Meet Fierce Protective Challenges With Confidence.

Shortly after new owners took over property management of The Pointe, a concrete-clad, 252,000-square-foot office complex in Tampa, Fla., they embarked on an extensive exterior refurbishment. Inspections confirmed the 10-story facility was structurally sound but that its concrete aggregate exterior was completely unprotected from the elements.

"This building is located in a pretty aggressive environment for salt air, which penetrates unprotected concrete and can cause corrosion in the reinforcing steel," says Andy Ciucio, senior project manager at Kerns Whitehouse & Associates (KWA), the Tampa-based engineering firm that handled the evaluation. "When that underlying steel starts to rust and expand, it often starts breaking out chunks of concrete."

In addition to concrete repair and surface protection, The Pointe's new ownership group required a "single source" system for the refurbishment: All protective products and warranties had to be delivered by one provider. Sherwin-Williams rose to the top of the list on the strength of its warranty, cost-competitiveness and, most important, a distinguished reputation for quality.

"Sherwin-Williams is a large, well-known company and has a good track record with honoring warranties," says Ciucio. "Some companies, at times, are not as willing to do that."

Ciucio evaluated contractor bids for repairing and brightening the exterior of the 30-year-old building and chose SunCoast Restoration and Waterproofing, a local provider experienced in the "swing stage scaffold" operation that would be necessary to accomplish the tasks.

One key challenge was to manage a tight timeline while minimizing the restoration project's impact on building tenants and visitors. So Duane Gordon, operations and preconstruction manager for SunCoast, scheduled certain types of work at specific times.

"For example, we made sure to do all concrete demolition work in early mornings before most tenants arrived, which allowed us to focus the rest of the day on actual repair or restoration work," he explains.

For minor cracks, the SunCoast team used Sherwin-Williams Concrete & Masonry Elastomeric Patching Compound, which repaired the damaged area while preventing water infiltration. While these patched areas cured, the team used other Sherwin-Williams products to address key protective needs. For example, they applied Stampede™-1 Polyurethane Sealant to caulk the ribbon window system that circles the building and ConFlex XL™ High Build Coating to seal and waterproof a series of main-level and parking-garage support columns.

After repairs, the crew began the surface restoration process. They custom-tinted mortar, applied it over the exposed concrete aggregate, and finished each section with Loxon XP® Waterproofing Masonry Coating — a direct-to-concrete masonry coating that reinforces the exterior surface's overall moisture protection.

The completed project garnered immediate praise from the new owners. During a tour by property executives and investors, many could not believe that the building in a series of "before" photos was the same structure.

"The clients were pretty happy," Ciucio says. "In fact, there's an elevated walkway to the parking garage that wasn't in the original project scope. But when the main building was completed, the clients liked it so much that they went ahead and added it to the list as well."