Industrial Painting Challenges in Manufacturing Areas

Often, industrial areas have operational equipment and machinery built into the room.  It’s impossible to move the equipment, making the project almost seem impossible to complete.  But, when food or pharmaceutical plants have corroded ceilings with flaking paint, it’s no longer allowed to be an impossible project.

So when a food facility let us know about their corroded ceiling with flaking paint and rust, it was obvious they were in dire need to find a solution.  So what we needed to do, was go into the plant, wash the corroded areas to remove rust and loose paint, and then apply a rust-inhibitive elastomeric paint system.  But before we could do any of that, we needed to address the operating equipment in the middle of the room.

Industrial Containment

The first step is to contain and protect the equipment.  Because we were pressure washing the ceiling, we needed to double wrap all of water -sensitive equipment.  This includes the 480V bus-line, the equipment, and any product that may be stationed in that room.  We double wrap all of the equipment with 4mil plastic and 1.5mil plastic.  All of this wrapping creates an impenetrable layer of plastic that protects the equipment from water exposure.

Once all the equipment is covered, it’s safe to begin washing the ceiling.  We used an environmentally friendly cleaner, due to the consumable product that was in the area.  The ceiling received suds, and we washed it with high-pressured hot water.  This removed any grease and contaminants that  were left on the ceiling.

Once the washing is done, it’s time to perform more industrial containment for the paint.  When you are washing, a lot of substrates can get wet, including the floors, and walls.  When you are painting, the only substrates to receive the paint are the substrates that are meant to be painted.  So, it’s important to cover absolutely everything that is not to get painted, such as the floor, walls, and everything in between.

So, the remaining substrates to cover are the floors and the walls.

Once all these substrates are covered, then we’ll be able to paint the project.  The material to be applied is an elastomeric paint system with rust-inhibitive properties.  Elastomeric coatings are an excellent coating system due to their ability to not only grip the substrate, but also the surrounding coating.  Because of its ability to grip onto itself, the coating will not flake and chip, unlike common oil-based paints.  If a section of the elastomeric paint disbonds from the ceiling, it will continue to grip with the coating surrounding it, preventing the paint from chipping, and falling onto the floor.

Elastomeric needs to be applied heavily.  So the best application practice is to spray.  Because the ceiling is corrugated and includes bar joists, spraying would have been the application method anyway.

According to the tech data sheet, the elastomeric needs to be spray applied in 2 coats, with each coat being 13mils wet film finish.  So, the final product coating will be 26mils wet film thickness.  Now, this elastomeric product has is about 50% solids, so when it finally dries, the film thickness will be 13mils, which is what the tech data sheet is asking for.

Overall, although projects in highly conducive areas that contain alot of operational equipment, it is not impossible to coat the ceiling or walls, without compromising the surrounding equipment.

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 to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.  And we cover York, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Dauphin, Bucks, Berks, and other counties in the surrounding area.