Inc. Magazine, it had "followed the steps of other private clubs, falling in the face of the recession and into the hands of the bank in a deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement" early in 2011.

So when the club was sold and the new owners hired Gavic for the coatings work on an extensive facility remodel, the stakes were high. There was no room for error.

"Sherwin-Williams was instrumental in the product selection process," Gavic says. Their product expertise, fast delivery and position as a "one-stop shop" for everything from paint to wallcoverings to stains, sealers and varnishes helped him feel more confident to take on this demanding, multi-stage job.

Paint and wood finishes help solve problems

With its heat and moisture concerns and combination of indoor and outdoor surfaces, the pool locker room area presented one of the biggest coating challenges. Gavic found a solution with Solo™ 100% Acrylic Interior/Exterior Semi-Gloss Paint, a self-priming product with excellent adhesion and good hide, block resistance and durability. Crews sprayed and back rolled two coats.

"Since we didn't have to switch between an interior and exterior coating, Solo saved us a lot of time and labor in this part of the project," Gavic says. The color of the wood ceilings in the pool area was custom matched with Sher-Wood® stain and sealed with two coats of Minwax® Helsman® Spar Satin Urethane.

Wood finishes played a key role throughout the job – more than 10,000 linear feet would need to be coated. Gavic's crew built a spray booth on the job site to help accommodate the quantity of work that had to be done. Whether coated onsite or back in his Glendale shop, the wide variety of Sherwin-Williams products ensured a good-looking and long-lasting finish on each surface.

In the lobby and women's locker room, for instance, he applied two coats of Sher-Wood® Kemvar® Plus Conversion Varnish on doors, locker doors and trim. In the men's locker room, those surfaces got a custom Sher-Wood® stain match, followed by a coat of Sher-Wood® Vinyl Fast Dry Sealer and two coats of the Kemvar® Conversion Varnish Medium Rubbed Finish.

In the pro shop, Gavic used custom-matched Sher-Wood® stains with one coat of Sher-Wood® Fast Dry Vinyl Sealer.

Two coats of Kemvar® Conversion Varnish Medium Rubbed Finish were used on wood shelves and display cases. Sherwin-Williams' new Kem Aqua Plus Pigmented Lacquer was spray applied to pegboard areas on one wall of the pro shop.

"We found that this product dries quickly and really holds up," Gavic says.

The importance of new coatings advances

Over the years, this openness to new advances in technology has been part of Gavic's success as a contractor.

He was, for instance, an early adopter of such now-standard Sherwin-Williams products like Wood Classics® and ProClassic® Enamels.

In the end, he says, all the challenges of his first large-scale commercial job – product and otherwise – were more than worth it.

"It was a steep learning curve, but it's been a great experience," he says. "Now we're ready to take on more jobs like this."

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