How to Choose the Right Fireproofing Services for Your Unique Facility

Every facil­i­ty is unique, but they all have at least one thing in com­mon: they must be well defend­ed against fires. Com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al fires are more com­mon than they should be, and they can be dev­as­tat­ing in more ways than one. With prop­er fire pro­tec­tion and pre­ven­tion efforts, how­ev­er, you can for­ti­fy your facil­i­ty against fires and their worst effects. Fire­proof­ing sur­faces and assets through­out your build­ing is a crit­i­cal fire pro­tec­tion mea­sure that slows the spread of flames, pro­tects under­ly­ing sur­faces from extreme tem­per­a­tures, and pro­vides ample time for occu­pants to escape safe­ly. With so many types of fire­proof­ing and oth­er ways to pro­tect your facil­i­ty from flames, how­ev­er, you might won­der which meth­ods and mate­ri­als are best suit­ed for your needs.

In this arti­cle, we’ll go over how to choose the opti­mal fire­proof­ing ser­vices for your unique facil­i­ty for max­i­mum safe­ty and peace of mind.

How to Choose the Opti­mal Fire­proof­ing Ser­vices for Your Facility

Get to Know Your Fire Codes

Safe­ty reg­u­la­tions play a role in ensur­ing that busi­ness­es take good care of their prop­er­ties and peo­ple. Orga­ni­za­tions such as the Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Admin­is­tra­tion (OSHA) and IFC/ICC (Inter­na­tion­al Fire Code) are two of many reg­u­la­to­ry enti­ties that estab­lish and over­see these reg­u­la­tions. Some of these fire-relat­ed rules are far-reach­ing, apply­ing to most com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al con­struc­tions – oth­ers, how­ev­er, are par­tic­u­lar to a giv­en indus­try or build­ing type. Depend­ing on these spe­cif­ic rules, you might be required to adopt a cer­tain type of fire­proof­ing or work with cer­ti­fied fire­proof con­trac­tors with the right qual­i­fi­ca­tions. It’s impor­tant to be aware of any and all fire codes that are rel­e­vant to your facil­i­ty in order to remain com­pli­ant, avoid penal­ties, and, most impor­tant­ly, keep every­one inside safe.

Under­stand the Dif­fer­ence Between Cemen­ti­tious and Intu­mes­cent Fire­proof­ing Paint

When seek­ing a spray fire­proof­ing option for your unique facil­i­ty, you’ll have to choose between two main cat­e­gories: cemen­ti­tious fire­proof­ing and intu­mes­cent fire­proof­ing. Both types of fire­proof­ing pro­tect key sur­faces from flames, but they oper­ate dif­fer­ent­ly. Cemen­ti­tious fire­proof­ing nev­er changes states once it’s applied and cured – it resists flames by nature of its com­po­si­tion. Intu­mes­cent coat­ings, on the oth­er hand, expand into a foam-like char­coal sub­stance when exposed to flames. This infla­tion­ary reac­tion pro­vides a larg­er phys­i­cal buffer between the flames and the under­ly­ing surface.

Cemen­ti­tious and intu­mes­cent coat­ings both have their pros and cons, and each type is often bet­ter suit­ed for spe­cif­ic sit­u­a­tions. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, light­weight cemen­ti­tious coat­ings are best applied in dry envi­ron­ments, where mois­ture can make its way into the material’s pores. High­er den­si­ty cemen­ti­tious mate­ri­als are more resis­tant to mois­ture and impact, but the look of the mate­r­i­al on exposed sur­faces may not fit the aes­thet­ic needs. Intu­mes­cent coat­ings, on the oth­er hand, offer smooth paint­ed fin­ish­es and are com­pat­i­ble with humid set­tings, although they’re often more expen­sive and require more main­te­nance in the long run. Know­ing the dif­fer­ences between these types of fire­proof­ing will help you deter­mine which mate­ri­als are right for dif­fer­ent parts of your facility.

Mind Your Maintenance

Prop­er appli­ca­tion of fire­proof­ing mate­ri­als is essen­tial for keep­ing your facil­i­ty safe and com­pli­ant. Over time, how­ev­er, even the most durable fire­proof paint will start to peel or chip away. Even minor breach­es in your facility’s fire­proof­ing can result in cost­ly dam­age and put your peo­ple at risk. As such, you must active­ly main­tain your fire­proof coat­ings and repair any dam­aged areas as quick­ly as pos­si­ble via fire­proof patch­ing ser­vices. Every facil­i­ty that incor­po­rates fire­proof coat­ings will require fire­proof patch­ing at some point. Work­ing with a fire­proof con­trac­tor that offers these key ser­vices will set you and your build­ing up for suc­cess, as you’ll nev­er have to wor­ry about a lack of fire pro­tec­tion for key sur­faces or assets. 

Talk to a Trust­ed Fire­proof­ing Contractor

If you’re still not sure of which fire­proof­ing ser­vices are right for your facil­i­ty, it’s always advised to talk to a rep­utable fire­proof­ing expert like Kaloutas. We work close­ly with each of our cus­tomers to under­stand their unique needs and min­i­mize down­time. We’re com­mit­ted to the ongo­ing safe­ty of all our clients’ facil­i­ties, which is why we offer a range of fire­proof­ing and fire stop­ping, and fire pre­ven­tion ser­vices, includ­ing fire­proof instal­la­tion, patch­ing, and more. To learn more about us and all that we do, con­tact us online or give us a call at 978−532−1414 today.