There is much more to the installation of elastomeric coatings than just choosing a product and painting it on a surface. In fact, if you don’t get the right coating or don’t have it applied properly, you could end up with premature failure that leads to damage or injury. That’s why it’s so important to not only understand the process, but to make sure you get industrial painting contractors that can help you through the installation.
Preparing for Elastomeric Coatings
There are a number of things that should be done before the process of installation even begins. Preparation is often where mistakes are made that can lead to failure down the road.
The first thing should be product choice. This can be in many respects the most difficult part in that it can be hard to know what your needs actually are without an idea of the capabilities of elastomeric coatings. A professional can have a look at your facility and help you identify places where a given coating can be helpful to your business.
Next, it is necessary to run an analysis on the surfaces that are to be coated. The professional will first look for sealers or curing compounds used on the surface previously. This is usually done with an acid test. A litmus test may also be conducted to test for lime deposits and check the pH of the concrete. The professional will then check the level of water vapor pressure present and see if there are any impurities in or on the surface itself. If there are, they have to be removed before the application can begin.
Finally, commercial and industrial painting professionals will check the ambient conditions in the room to get an idea of how long drying and curing will take, and look for cracks and divots that will need to be repaired. Once these are all taken care of, the installer will create a “profile” on the surface using either acid or a mechanical process, and application can begin.
Applying Your Coating
After all of the preparation is done, the coating can be applied to the surface at the appropriate depth to make sure that issues such as air bubbles that might be in the mix are addressed, because these can affect the performance of the coating.
Drying time can be highly variable depending on a number of factors, but in most cases is fairly quick so that there is minimal disruption to your business. That being said, not allowing a coating to properly dry after application can lead to premature failure, so be sure to listen to your professional’s recommendations.
It’s important if you’re looking into industrial coating application to find a company that you can trust, like Raider Painting, who will take the time to make sure that every step of the process of installing your elastomeric coatings is done properly.
