Safety First – Apply Textured Industrial Paint To Decrease Slip Hazards

Increase the Slip-Resistant With Industrial Painting and Coatings

Safety is always the top concern for any facility.  Whether you’re dealing with overhead cranes, fork lifts, heavy machinery, or flammable liquids, there are numerous threats that you need to be aware of.  But one of the most overlooked threats are slip hazards.  So most facilities have textured walk-ways or aisle ways, or floors that contain slip-resistant aggregate.

But above and beyond the floors, facility steps require anti-slip texture just as much as the floors.  I was recently contacted by a customer in northern Pennsylvania to look at some diamond plated steps.

As you can see in the picture, these steps are diamond plated.  But they also have a textured strip adhered to the surface.  Although easy to apply, these textured strips don’t create the strongest bond with the floor.  And as you can see in the image, they are beginning to delaminate from the surface, causing them to peel, and inadvertently create another trip hazard.

So the customer requested something stronger and more permanent.  So our solution is apply a mastic epoxy, with an American Safety top coat.  The mastic epoxy will act as the bonding agent between the top coat and substrate.  The top coat has decent adhesion, but won’t adhere tot the step as well as the mastic epoxy.  The top coat’s main purpose is to add heavy texture to the step.

But before we can apply the new coating system, we first need to remove each texture strip.  As the picture is demonstrating, each strip is already beginning to peal.  However, getting each step prepared isn’t as easy as removing the strip.  Each strip will have an adhesive residue remaining on the step.  And it is necessary to remove all the residue, prior to apply the paint.

Here are a few option for removing the residue:

  • Mechanical Hand Tool – Sometimes the residue can create a hard shell after its had enough time to fully cure.  If that is the case, a hand tool like a wire wheel may be the best way to try and remove the adhessive.
  • Solvent wiping – solvent wiping can help break down the residue.  Although this may be the easiest, there may be restrictions using a potent solvent in a food plant.  So coordination prior to using the solvent is necessary.
  • Heat Gun – heat is another way to help reduce the residue’s bond to the substrate.  Head can cause the residue to break down, decreasing its adhesion to the substrate.

And these are the primary methods for removing the residue left over from the textured strips.  Painting the new strips is the easy part.  But as always, the difficult part is prepping the surface so that you have a clean substrate for your 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 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.

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