VOC Compliant Dryfall Paint Coatings for Open Web Steel Joist Plant Ceiling Painting

We’re seeing it in all parts of the country; more strict regulations on the emissions from applying paint coatings.

With the introduction of new low VOC water based acrylic paints for painting open web steel joist ceilings the industry runs the risk of finish problems. We have found that issues such as discoloration due to surface contamination become more likely and the possibility of peeling paint due to inferior adhesion when compared to alkyd dryfalls. This is most prevalent in a repaint environment than new construction as the surfaces are more likely to have some surface dirt. Most plant ceilings are painted white so yellowing is visable. For the last forty years oil based (alkyd dryfal) paints have been the main-stay of the industry. In comparison to acrylics, these alkyd paints resisted staining better and the solvents in them would cut through some surface dirt and oil which is commonly found on ceiling surfaces in manufacturing facilities. Now with only acrylic paints available in most market places more careful planning and preparation procedures will have to be taken to ensure a successful outcome.

In some cases, surface cleaning will now be required where in the past you could get away without it. Ultimately this conversion to more environmentally friendly coatings will cost the customer more money for preparation prior to painting. In addition, most of the waste water from washing the ceilings cannot run down the drain, it must be collected and disposed of at a registered hazardous waste site.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

My Plant Looks Dark & Dirty So What Should I Do?

The objective is to maximize the money your spending to improve the appearance and operation of your manufacturing facility. It’s not always clear what to do first. Dirty dark ceiling, walls, floors, machinery; we can’t afford to paint everything so what do we do and what do we leave till next year?

Each job is unique in terms of condition but generally the painting of the ceilings provides the greatest improvement in lighting to an interior space. It also happens to be where you would start to paint if you were to paint everything in an interior space. What I mean by this is for instance; if you go and paint walls without painting the ceiling and decide at a later date to paint the walls, you have to protect the walls from getting ruined. This is the same for most surfaces in a building if you leave the painting of ceilings to a later date.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

Metal Roof Recoating or Refinishing

Many roofs in the 30 plus year range have an architectural profile, meaning they use coil coated sheet steel sheer cut and stamped with a particular fluting (corrugation) profile to give the panel rigidity and strength. These panels vary in width and length depending on what the profiler has orders for. Older metal roof were all made from these panels. Installers bought these panels from a variety of profile manufacturers and would lay them on the structural supports and screw them together using caulking or gasketing on the underside of the panel to seal them from leaking. The fastener screws also had rubber washers to keep them water tight.

These architectural panels work well for vertical walls on a building but when used off vertical they are exposed to much more extreme wear due to sunlight, rain, dirt, snow and ice accumulation. The combination of dirt and ice sliding off the roof in the early spring or a warm winter day acts as sandpaper to scrape the paint off the roof while the precipitation and the sun wear out the paint and the weather seals.

The roof panels left unpainted would start to rust very quickly and sometimes leak as well.

More current metal roof systems are designed quite differently; they use standing seams elevated around four inches off the roof surface, spaced out approximately a foot and a half from each other vertically on the roof. These seams (peaks of the panel profile) are then water proof capped allowing the rain and snow to flow down the pitched roof to the gutter system at the bottom edge of the roof.

This standing seam roof design is far less likely to leak but the paint wear on the roof is still harsh.

As experts in metal roof refinishing, Induspray offers a number of different roof recoating systems. We supply labor and materials installed.  Corrosion control is the start using a variety of primer systems, topped with elastomeric coatings for water sealing and urethane systems for sun exposure. Colour choice is very wide.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

Saving Money When Painting Your Plant Ceiling

The painting of ceilings and walls in an operational manufacturing plant or warehouse requires some careful planning and thought for both the client and the painting contractor.

Little logistical issues can make a big difference for both the operation of your factory while its being painted and the painting contractors ease of painting the area contracted..

Work area access in terms of the size of the area and the level of clearing of equipment the customer has done prior to the painter can make a big difference in the quotations you’ll receive. The bigger the area cleared and accessible for each phase of the project the lower your quote will be.  

If the whole plant is available to be worked in that is even better as more painting can be done at the same time and covering time is minimized. This will minimize encapsulation costs to isolate the area being painted from the rest of the plant takes time and material and maximize the efficiency of the painting contractors project manager.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

Low VOC Coatings Are Not Always What They Seem To Be

Volatile Organic Compounds or VOC's in paint are guide lined by local environmental government bodies and have come down dramatically in recent years. They are measured in pounds per US gallon.

The intention is to make paint more environmentally friendly like many other "green" initiatives. The intention is great as long as the result is better for the environment but this isn’t always the outcome.

This is similar to the contentious issues related to toxic, short life batteries in electric cars that have precious raw materials shipped across the world to be manufactured into batteries and then shipped across the world to the market place they are sold in. The environmental impact of this process can be more damaging than just driving a locally manufactured conventional gas powered car.

The use of environmentally paints with lower VOC's can have shorter lives and can therefore omit greater VOC's than older & currently non compliant paint coatings when amortized over the course of their useful life. We have seen situations where the new paint will only last one third as long as the old paint we used for decades and therefore needs to be redone three times to compare in life to our old reliable coatings. This means that you need to triple the VOC emission of the new paint in order to compare to our old paint to see if there’s VOC savings. The use of urethanes vs. fluorocarbons is an example.

The other issue is the total quantity of paint required on a job maybe much greater with a new coating than an old one so you need to look at the total VOC emission for a given project using each alternative paint to compare.

Low VOC emission paints aren’t always better for the environment.

New waterborne paints are becoming longer lasting, more tenacious, with fewer problems with staining or contaminants bleeding through the coating.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

Plant & Factory Floor Remediation

Lately, with the vacating of numerous manufacturing facilities by long-term tenants, we are seeing plants in terrible condition. They tend to look particularly bad when everything is cleared out of them. Stamping plants tend to mist oil to lubricate dies, and the oil mist gets on everything from ceilings, to walls to the floor. The floors can have a quarter of an inch of oil and dirt on them that has to be cleaned up before you can even take a new tenant or buyer in for a viewing.

Years ago, the dirty water from left behind after cleaning would go down the drain, but not now. We have containers to remove the dirty wastewater after washing, and then have it disposed at a registered waste treatment facility.

At Induspray, we've been hired for our expertise in the restoration of badly damaged plant floors. This process includes cleaning, patching damaged areas, replacing areas, implementing floor leveling systems, and coating them to make the floors look more uniform and to get rid of the oily smell. Induspray is always trying to minimize the cost for our customers, so we don't do more than is needed. Sometimes this means that expensive floor over-layments are avoided, even when we have a rough floor if we are not positive that the owner will benefit.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

Paint your industrial building to help sell or lease it quickly!

These days, with so many empty industrial buildings available, building owners and ICI real estate agents need all the help they can get to find a new owner or tenant. We've been told over and over again how critical our painting work was to improve the esthetic appearance inside buildings -- and make them sell.

Recently, an agent told us this:
"The interior was smelly, dark, dirty, and looked all broken up with some areas painted different colours or not painted at all. Painting the ceiling, walls and floor instantly took it from the 1950s to 2010. It now not only looks clean and bright, but it doesn’t smell like a dirty, oily factory anymore. Without doing this, we would never have moved this property. My client deciding to paint with my persuasion was the best thing he could have done. Painting made our building stand out from the rest as a location of choice. It was a quick, cheap fix for getting someone in."

Another agent recounted that he said to his building owner client that:
"He only has one chance to get a prospective buyer to a building. Bringing the buyer back after doing a cleanup is often a tough sell. First impressions are critical, so it’s imperative to do it right the first time. A lot of times, I only get one kick at the can."

We can't understand why building owners and agents don’t act faster to clean up a building when going to market. A lot of buildings are left looking terrible for many months before the owners realize what they are missing out on. They lose a fortune! Plus, in a declining market, the longer they leave it, the price they end up getting often just keeps getting lower and lower. Painting is always a very wise move and an excellent investment.

Visit us at Induspray USA for more information about commercial/industrial painting.

News Section Launched

Induspray is pleased to announce the addition of this "News" section to our website. We'll be posting on company developments, the industrial painting industry, updates on some of our jobs, and more. Hope to see you back here!