What do you do, when you have an old Art Deco theater marquee that still bestows the regal nature of movie going days of old, but has suffered from time and elements and just needs alittle bit to TLC to bring it back to its glory days?  Why you give it a facelift !

    Such was the situation with a grand old theater up in The Villages, a retirement community in west Florida, where the various villages within its confines are all themed after various architectural flavors. This theater is in the Spanish Springs section and was shut down to give it a welcomed refresh to bring it up to modern theater going pleasures. Enhancements are going to be stadium power seating, new surround sound systems, sound deadened walls, and a killer food service. We were tasked with the exterior marquee refresh by Don Bell Signs out of Port Orange, Florida, whom we've done work for before at Disney. The marquee had issues that would require complete sand blasting to remove defective paint, so that the surface could be prepped for new coatings, and to get it ready for new LED message signs being installed by Don Bell.

     The job was originally slated for 3 weeks and 2 men. Once the marquee was fully sandblasted, it became painfully clear that our original estimate for doing the work would NOT work due to the massive amount of damage that had eroded the substrate over time. Follow along to see how the finished project extended out to 7 weeks and 4 men, and how things turned out before The Villages painters will put their finishing touch on the surface.....

 

   This is the starting point. Looks good from the street, right?        Look again !!        Closer inspection reveals cracks and splits....   Paint stripper was NOT going to be an option. Would have to go to a more aggressive technique.               Time to break out the heavy artillery !

 

   Caution had to be observed to prevent further           damage to the scroll work and design Once the old paint was removed, we found out issues WORSE than originally anticipated; faulty substrate ! The original fiberglass backplane had massive amounts of cracks, fissures, and missing pieces....  It was a real mess !!!      All covered over by the         original paint.

 

  Every where we turned, missing sections, all having to be re-formed, re-created and repaired.  We were definitely not expecting the project to be so massive. We were going to need more time & people !!!  I passed along the findings to Don Bell Signs requesting an additional 3 weeks and 2 more men.  The pictures fortified my request. Permission was granted !

 

  It ended up being a VERY slow and tedious process due to the volume of defects needing correction..         Progress was measured in inches per day.  We'd fix one issue, only to see and find new problems.  Fixing one section did NOT mean it was completed.

 

  The scroll work proved to be the most difficult due to the intricate design...                  Hours turned into days !!!!!!             Every single panel needed massive restoration.  After staring at the same section, a second pair of eyes had to inspect each section for missed issues..

 

  You never realize just how many holes in a surface there are until you have to fill them with polyester fill material.   In some cases, thinning down the fill material allowed us to brush it on and make a little headway    It was a constant case of check, and double check We even applied a super high build epoxy primer to help find the cracks and holes.

 

  Finally, after 5 weeks of repairing and 12 gallons of polyester filler, it was time to apply final epoxy primer. Of course, even with careful inspection, we still found a few minor things we missed.     This is referred to as " ninja painting" technique ! The finished product turned out looking fantastic. The final themed painting to be done by one of The Villages painting contractors.

 

  It was amazing just how good it looks once epoxy primer covers all. We will be looking forward to see how good the themed painters make it look..    The new electronic signs will make it POP !! The exterior walls will be repainted with new material.

 

 
This project would NOT have turned out as good as it did, if it wasn't for the efforts of my team, who put up with the intense Florida sun, humidity, and the never ending hole filling, crack elimination, and muffled cursing each and every time new defects were found. But in the end, its amazing what a cold beer at the end of the day can soothe almost all sunburn and stress levels. It was an easy recipe; donuts in the morning to get them sugared up, and a beer at quitting time to mellow them out. I have since patented that technique !!

My deepest thanks to Mark, Carlos, Jose and Willie, as well as the guiding force and part-time Muse at Don Bell Signs, Valeri,  and Bill Jones, the creative force up in The Villages who oversaw the operation.

 

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