Refinishing Elevator Interiors

CMD Realty Investors, L.P.
Overton Centre
4100 International Plaza, Fort Worth

Our customer was required to remove mirrored panels from their elevator cabs, and was intrigued by the walnut veneers that lay beneath the glass.
Mirrors have been removed . . .

CWS was called in to determine whether the panels could be "cleaned up." We offered the client several choices, including refinishing the existing panels or fabricating new ones.

The existing panels looked terrible - black mastic had been applied, and furring strips had been screwed into the veneers, then ripped out when the glass was removed.
. . . leaving a big mess in each elevator!

Our client chose to have the original panels restored rather than fabricating new. This was the most cost effective way of dealing with the problem, though the end result would not be "like new" panels.

Our finishing staff was confident that we could restore the panels to a beautiful refinished condition at a savings to the client, so the panels were taken to the shop and the process begun.
In the shop, mastic is removed and
repair work has begun

We started by chemically removing the black mastic. Once removed, the panels were washed down and dried, then sanded. Damaged areas were filled and patched, then final sanded for finishing.

The photo at left shows the panels prepped and stained, and staged for finishing.
Stripped, prepped and stained, awaiting finish

The finish consisted of several seal coats of pre-catalyzed lacquer, followed by any necessary touch-up and color-blending of repair areas. After touch-up, another three to five coats of pre-cat were sprayed as a topcoat.

Some of the repair work got pretty extensive, requiring the splicing-in of large areas of veneer. During the touch-up stage, these areas were padded and color-blended and grained to match.
A full depth of color after refinishing

The photo at left shows the completed panels re-installed. Though these panels had some "character marks" and flaws, by nature of their rough history, the result was astounding.

We refinished five elevator cabs in this manner, then finished out the panels in the frieght elevator with a matching plastic laminate.
A beautiful installation

CMD Realty Investors has been a CWS client for many years. In addition to the Overton Centre property, CWS maintains wood surfaces in One Ridgmar Center of Fort Worth, and plastic laminate surfaces at O'Connor Ridge and at 122 West Carpenter in the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas.

Learn more about this 100-year-old company at the following links:

Corporate website: cmdrealty.com

Dallas website: dallas.cmdrealty.com

Overton Centre: overton

One Ridgmar Center: ridgmar

O'Connor Ridge: o'connor

122 West Carpenter: carpenter