Francis Howell North is known for its traditional black and gold trademark. But for the 2012-2013 school year, the school is introducing a new color: cork

“As long as the school is happy with it, I’m happy with it.” Brandon Harper, Foreman of Centar Industries, said.

Centar Industries is heading the painting renovations occurring over summer for the new school year. “This is a huge job. It’s a showcase for us. We normally do smaller schools,”Harper said.

According to Harper, the company is use to completing jobs requiring only 400 lockers. The estimated 2,300 lockers at North require three to six coats of paint. The job was to be finished by Friday, June 15th if not for the issues that arose during the process. The team hopes to have every locker done by June 22.

“We’ve been running into a lot of problems with the wax build-up on the base.” Harper said. The wax buildup was a result of excess wax created by the waxing machine the school uses to wax the floors each summer. In addition the painters have run into a problems with the rust they have had to sand off the lockers.

“The guys have to use a chemical called 105 Reducer. They have to wear respirator masks, chemical resistant gloves, get on their hands and knees, and scrub for 30 to 45 minutes to get the wax off of about 20 lockers, according to Brett Iephen, a worker,” Harper said.

“I’m hoping that from here on out everything will go smoothly and the school will be happy with the job,” Harper said.

Collectively written by Smitha Milli, Nick Bussel, Chelsie Hollis, Matt Krieg, and Holly Tate