Project background
Spray GenX completed the exterior transformation of Five39 Church in Akron with a six-person crew. The project went well beyond simply changing the color of the building. Preparation and repair work included washing, masonry correction, masking, caulking, restoration of damaged architectural elements and detailed cleanup of weathered surfaces before the coating system was applied.
Project transformation
Before and After
Field scope
Preparation before the first coat
Two power washers were put into service to clean the building before coating. The crew then addressed brick areas that still needed tuckpointing after the primary masonry work had been completed. Caulking was performed throughout the exterior wherever joints, transitions and penetrations required attention.
- Crew: six-person field crew
- Wash setup: two power washers
- Masonry: supplemental tuckpointing where needed
- Protection: windows fully covered with plastic
- Coating system: one primer coat plus two finish coats
- Dark accents: Acorn Black aluminum soffits and parking-lot light poles
Masking and spray production
Every window was protected with plastic before spray application. Once preparation was complete, the exterior received a full primer coat followed by two spray-applied finish coats. With a building of this scale, masking, lift placement, material staging and crew sequencing had to remain coordinated so that production could move efficiently without sacrificing clean lines or uniform coverage.
Five39 was not a simple spray-and-go repaint. The finished appearance depended on the repair and detail work underneath it — masonry correction, caulking, masking, restoration and cleanup all had to be completed before the final coats could make the building read as one unified exterior.
Front glazing and oxidized-paint staining
The front window panes above the entrance awning required special attention. Years of oxidized coating had run down from above and left residue and staining across the glazing. Those panes were detailed and cleaned so the restored facade would not be undermined by old runoff stains remaining in one of the most visible areas of the building.
Cross restoration
The cross at the front of the building required its own restoration sequence. It was sandblasted to remove failing material, given a solid primer coat and repaired with Bondo where corrosion and pitting had damaged the surface. That extra work allowed the architectural feature to be refinished rather than simply coated over.
Acorn Black architectural accents
The aluminum soffits were repainted Acorn Black to create the dark contrast visible against the new white exterior. Parking-lot light poles were also included and finished in Acorn Black, extending the updated color scheme beyond the walls of the church and helping the property read as a complete exterior renovation rather than an isolated facade repaint.
Exterior scale and access
Large institutional exteriors are not handled as a collection of isolated walls. Lift positioning, surface condition, weather exposure, masking, sequencing and visual continuity all affect the final result. The work progressed methodically across long elevations, brick, masonry-textured features, aluminum components, the central tower and the cross while maintaining a consistent appearance from one section to the next.
Project photography
Why this record matters
Five39 Church demonstrates the difference between coating a building and restoring its exterior presentation. The finished project combined crew coordination, pressure washing, masonry repair, detailed masking, caulking, metal restoration, architectural detail work and a three-coat coating process into one coordinated field operation.