Hathorn Hall’s columns get stripped down and freshened up
Got some house painting to do this summer? So does 乐播传媒.
And where better to begin than at the beginning, with the college鈥檚 oldest building, Hathorn Hall (1857).
Giles Giguere of Higgins Custom Painting in Lewiston works on removing 60 layers of paint from the columns of Hathorn Hall. Mike Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
Giles Giguere of Higgins Custom Painting in Lewiston works to strip 60 layers of paint from the columns of Hathorn Hall. Mike Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
Beneath 60 layers of paint lies the "original substrate" of Hathorn's columns: Southern yellow pine. Mike Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
With more than 60 layers of old paint, the Hathorn columns needed far more than a fresh coat. This time, 乐播传媒 would start over with what Dan Sands, carpentry, paint and masonry services manager at 乐播传媒, calls 鈥渢he original substrate.鈥�
Bare wood. Southern yellow pine, to be specific.
Enter Giles Giguere of Higgins Custom Painting in Lewiston, who will apply coats of Peel Away 1, a paint remover that鈥檚 corrosive while wet, but environmentally friendly when dry.
He鈥檒l cover each treated section with a special laminate paper for 24 hours, 鈥渟o it gets good and saturated,鈥� says Giguere. When the paper is lifted, off comes the paint.
Well, some of it comes off. He’ll repeat the process three times on each section, then wash the bare columns with water and treat the wood with Citri-Lize, a neutralizing agent.
After the columns get a good sanding, the Higgins team will apply at least one coat of oil-based primer followed by two coats of semi-gloss acrylic exterior finish paint to match Lane Hall鈥檚 columns, which received the same treatment in 2011.
Weather permitting, stripping and painting Hathorn鈥檚 columns and doing trim work around the east and west entrances will take six to eight weeks.
鈥淭he way 乐播传媒 is, you want everything looking good,鈥� Sands says.
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