Corrosion Remediation: 5 Phases to Stronger Anticorrosive Paint

What to Know About Cor­ro­sion and Paint Repair

How Anti­cor­ro­sive Paint Repairs Paint Damage

Cor­ro­sion can hap­pen any­where in your indus­tri­al facil­i­ty, man­u­fac­tur­ing site, or com­mer­cial struc­ture, though some areas and indus­tries are at high­er risk. Are you protected? 

Anti­cor­ro­sive paint appli­ca­tion by Kaloutas is an effec­tive and nec­es­sary step to pre­vent­ing rust and oth­er dete­ri­o­ra­tion from dam­ag­ing your valu­able assets. We’re here to help.

• If you’ve seen signs of cor­ro­sion any­where in your facil­i­ty or on your man­u­fac­tur­ing equip­ment we can cor­rect it.

• If you want to be sure you’re pro­tect­ed against cor­ro­sion, we can inspect for warn­ing signs of chem­i­cal dam­age or rusting.

• If your exist­ing primers, paints, and coat­ings are inef­fec­tive against cor­ro­sion, we can either clean the sur­face and reap­ply the coat­ing, or rec­om­mend a more effec­tive alternative.

What­ev­er you’re fac­ing, whether it’s cor­ro­sion above food prepa­ra­tion areas, tanks dete­ri­o­rat­ed by chem­i­cals, or rust­ing silos and equip­ment, we have the knowl­edge to cor­rect cor­ro­sion, and to pre­vent it from hap­pen­ing again. 

Caus­es of Corrosion

Cor­ro­sion hap­pens when­ev­er caus­tic con­di­tions or sub­stances come in con­tact with the sur­faces sen­si­tive to them. Most often, cor­ro­sion in your facil­i­ty will be attrib­uted to one or more of these causes:

• Tem­per­a­ture changes: Humid­i­ty can cause cor­ro­sion, as well as sud­den, sig­nif­i­cant tem­per­a­ture changes. The changes in oxy­gen and mois­ture lev­els in the air can cause warp­ing and damage.

• Chem­i­cal cor­ro­sion: Chem­i­cals, whether you work with them, clean with them, or pro­duce them, often cor­rode sur­faces that are improp­er­ly or inad­e­quate­ly coated.

• Water and Mois­ture dam­age: With­out prop­er test­ing for mois­ture and mois­ture mit­i­ga­tion, water and water vapor can cause cost­ly dam­age and deterioration

• Expo­sure: Indus­tri­al assets exposed to the ele­ments are at high risk for cor­ro­sion, espe­cial­ly dur­ing heavy rains and harsh New Eng­land winters.

• Wear and Tear: Con­stant use of equip­ment, fix­tures, and mech­a­nisms can cause them to degrade over time if they are not reg­u­lar­ly inspect­ed and treat­ed for corrosion.

Under­stand­ing what’s caus­ing cor­ro­sion in your facil­i­ty means any rec­om­men­da­tions for cor­ro­sion con­trol will be more tar­get­ed and effective. 

Check These Areas and Assets for Cor­ro­sion Damage

It is crit­i­cal to inspect your entire facil­i­ty for cor­ro­sion reg­u­lar­ly. Leav­ing it unchecked will only cause big­ger headaches down the road. Invest­ing in cor­ro­sion inspec­tion and reme­di­a­tion pro­longs the life of your equip­ment and the struc­tur­al integri­ty of your facil­i­ty, while unplanned repairs mean your bot­tom line takes a hit. Check­ing reg­u­lar­ly for cor­ro­sion can help you avoid reac­tive expense.

We most com­mon­ly see cor­ro­sion on:

• Ceil­ings above tanks and equip­ment where sig­nif­i­cant heat, cold, or mois­ture is emit­ted reg­u­lar­ly as part of your man­u­fac­tur­ing process or service

• Tanks and equip­ment that reg­u­lar­ly come in con­tact with mois­ture or chemicals

• Out­door tanks, equip­ment, struc­tur­al steel, rooftop dun­nage, etc: The longer you’ve had the equip­ment, and the more time it’s spent out­doors, the greater the like­li­hood it will corrode.

Facil­i­ty teams should be on the look­out for dam­age, dis­col­oration, and chip­ping. These are three sure signs that cor­ro­sion has set in. Along with the cost of hav­ing to repair or replace dete­ri­o­rat­ed equip­ment, cor­ro­sion also pos­es sig­nif­i­cant health and safe­ty lia­bil­i­ties. It can increase risk of fire in your facil­i­ty. It can ham­per equip­ment from work­ing safe­ly and prop­er­ly. And rust chips from ceil­ings, walls, or equip­ment could fall into your prod­uct sup­ply, result­ing in con­t­a­m­i­na­tion and the safe­ty haz­ards that come with it.

Don’t for­get: Any­thing kept in stor­age, or in an area of your facil­i­ty you don’t fre­quent­ly use or vis­it, is high­ly prone to rust cor­ro­sion. And that risk increas­es if the areas are not climate-controlled. 

Cor­ro­sion Reme­di­a­tion and Removal: 4 Phases

Cor­ro­sion removal and reme­di­a­tion gen­er­al­ly hap­pens in 5 phases:

• Inspec­tion: Thor­ough inspec­tion is nec­es­sary to under­stand where cor­ro­sion is hid­ing, and how exten­sive it is. While a more detailed inspec­tion will be nec­es­sary when plan­ning and exe­cut­ing removal projects, teams work­ing in those areas can also devel­op a check­list for dai­ly inspec­tion, so they can be trained to spot the ear­li­est signs of cor­ro­sion. We rec­om­mend plan­ning reme­di­a­tion projects ahead of any com­pli­ance inspec­tions, so any issues that may impact your inspec­tion score can be resolved in time.

• Clean­ing & Prepa­ra­tion: When cor­ro­sion has tak­en over a sur­face, it can often be removed through indus­tri­al clean­ing & prepa­ra­tion tech­niques such as hand tool, pow­er tool and at times, abra­sive blast­ing. These meth­ods remove par­tic­u­lates dam­aged by rust or chem­i­cal cor­ro­sion to leave you with a clean, intact sur­face under­neath. In some cas­es, clean­ers and sol­vents may be appro­pri­ate, depend­ing on type and lev­el of cor­ro­sion. Indus­tri­al clean­ing and sur­face prepa­ra­tion are essen­tial steps in this process. If any par­tic­u­lates are left on the sur­face, primers, paints, and coat­ings you apply will not be adhered prop­er­ly and will be inef­fec­tive from day one of application.

• Main­te­nance: Your equip­ment, fix­tures, or oth­er areas dam­aged by cor­ro­sion may need to be repaired or replaced before primers and paints can be applied.

• Primer: Primers are applied after clean­ing to max­i­mize the effect of anti­cor­ro­sive paints. 

• Anti­cor­ro­sive paints: Anti­cor­ro­sive paints are your first line of defense against equip­ment and facil­i­ty dete­ri­o­ra­tion. The exact paints you need vary based on their use and your com­pli­ance stan­dards. They could be:

  • Mois­ture resistant

  • Chem­i­cal resistant

  • Weath­er resistant

  • Resis­tant to extreme high or low temperatures

Cor­ro­sion Con­trol for Indus­tri­al and Com­mer­cial Facilities

Apply­ing anti­cor­ro­sive paint is a heavy-duty project that requires peo­ple, equip­ment and mate­ri­als you like­ly don’t have on hand. Kaloutas has expe­ri­ence using anti­cor­ro­sive coat­ings for indus­try lead­ers across Mass­a­chu­setts and New Eng­land. Hir­ing us gives you these benefits:

• Exten­sive knowl­edge of prop­er clean­ing, prepa­ra­tion, coat­ing, and paint­ing tech­niques for equip­ment, walls, ceil­ings, and indus­tri­al flooring

• A ​“one-stop shop” of experts for every phase of cor­ro­sion remediation

• Thor­ough sur­face prepa­ra­tion for max­i­mum paint dura­bil­i­ty and effectiveness

• Prop­er con­tain­ment and pro­tec­tion of sur­faces to avoid mess­es and the threat of cross-contamination

• No-work-stop­page guar­an­tee so your anti­cor­ro­sive paint appli­ca­tion gets done with­out halt­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or stop­ping work

• Pre­ven­tive facil­i­ty main­te­nance sup­port to get ahead of com­mon facil­i­ty issues like cor­ro­sion so you can pre­vent them from hap­pen­ing, and stop them in their tracks at the first threat or sign of cor­ro­sion damage

• Part­ner­ship with an ISNet­world member.

Anti­cor­ro­sive coat­ing sys­tems are an asset your facil­i­ty can’t afford to do with­out. Kaloutas is ready to improve per­for­mance and longevi­ty of your indus­tri­al paint­ing projects with expert indus­tri­al clean­ing, prim­ing, and paint/​coating application.

Paired with our proac­tive facil­i­ty main­te­nance approach, you can expect great results for years to come. We can also check your con­crete floor­ing to ensure any coat­ing and seal­ing is mois­ture retar­dant and cor­ro­sion resis­tant. Don’t leave your indus­tri­al assets vul­ner­a­ble to rust, warp­ing, or decay. Call Kaloutas for an anti­cor­ro­sive paint­ing esti­mate today.

Kaloutas is New Eng­land’s pre­mier con­trac­tor for com­mer­cial & indus­tri­al paint­ing, floor­ing, and relat­ed ser­vices. Estab­lished in 1987, Kaloutas has become a trust­ed resource for gen­er­al con­trac­tors, facil­i­ties man­agers, and build­ing own­ers from Con­necti­cut to Maine. Our team prides itself on high qual­i­ty work­man­ship, jobs done on time & bud­get, and tack­ling com­plex projects that oth­er con­trac­tors don’t have the expe­ri­ence or resources to han­dle. Con­tact us today for a paint­ing or floor­ing esti­mate, or give us a call at 978−532−1414 to learn more.