Prior to using Mar's, we had a different contractor attempt to stain a very large vaulted wood ceiling. That contractor tried multiple times, and always came up short. So we called in Mar.
He took one look at it and said "why do you have three different colors?". That started a process where he picked a part of the ceiling in a closet to test. He tried different ways to remove the existing stain and get down to the bare wood. Ultimately, we used a combination of strippers and sanding to get back to the base. His guys were on scaffolds, sometimes on their backs, for weeks working on this enormous project.
When they got it stripped, we tested about 5 different shades before deciding on one. Mar and his crew then applied the stain in multiple coats. Some parts of the ceiling needed 3 coats, some needed more. Ultimately Mar's got the job done, then applied two or three coats of polyurethane sealer to make it look consistent.
When that was done, they poly'ed the cross beams.
The final job was so astounding that a year later, people still come into the Lodge and stare at the ceiling.
Subsequent to that, we needed to have various other painting and drywalling jobs done. Over the course of the summer, Mar's painted every single room in our Lodge, and even did work for us outside. All of it was absolutely perfect - zero complaints, everything cleaned up. They even left us the extra paint in case we needed to touch something up.
During the process, we had surfaces that hadn't been painted in 40 years and suffered from old cigarette/cigar smoke - they cleaned and sealed all that, then painted. We had surfaces that had been previously painted and needed to be sanded - they took care of that, everything came out great.
We chose the wrong shade - and to redo it in the shade we chose after that, Mar came in and ensured it was done to hit our deadline. I checked the door access logs - he'd come in at 2AM some nights to make sure everything was done on time.
We had him repaint an apartment, fixing ceiling water damage from an overflowing A/C drain pan. Everything they do is absolutely fantastic. We had chair rail installed in the Lodge Room - but to get the radius for the heater covers would have been prohibitively time consuming and expensive, so we had Mar match the color in paint; and at first glance it looks like wood. He painted our staircase hand rails (which were awfully mismatched before), and they look beautiful.
I'm 100% serious when Is say that the jobs were perfect. Zero complaints. If you want to see it yourself - come on by the A.O. Fay Masonic Lodge in Highland Park, IL on one of our stated meeting nights (3rd Monday evening - about 6PM). We'll be glad to show you the whole place - and especially the crown jewel of a Lodge Room Ceiling. You'll be amazed. read more