Commercial Painting – Building Exteriors

When you get the call to look at a building exterior, you never what type of substrate you’re going to run into.  You could see fluted columns, or stucco siding, or vinyl siding, or steel, or a plethora of other substrates that permeates into a complex assessment of various coatings.  And when you’re looking at these varying surfaces, you’ll never know what the surface’s absorption rate is, nor can you accurately assess how much weather this area will be exposed to.   So here’s a list of some exterior substrates that are common among the facilities.

Painting Stucco

 

Stucco can be a challenge.  It is a very absorbant material, with a lot of grooves, pits, valleys, and peaks.  So the challenge comes in estimating how much material the painter will need.  Your typical, technical data sheet coverage rate is assuming the surface is smooth.  It is not assuming that the substrate is open and porous.  So when trying to assess how much material to apply to stucco, make sure you’re adding more than what you should typically be estimating for.  Otherwise, you could grossly underestimate on material, leaving you to buy paint out of your own pocket.

Painting CMU Block

 

Just like stucco, brick masonry can prove to be a huge issue when it comes to estimating paint and material.  Brick has the joint and mortar lines, as well as its pitted surfaces.  So because of this rigid, uneven texture, it has a high absorption rate, that can cause your paint estimate to fall drastically short.  Typically, when dealing with CMU, the best course of action is to use a block filler paint.  Block filler will seal up the pores, preventing the block from absorbing too much material, helping you be better prepared.  But don’t solely rely on this material to fill up every pore and joint valley.  So estimate wisely and tack on additional material to your order.

Painting Siding

 

Unlike brick or stucco, siding will often be easier to estimate, as long as you get the corrugation factor correct.  Because the peaks and valleys are all consistent, you can reasonably calculator the total surface area of the siding.  Using your ruler, you’ll want to measure 12″ out, and then find out the actual distance, by measuring the peaks and valleys.

So once you calculate the corrugation factor, you can reasonably estimate how much material you’ll need.  Now the issue is the not the amount of surface, but the actual surface itself.  Metal has a much smoother surface than stucco or block.  Almost anything will stick to stucco and block.  Metal is a different story.  The project may require some adhesion tests, to ensure that the material adequately sticks to the substrate.  Otherwise, you may encounter a paint failure, which could cause you to return to the job and perform free labor to fix the mess, or to receive poor customer feedback.  So, always perform an adhesion test if you’re working with smooth substrates and unfamiliar material.

PennCoat, Inc. has been providing industrial painting, commercial painting, epoxy flooring, and polished concrete services for nearly 30 years.  Our experienced installers are trained and equipped with the proper knowledge and tools to ensure that every installation is installed efficiently and safely.  PennCoat, Inc. provides service toPennsylvania,New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.  And we coverYork,Lancaster,Philadelphia,Chester,Montgomery,Baltimore,Harrisburg,Dauphin,Bucks,Berks, and other counties in the surrounding area.

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