Paint Inspection Ltd

Monthly Newsletter Edition 1

Spring 2012

This Issue
Welcome P.1
Our Services P.1
Ambient Conditions P.2
Microscopic Creatures P.2
ICATS Training P.3
Q & A P.3

Welcome
Welcome to the first newsletter from Paint Inspection Ltd. We ,as a company, are well into our second 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 compatibility? 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 control during application and what effect 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.

Our Services &

Qualifications

Services
Coatings Condition Surveys
Painting Works Inspection
Specification Writing
Project Consultancy
Paint Sampling & Analysis
Failure Analysis
Project Management & Support

Qualifications
All of our inspectors are ICorr / NACE qualified and have many years experience our
range of certificates include:
Icorr/NACE level 2 or 3 Inspectors
Confined Space Tickets
LUL Entry Permits
PTS Cards
NEBOSH
Achilles LINK UP Approved
Institute of corrosion sustaining member

Andrew Patterson Director

WWW.PAINT-INSPECTION.CO.UK

Technical Advice

Surface Cleanliness
Ambient Conditions

Microscopic Creatures
Make An Inland Highways
Bridge Their Home.

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 financial climate and budgets
being slashed, it is critical for painting projects
to meet the specification and be quality controlled so that the coating system can reach its
life expectancy in terms of minor and major
maintenance. During the ICATS training programme we drive the importance of good surface preparation and other key factors which
affect the long term performance of the system,
such as mixing the paint correctly, applying the
paint when the ambient conditions are in specification and application overall from coating
thickness etc.
Specifications 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 fine 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 coating
failure 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 seasonal programme window will be relatively small
and even then night time temperatures and
Relative humiditys are not guaranteed.
Large painting contracts normally have temporary works in the form of fixed scaffolding
which is sheeted in, so heaters and dehumidifiers are employed to avoid any potentially problems.
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 programme and using the correct coating system
are one of the key factors to long term performance, so specifications should be written with
these key indicators in mind, along with technical assistance from the coating manufacturers.
Next newsletter: Amine bloom, what does it
mean and how is the system affected.
Images:
Left: Appearance of amine blush/bloom
Top: Elcometer 319 with steel temperature
probe.

During a recent survey of a highways

bridge one of our inspectors (whilst
using a specialist piece of visual equipment) noticed a large number of microscopic creatures moving along the failure line of the protective coating system. What potential effect may they
have on any protective coating system?
Eventually the natural history museum
identified 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 find 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 also
managing to survive by extruding
moisture from the surface by burrowing under the protective coating system. 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 movements easy when food sources have
been depleted. The Pscoids observed
on the bridge were wingless and this
may go some way in helping understand 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.

ICATS Training News

Here at Paint Inspection Ltd, we are delighted with our new offices and ICATS workshop at Trafalgar Wharf, Portchester. It has certainly been a very
busy time for us since we moved here.
We introduced our Industrial Coatings Applicator Training Scheme early last year, serving Individuals and Companies requiring ICATS Certification. Ian, Andrew and I set up and ran courses
every four to five weeks, fitting 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 Government bodies we now run ICATS courses fortnightly and have created a new workshop for our
trainees. Our clients are from diverse backgrounds ranging from new recruits to the Coatings Industry, to seasoned painters with more than 30 years of experience. In conjunction with the local
council we have also completed our 4th full course with another 6 courses booked with the probation service to assist ex offenders in gaining a new start. These candidates will have also completed
employability checks and usually CSCS Certification to further elevate their chances of gaining long
term employment. Currently Paint Inspection Ltd success rate is over 50% of training to employment and feedback from contractors who have taken trainees from the course has been excellent.
Paint Inspection Ltd understands the true meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility. They put 150% into ensuring customers and trainees are happy. I have seldom
worked with a company that puts so much effort and time back into the local community where they are based. It has always been worth picking up the phone to see if
they 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

We also send our trainers to companies to administer ICATS and for specialist modules, Paint
Spraying and Abrasive Blast Cleaning, keeping our trainers and our company very busy.
Melissa Borthwick, Company Secretary
For information on how we can help train operatives, or the availability of ICATS certified personnel then please feel free to contact myself at Tel 023
93233147 or e-mail melissa@paint-inspection.co.uk

Q&A
I Have A White Powdery Deposits All Over My
Structure What Is It?

Equipment News

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 off, usually 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 paint
and releases the pigments. Another cause is a reaction
between the binders and oxygen, this is paint oxidation.
Both of these processes occur simultaneously and have an
effect on all types of finishes.
While all of this chemistry is
happening, the paint sheen
will become progressively
duller and the paint film thinner. The paint film thins from
the effects of rain as it washes
away the chalking paint residue.

Paint Inspection Ltd have been trialling the new Defelsko Positector. This gauge is unique
as it only requires 1 body that can adapt to different inspection regimes with snap on
adaptors. This negates the need to carry multiple units onto site. For more information go
to www.dftinstruments.co.uk