School Painting — Doors, Gymnasium & Change Rooms, Dunnville

Project Overview

Dunnville Secondary School is a public secondary school in Dunnville, in Haldimand County. As part of the school's maintenance and renewal work, its most heavily used interior surfaces needed refinishing: the doors and frames that students and staff pass through hundreds of times a day, the gymnasium, and the locker and change rooms.

FAIME Construction was engaged as the painting subcontractor for this scope. The programme ran from June to August 2024 with a crew of up to five painters, and painting was the only trade on FAIME's scope.

Working in an Operating School

A school does not close because its doors are being painted. The work was planned with the school's facility management to keep disruption to school activities to a minimum. Each work area was set up with containment, ventilation and safety barriers before any preparation began, and FAIME's crew kept the surrounding areas clean and safe throughout working hours. When an area was finished, all masking and protection were removed and it was returned to use.

Doors & Frames — Preparation Comes First

School doors take more abuse than almost any other painted surface in a building: carts, bags, feet and constant hands. A finish applied over poor preparation fails within months. Every hollow-metal and wood door and frame in the scope was sanded and cleaned, and flaking paint, rust and contaminants were removed. Minor dents and imperfections in the metal doors and frames were repaired before any coating was applied.

Bare and exposed metal then received a rust-inhibiting primer, which is what holds the finish to the steel and stops corrosion from creeping back beneath it. Two finish coats followed, using enamel on the doors and frames for a hard, smooth surface that can be cleaned repeatedly without wearing through.

Gymnasium Walls & Ceilings

FAIME repainted the gymnasium walls and ceilings. A gymnasium is a large-volume space with high ceilings and long, uninterrupted wall surfaces, where uneven coverage is obvious under the gym lighting. The walls were finished in a washable coating suited to a space that takes impacts from balls and equipment every day and must be cleaned regularly.

Locker Rooms, Change Rooms & Corridors

The locker rooms, change rooms and the corridors connecting them were repainted with washable, moisture-resistant coatings. These rooms combine high humidity, frequent cleaning and constant use. A standard interior paint in this environment tends to blister, mildew or wear through quickly, so the coating was selected for the conditions rather than for appearance alone.

Quality Control & Handover

Every finished area was inspected for uniform coverage and a consistent finish before it was signed off. Final touch-ups were completed, all masking and protection were removed, and each area was handed back clean. The programme was completed on schedule, within budget and with zero safety incidents.

For School Boards, Facility Managers & Contractors

FAIME Construction takes on institutional painting both as a subcontractor to general contractors and directly for facility owners. That includes doors and frames, gymnasiums, change rooms, corridors and classrooms, scheduled around the operating calendar of the building. Our crews are WSIB Active and covered by $2M general liability insurance, and certificates are available on request.