Whistle-Stop D.C. Tour (4 Projects in 1 Week)
Solar Eclipse Glass Tinting, Inc. contacted us early in the summer of 2022 for what was initially a single Architectural Film install project in Washington, D.C. set for later in the summer. As the project crept closer, they had several customers of theirs contact them in need of an architectural film installer for projects needing completed before the end of summer. All of the stars aligned as summer in D.C. drew to a close and Randy was able to squeeze all 4 of these installs into a single 7-day period in the middle of August.
Project #1: National Press Building Elevator Lobbies
Randy wasted no time getting to work on the first project at the National Press Building (just about a block from the White House). Some of the elevator lobbies in this multi-story building had already been wrapped us 3M Di-Noc Fine Wood FW-1257, and Randy was hired to wrap the remaining lobbies. This project took the first 2 days of the trip, though Randy did get done early on the second day and was able to do some Sunday sight-seeing around our nations capitol before tucking in for a long week of installs.
Pros & Cons of Wrapping Walls with Architectural Films Video.
Architectural film on the walls
Project #2: Navy Federal Credit Union
Architectural Film Install at a Navy Federal Credit Union (Renton, VA) Video.
The next project was the teller countertop areas and all the doors in a Navy Federal Credit Union in Reston, VA. Unfortunately, the teller area was undergoing renovation/repairs that weren’t quite complete by the time Randy was on-site for the architectural film install, so the teller section had to be skipped. The credit union had to stay open and operating during the day, so Randy wasn’t able to start work until they closed at 5 pm. Still, there were enough doors to keep Randy busy for 2 full evenings that stretched past midnight. All of the doors were wrapped with Architectural film wood grain vinyl.
Project #3 & #4 : Chamberlain Academy and Woodridge Academy
The next project took Randy back to D.C. to the Chamberlain Academy Public Charter School. A lot of the doors in the school were original from when the school was built in 1998, and had seen a lot of wear and tear. Luckily most of them had been painted some time since then, and besides struggling with (and having to work around some unremovable) stubborn door hardware, no major sanding/filling work had to be done to wrap these doors. The presence of all the door hardware and trim around the windows did slow down the project a bit though - it took Randy 3 full days at the school to finish wrapping all 21 doors in time for the school year to start. This and the following project both used Architectural film wood grain vinyl.
Architectural Film Door Wraps (Chamberlain Academy - Washington, D.C.) Video.
The final project on this trip was squeezed 7 full door wraps into the 8th and final day of Randy being in DC. This was an extension of the door wrap project from the prior few days - more hallway and classroom doors, but this time at an extension campus location called Woodridge Academy also in the D.C. area.
Randy Miller is a certified 3M™ DI-NOC™ Architectural Finishes Preferred Installer with almost a decade of experience installing architectural films from 3M, Belbien, LX Hausys, Bodaq, and Reatec all over the world.
We'd love to help you with your next Architectural Film project. Contact Us using the form below and we’ll reach out to you as soon as possible to get the ball rolling.
