Palm Beach’s La Bonne Vie Condominium Protected and Restored with Simple Effective Coatings
La Bonne Vie Condominium, built in 1967 on the beach in Palm Beach, Fla., was in desperate need of restoring. The two and one-half year, $5 million restoration project was completed in March 2007.
The stucco and finish, which was originally applied at an inch to an inch and one-half thick and was full of surface cracks, according to Jack Van Doorne, resident of La Bonne Vie, vice president of the condo association, and also an engineer. “Stucco is not supposed to be that thick,” said Van Doorne. “About one-third of the stucco had to be removed. It would have cost a great deal more to remove the rest of the stucco, but then we came up with a better solution.”
Van Doorne talked with Terry Kevin of Southern Construction Services, who helped him select a product to seal the cracks. The product, Sto Watertight Coat from Sto Corp., was already being used on the balconies, so they gave it a try to help seal the stucco.
“We applied Sto Watertight Coat to a small area and then looked at it,” said Van Doorne. “I was impressed with the adhesive power. It took a little time to learn to work with it. We applied it, then added the mesh, then another coat. We then expanded the test to one wall and it looked good, so we added Sto’s textured paint. The combination of the products did a really good job.”
According to Kevin, this was the first time he had used Sto Watertight Coat on an entire building. “The building had a lot of cracks and it needed to be water tight. The imperfections in the surface were the biggest problems, and we needed to hide those imperfections and seal the building,” said Kevin. “It was a very sound idea and we did the best possible job we could have done, with the best product.”
The nine-story building has 111 units and people occupied their homes through the entire restoration project.
“It couldn’t have turned out better,” said Van Doorne. “It looks like a brand new building. In fact, it looks as good as when we bought here 34 years ago.”
According to Eddie Martin, project engineer with AT Design, the outside of the building is now practically bullet proof! “It looks fantastic, they did a wonderful job,” said Martin. “This was the first restoration on the outside of this nearly 40-year-old building and it turned out really well.”
It was Martin’s first time using texture coat, although he has used all cement products from Sto Corp. in the past.
“It was an innovative process and we have a lot of faith in Sto’s products,” said Kevin. “We feel really good about the job and are going to use Sto Watertight Coat on the Ritz Carlton in Miami, and I am sure on other projects in the future.”
For more information on Sto Corp. and its products, please visit www.stocorp.com.
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About Sto Watertight Coat
Sto Sto Watertight Coat is a flexible and breathable waterproofing membrane based on a unique combination of acrylic emulsion, Portland cement and fine fibers. It is used to waterproof all types of above or below grade concrete and masonry.
About Sto Corp.
Sto Corp., based in Atlanta, Georgia, is an innovative world leader and producer of a broad range of versatile cladding and coating systems for building construction, maintenance and restoration. Sto Corp. is ISO 9001 certified and operates production plants strategically located to serve more than 200 distributor shipping locations across North America. At research and development laboratories in the U.S. and Europe, Sto continues to revolutionize the industry with the highest quality products and application technology. For more information, visit www.stocorp.com or call toll free (800) 221-2397 or (404) 346-0755.
Media Contact: Julie Chalpan, 770.736.3100, focusunlimited@mindspring.com. |