paint inspection ltd newsletter spring 2012

8/2/2019 Paint Inspection Ltd Newsletter Spring 2012

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WelcomeWelcome to the rst newsletter from Paint Inspection Ltd. We ,as a company, are well into our se-

cond year and we have to thank all of our clients for the support we have been given since we started

on this exciting venture, without certain people taking a risk by trusting us on surveying their assets

to helping support any works programmes, we would not have had the opportunity to show what a

professional and forward thinking company that we are and promote ourselves to be. We now have a

fantastic client base that expands everyday as people recommend us to colleagues and peers within

the industry and for that we are grateful.

So why do a newsletter? Well its a funny old thing this industrial coatings business. Often during the

design, and build phase protective coatings are an afterthought! In reality it only gets attention when

it either goes wrong or there is requirement for maintenance, then further questions arise like com-

patibility? What is the right system? What service life can I expect? What should I be looking for from

my contractors? The questions are endless and the cost in time and money when things go wrong can

be disastrous.

In the newsletter we plan to cover topics that are relevant within the industry for the period we are

working in, for instance in this edition Ian will be covering the importance of ambient condition con-

trol during application and what eect this can have on the surface life of coatings. I will writing

about an unusual creature I recently discovered on an inland bridge. Melissa will cover how, as an

independent ICATS training company, we have been able to help support local authorities getting

people back to work as well as providing contractors with a good source of trained operatives. We

also want you to have your say and recently we sent out an e-mail asking if you had coatings related

questions the response was fantastic and unfortunately we will not be able to put every question in

the newsletter but we do promise to answer every question even if it is a personal response.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for their support in 2011 and look forward to working with

all of you in 2012 to help improve quality to reduce costs.

Andrew Patterson Director

WWW.PAINT-INSPECTION.CO.UK

This IssueWelcome P.1

Our Services P.1Ambient Condions P.2

Microscopic Creatures P.2ICATS Training P.3

Q & A P.3Our Services &

QualicaonsServices

Coangs Condion Surveys Painng Works InspeconSpecicaon WringProject ConsultancyPaint Sampling & AnalysisFailure AnalysisProject Management & Support

QualicaonsAll of our inspectors are ICorr / NACE quali-

ed and have many years experience our

range of cercates include:Icorr/NACE level 2 or 3 InspectorsConned Space TicketsLUL Entry PermitsPTS CardsNEBOSHAchilles LINK UP ApprovedInstute of corrosion sustaining member

Paint Inspecon LtdMonthly Newsleer Edion 1Spring 2012


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Technical Advice

During a recent survey of a highways

bridge one of our inspectors (whilst

using a specialist piece of visual equip-

ment) noticed a large number of micro-

scopic creatures moving along the fail-

ure line of the protective coating sys-

tem. What potential eect may they

have on any protective coating system?Eventually the natural history museum

identied these creatures as Pscoids,

during discussions they were surprised

to hear that these insects had made

their home on an inland bridge, and

this is far removed from their usual

habitat. It appears that the particular

ones observed had managed to nd a

fungi of their particular liking upon the

exposed steel work of the structure,

through some form of rapid evolution

it was possible that they were alsomanaging to survive by extruding

moisture from the surface by burrow-

ing under the protective coating sys-

tem. The history museum believed it

was possible that with enough of them,

they could severely damage the paint

by lifting it away from the surface as

they migrated along the substrate.

Even more unusual is that most

Pscoids are winged making their move-

ments easy when food sources have

been depleted. The Pscoids observedon the bridge were wingless and this

may go some way in helping under-

stand how they have evolved to survive

in such an environment. The picture

below shows an image taken of a

Pscoid on top of a zinc salt grain.

Ambient Conditions

To paint or not to paint this is

the question!!!Its that time of the year when we are getting

towards warmer day time temperatures which

are more suited for external painting contracts,

but beware as we are not entirely out of the

woods with temperatures dropping at sunset

and the dew point hovering around the steel

temperature.

With the current nancial climate and budgets

being slashed, it is critical for painting projects

to meet the specication and be quality con-

trolled so that the coating system can reach its

life expectancy in terms of minor and major

maintenance. During the ICATS training pro-

gramme we drive the importance of good sur-

face preparation and other key factors which

aect the long term performance of the system,

such as mixing the paint correctly, applying the

paint when the ambient conditions are in speci-

cation and application overall from coatingthickness etc.

Specications mainly work to the 85 to 90%

Relative Humidity rule, air temperature above

5c and the steel temperature 3c above the dew

point. This is ne when applying the coating

system but as previously mentioned this time of

year the evening temperatures drop away and in

most cases the coating system is still in the

curing process. A number of factors can take

place when the coating hasnt cured out and the

conditions become less than ideal; one being is

that the solvent will not evaporate to complete

the curing process, the curing Amines will

bloom as the humidity rises and so on. Overall

this is not an ideal scenario and the inevitable

will eventually happen, with either a coatingfailure or a delay in the programme as the

works are revisited.

So where are the solutions? Well a number of

mechanisms can be put into place to prevent a

potential coating failure. One being that the

works are delayed until the summer, but this

presents its own unique problems as the season-

al programme window will be relatively small

and even then night time temperatures and

Relative humiditys are not guaranteed.

Large painting contracts normally have tempo-rary works in the form of xed scaolding

which is sheeted in, so heaters and dehumidi-

ers are employed to avoid any potentially prob-

lems.

On smaller maintenance projects the works are

normally open and controlled heating is not a

solution, so other options need to be looked at

and using a winter curing agent could provide a

solution as it speeds up the curing process and

also looking at coating systems which have a

greater tolerance and proven track record in

low temperature curing.

Overall the importance of the painting pro-

gramme and using the correct coating system

are one of the key factors to long term perfor-

mance, so specications should be written with

these key indicators in mind, along with tech-

nical assistance from the coating manufactur-

ers.

Next newsletter: Amine bloom, what does it

mean and how is the system aected.

Images:

Left: Appearance of amine blush/bloom

Top: Elcometer 319 with steel temperature

probe.

Surface CleanlinessMicroscopic Creatures

Make An Inland Highways

Bridge Their Home.


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ICATS Training News

Equipment News

Paint Inspection Ltd have been trialling the new Defelsko Positector. This gauge is unique

as it only requires 1 body that can adapt to dierent inspection regimes with snap onadaptors. This negates the need to carry multiple units onto site. For more information go

to www.dftinstruments.co.uk

Here at Paint Inspection Ltd,weare delighted with our new oces and ICATS workshop at Trafalgar Wharf, Portchester. It has certainly been a very

usy time for us since we moved here.

We introduced our Industrial Coatings Applicator Training Scheme early last year, serving Indi-

iduals and Companies requiring ICATS Certication. Ian, Andrew and I set up and ran courses

very four to ve weeks, tting them around our Survey and Inspection schedule, and sharing a

workshop with a neighbouring paint spraying company. How things have changed!

After some very successful results working with Companies, Local Authorities, Charities and Gov-

rnment bodies we now run ICATS courses fortnightly and have created a new workshop for our

rainees. Our clients are from diverse backgrounds ranging from new recruits to the Coatings In-

ustry, to seasoned painters with more than 30 years of experience. In conjunction with the local

ouncil we have also completed our 4th full course with another 6 courses booked with the proba-

ion service to assist ex oenders in gaining a new start. These candidates will have also completed

mployability checks and usually CSCS Certication to further elevate their chances of gaining long

erm employment. Currently Paint Inspection Ltd success rate is over 50% of training to employ-

ment and feedback from contractors who have taken trainees from the course has been excellent.

We also send our trainers to companies to administer ICATS and for specialist modules, Paint

praying and Abrasive Blast Cleaning, keeping our trainers and our company very busy.

Melissa Borthwick, Company Secretary

or information on how we can help train operatives, or the availability of ICATS certied personnel then please feel free to contact myself at Tel 023

3233147 or e-mail melissa@paint

-inspection.co.uk

Paint Inspection Ltd understands the true meaning of Corporate Social Responsibil-

ity. They put 150% into ensuring customers and trainees are happy. I have seldomworked with a company that puts so much eort and time back into the local commu-

nity where they are based. It has always been worth picking up the phone to see ifthey can assist with diverse community-based projects. If they cannot help they often

know someone who can help and will make an introduction.

Linda Taylor - Portsmouth City Council

Q & A

I Have A White Powdery Deposits All Over My

Structure What Is It?It sounds like you potentially have chalking. To simply

check wipe your hand across the surface using a little

pressure. You can use a coloured rag instead of your hand.

Choose a dark rag for light paint colours and a light rag for

dark paint colours. If some of the pigment comes o, usu-

ally a light colour when compared to your existing paint

colour, then your existing paint is chalking,

The primary cause is exposure to sunlight!Ultra violet light breaks down the binders in the paintand releases the pigments. Another cause is a reactionbetween the binders and oxygen, this is paint oxidation.Both of these processes occur simultaneously and have aneect on all types of nishes.

While all of this chemistry ishappening, the paint sheenwill become progressively

duller and the paint lm thin-ner. The paint lm thins fromthe eects of rain as it washesaway the chalking paint resi-due.

paint inspection ltd newsletter spring 2012

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