# Painting a Lowes



## APTPAINTER (Jan 16, 2009)

I'm Bidding the Int and Ext Painting of A lowes in the North east has anyone ever done one?Any input would be great,pricing etc


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

I have done 4 Home Depots from the ground up in Michigan, there are a _lot_ of factors to consider.
Union scale?
Poured floor to shoot the deck or no.
Alkyd or latex dryfall for the deck.
Size of the office package.
Local rates.

etc.

You have a lot of homework to do before asking such an involved question for your first post.


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## Traditions2 (Jul 3, 2008)

wisepainter- what does deck mean?


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## rezi69 (Feb 28, 2008)

$250,000


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## Bender (Aug 23, 2008)

The deck is the corrugated part of the roof. The joists are the "v" shaped parts. Commonly called "deck and joist" ceiling.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Bender said:


> The deck is the corrugated part of the roof. The joists are the "v" shaped parts. Commonly called "deck and joist" ceiling.



Satan's invention.
I _*hate*_ shooting alkyd dryfall all night onto that black pig iron "V" angle cacca. At one location the floor had not yet been poured so we rented 4x4 scissor lifts to navigate the interior as concrete trucks roared in and out doing their thing. 
I drove my lift too close to one of the support poles and sank the front left corner into the soft backfill that was about 3' in diameter around the base. Soft soil could also be found in my whites after that...

:sad:


Before I solidly recommend signing a commercial contract with a National box store, I would first recommend having some experience with such ventures first.
We learned the hard way that we were ill prepared to deal with that monster. We had our **** together by the last one.
Since then I have worked for other companies that built entire strip malls around new Super Targets. 

That's a whole other fresh kind of hell...


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

i've done a Lowes before while working for a contractor so I don't know the exact prices.
incidentally I passed by it today on my way home from another job.

i was at that job from start to finish so here's some pointers.

-waterborne dryfall works just as good as the alkyd inside on the decks.
(but you have to use what they specify)
-have your regional rep recommend a product to use on the deck outside at lawn and garden.
-don't use SW Loxon XP on the outside precast...it blows


-if you have never bid or sprayed a big deck...don't take this job cuz you'll loose your butt.....seriously.
-if you do bid it, once you get your price....double it.
-make sure that you can staff the job with competent help.
-don't forget to budget lift rental.

-good luck:thumbsup:


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

vandyandsons said:


> -if you have never bid or sprayed a big deck...don't take this job cuz you'll loose your butt.....seriously.
> -if you do bid it, once you get your price....double it.
> -make sure that you can staff the job with competent help.
> -don't forget to budget lift rental.
> ...


All great advice. Especially the competent help, shooting a deck is something that is not for the weak. 
Latex *or* alkyd.


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

Bid it with Behr paint and you'll be fine.:thumbsup:


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

WisePainter said:


> All great advice. Especially the competent help, shooting a deck is something that is not for the weak.
> Latex *or* alkyd.


"whats so hard about shooting a deck?" everyone says...until they get 40 ft up in the lift and star trying to do it. then they see whats so hard about it.

and a 600,000 sq ft commercial space is no place to learn.

you's better know what you'r doing, or you'll be selling your house to make payroll.

a *good experienced* spray guy can knock out around 3 50x50ft bays per 8 hr day/night...at 40-50 gal/bay. that time doesn't include someone covering (floors if necessary and sprinkler heads and fire alarm wire) ahead of him. 

get the picture? and the deck is just the start of a job like that.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

vandyandsons said:


> "whats so hard about shooting a deck?" everyone says...until they get 40 ft up in the lift and star trying to do it. then they see whats so hard about it.
> 
> and a 600,000 sq ft commercial space is no place to learn.
> 
> ...



ugh, you returned me to the Home Depot days....:sad:

We would order around 10~50 gallon drums of dryfall. Drive around all day in a scissor lift bagging the HID lights (not sealed at the bottom for ventilation), cover the sprinkler heads with aluminum foil, lay out the largest plastic SW sells on the floors (even with dryfall the floor can be damaged because of the lift tires driving over it all night), break out the 1795 dual hose pumps, burn 1, drink 2, suit up, vaseline the peepers, and do the bad thing!
Our lead guy pierced a 50 gallon drum of alkyd dryfall with the fork on the high low one time.
Oh that was bad.
It took 3 1/2 guys (one was an old school Union drunk) about 4 days to kill the deck.
I will never do that kind of work again, as a matter of fact when I go into a box store I never look up.


Again, good luck.


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## Dorman Painting (May 2, 2006)

This is an interesting post, I've done a small deck for a gymnastics studio. I guess it was only about 2000 square foot, what a pain in the butt that was. Someone said 600,000 square foot, are these stores that big. I never thought about it but I guess some are. 

What would you charge to shoot a deck in a typical Home Depot? 75-100 grand?


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## Bender (Aug 23, 2008)

I had a guy drag the line (tied into the lift) to far and knock over the pump, the 5, and a 5 FULL of dirty thinner.
Anybody need to know how many square feet a gallon of thinner will cover:whistling


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Dorman Painting said:


> What would you charge to shoot a deck in a typical Home Depot? 75-100 grand?


I believe we were pulling about $45,000 for the deck, that was in 2000.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Bender said:


> I had a guy drag the line (tied into the lift) to far and knock over the pump, the 5, and a 5 FULL of dirty thinner.
> Anybody need to know how many square feet a gallon of thinner will cover:whistling


I dragged the pump about 4 ft. before I noticed my line was out of slack. I would tie off and leave about 3' of length. 
Did you ever get static electricity shocks from the material running through the house and zapping you?
That actually hurt pretty bad.


my guess would be the entire floor was covered by the dirty pot.

:sad:


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

Dorman Painting said:


> This is an interesting post, I've done a small deck for a gymnastics studio. I guess it was only about 2000 square foot, what a pain in the butt that was. Someone said 600,000 square foot, are these stores that big. I never thought about it but I guess some are.
> 
> What would you charge to shoot a deck in a typical Home Depot? 75-100 grand?


the Lowes i worked on was closer to 300-350K sq ft total, and most of that had exposed deck that got sprayed.

600000 was an exaggeration, but if you've never done that type of work, it may as well be a million sq ft.

for the interior deck:
-7000 gal dryfall
-45 man days labor (just to spray, nevermind prep, triggerpulling only)
-15 man days prep (covering, containment if necessary, demasking, cleanup, setup, busywork)

$45,000 material
$45,000 labor

so roughly speaking $90,000 for the deck, but if I know my shop, they probably got 100K.

*that was a huge union shop with huge overhead though.
*
on op of that, there were all of the steel columns, the interior precast walls, the buildouts and bathrooms, striping the floors, exterior precast on 2 sides, exterior deck ceiling @lawn and garden

who knows what that job went for by the time it was all said and done, but that shop knows how to make money.


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

WisePainter said:


> ugh, you returned me to the Home Depot days....:sad:
> 
> 
> I will never do that kind of work again, as a matter of fact when I go into a box store I never look up.
> ...


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

I will never do that kind of work again, 


i always say that too, but i'm too young to be picky, ya know. i take what i can get as long as i can make what i need to.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

vandyandsons said:


> the Lowes i worked on was closer to 300-350K sq ft total, and most of that had exposed deck that got sprayed.
> 
> 600000 was an exaggeration, but if you've never done that type of work, it may as well be a million sq ft.


Sure felt that way to me.




vandyandsons said:


> on op of that, there were all of the steel columns, the interior precast walls, the buildouts and bathrooms, striping the floors, exterior precast on 2 sides, exterior deck ceiling @lawn and garden


Don't forget the bumper poles inside and out around the parking lot.
Safety yellow anyone?



vandyandsons said:


> side note: have you ever tried a full faced respirator?
> 
> they are expensive (about 180-200 bucks) but after having one, i'd pay twice that to get another one.


I would use one for major commercial interior lacquer spraying but to clean that mask off every 10 minutes would drive me crazy!!!
I tried goggles with and without the film, it was a burden.



vandyandsons said:


> I will never do that kind of work again,
> 
> 
> i always say that too, but i'm too young to be picky, ya know. i take what i can get as long as i can make what i need to.


The large commercial work required too many days away from home, and I learned quickly that I want to be an available Dad to my kids.
Besides, living with a~hole old school painters that smoked, drank, and snored all night in a tiny Motel room for 2 weeks is not for me.

:no:

But I do not turn down local jobs even if it is only a powder room.


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## world llc (Dec 9, 2008)

Bender said:


> I had a guy drag the line (tied into the lift) to far and knock over the pump, the 5, and a 5 FULL of dirty thinner.
> Anybody need to know how many square feet a gallon of thinner will cover:whistling


 
if your using a sprayer smaller then a speedflo, we use a dolly with a half sheet of plywood mounted to it so you can move it around easially. it's supposed to be pushed by the ground guy, but i'v impatiently pulled it with me a few feet


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

The large commercial work required too many days away from home, and I learned quickly that I want to be an available Dad to my kids.
Besides, living with a~hole old school painters that smoked, drank, and snored all night in a tiny Motel room for 2 weeks is not for me.

:no:


i hear ya, but fortunately i've never had to go on the road. i couldn't leave the wife and 4 very young sons for any length. i tried that when i was over seas with the USMC. never again. 
most of my work, even the bs spray monkey work is relatively local. i don't think i've ever been further than i am on this job which is 71 miles each way at about 1 hr 20 min each way. could be worse right.

what i meant by "cant be picky" is i cant be a premadonna about the kind of work i do. i'll do faux, to deck spraying and anything in between, and i can do it all well.


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## Dorman Painting (May 2, 2006)

Vandyandsons,
What's the best way to stripe a floor in a setting such as the Lowe's you did? Do you do it using a small parking lot type striper or is it something else?


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

vandyandsons said:


> what i meant by "cant be picky" is i cant be a premadonna about the kind of work i do. i'll do faux, to deck spraying and anything in between, and i can do it all well.


I am the same way, I have learned to apply a large number and variety of coatings so I am not picky when it comes to painting in any situation. Keeps the work flowing in.

:thumbup:




Dorman Painting said:


> Vandyandsons,
> What's the best way to stripe a floor in a setting such as the Lowe's you did? Do you do it using a small parking lot type striper or is it something else?


We would measure and lay out the design, snap lines, drop the 2" tan production tape...note:the chalk line may cause you trouble at first so lay the tape beside it _not_ on top, use a utility knife to trim the excess tape, and whiz roll the paint on.


It always came out better than I had expected it to.


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## vandyandsons (Dec 23, 2008)

Dorman Painting said:


> Vandyandsons,
> What's the best way to stripe a floor in a setting such as the Lowe's you did? Do you do it using a small parking lot type striper or is it something else?



exactly how wise said. the process is a lot less difficult and time consuming than you may think.

just get your layout right and double check it.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

vandyandsons said:


> just get your layout right and *double check it*.


Good call I forgot about that, double check it a _few_ times! I would sometimes get confused while cutting away the tape between the lines and forget where the pattern was...duh.

:blink:


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## Bender (Aug 23, 2008)

wisepainter said:


> Did you ever get static electricity shocks from the material running through the house and zapping you?
> That actually hurt pretty bad.


Not as bad as the old visqueen:blink:




world llc said:


> we use a dolly with a half sheet of plywood mounted to it so you can move it around easially.


:thumbsup:Good idea. I will file that one away.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Bender said:


> Not as bad as the old visqueen:blink:


Our lead guy was too cheap to buy a new box of visqeune so we had to drag each piece around as we worked. 
It was winter time in n. Michigan.

You could hear it racing down the surface towards you, but there is little that can prevent the inevitable...


*ZAP!!!!!

:blink:
*


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## Bender (Aug 23, 2008)

> *ZAP!!!!!
> 
> :blink:*


LOL:laughing:


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Wonder how APTPAINTER is doing? Only one post and he got chased off...


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## Schmidt & Co (Jun 2, 2008)

A lot of good advise has been given so far. The only thing I would add is to make sure all your tools & materials are kept in a central location. With a jobsite that large, your guys can spend a lot of time walking around looking for that extra roll of tape.  Nothing gets me more fired up than seeing one of the guys wandering around, wasting time while I'm up on the lift busting by ass!


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

Schmidt & Co said:


> A lot of good advise has been given so far. The only thing I would add is to make sure all your tools & materials are kept in a central location. With a jobsite that large, your guys can spend a lot of time walking around looking for that extra roll of tape.  Nothing gets me more fired up than seeing one of the guys wandering around, wasting time while I'm up on the lift busting by ass!


We had a guy on our crew that would come all the way down walk all the way to the opening, smoke, walk all the way back and go all the way back up (killing the battery) 15 times a day or until the battery was dead in his lift.
He was a lazy a$$ed local failure but we needed a guy who knew their way around a deck.

I didn't like that guy.

:furious:


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