Hester Commercial Painting was recently contracted to perform both structural and aesthetic repairs to one of the original “Parade of Cows” that have been featured around the City of Chicago. This particular cow had been on display outside Lurie Children’s Hospital Adolescent Medicine location (4711 N. Clark St.) and over the years was profoundly damaged in many areas.
The cow was made of fiberglass, so Commercial Project Manager and Estimator Jim Guthrie reached out to his automobile supply house, called “Finish Master,” who helped supply us with the fiberglass repair materials that were required. The horns of the cow had been broken off and a sloppy repair was made by others, and cracks in the original fiberglass were found and fixed.
When the cow was removed from its location, the rear hooves were damaged. We first installed wood structural supports fitted inside of each hoof. Then we had custom welded steel brackets fabricated that we installed and bolted through the repaired hooves. These steel brackets will double as a way to secure the repaired cow in its permanent home.
More fiberglass body work was done, and finish sanding brought the fixed cow to the point where we touched up the paint finish to match the existing painted scenes. After all of the paint feathering was complete, we applied a clear protective finish coat over the whole cow.
The now happy cow rests at the Lurie Children’s Clark Deming location waiting to be placed in its new home somewhere on the Lurie Children’s Hospital Campus.
For all of your commercial painting needs, including “Parade of Cows” refurbishing, please contact Hester Commercial Painting at [email protected].
