Why Your Commercial Facility Needs Humidity Control During… | Kaloutas

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Why Your Commercial Facility Needs Humidity Control During Commercial Fireproofing Spray Insulation

Fireproofing spray insulation on an indsutrial ceiling Why Your Commercial Facility Needs Humidity Control During Commercial Fireproofing Spray Insulation

Mois­ture might not seem like a major threat to your facil­i­ty, but in large enough amounts, it can become a men­ace. Every com­mer­cial prop­er­ty needs to con­trol its inter­nal tem­per­a­ture and humid­i­ty to pro­tect its assets and main­tain a com­fort­able work envi­ron­ment. Humid­i­ty con­trol is impor­tant for spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tions as well, such as fire­proof­ing. Indeed, fail­ing to con­sid­er the amount of mois­ture in your air can cause all sorts of prob­lems both dur­ing and after fire­proof­ing. Here’s why your com­mer­cial facil­i­ty needs humid­i­ty con­trol dur­ing the appli­ca­tion of com­mer­cial fire­proof­ing spray insu­la­tion.

Ben­e­fits of Humid­i­ty Con­trol Dur­ing Com­mer­cial Fire­proof­ing Spray Insulation

Pro­longed Dry­ing of Fire­proof­ing Mate­ri­als Can Dam­age Structures

Spray fire­proof­ing can take any­where from 14 – 28 days to ful­ly cure. Dur­ing this time, it’s imper­a­tive that noth­ing inter­feres with the material’s dry­ing process. As you might imag­ine, mois­ture plays a major role in how quick­ly (and prop­er­ly) fire­proof coat­ings dry. If there’s more mois­ture in the air, it will take longer for sprayed fire­proof coat­ings to dry. As a result, these coat­ings are at a greater risk of drip­ping and sag­ging, which can grad­u­al­ly wear down the sur­faces they’re meant to pro­tect, such as wood and steel. The increased time to dry leaves the fire­proof­ing sus­cep­ti­ble to dam­age. Also, depend­ing upon the spec­i­fied mate­r­i­al, the fire­proof­ing may con­tin­ue to break­down if exposed to humid­i­ty and fail inspec­tion or void the man­u­fac­tur­er war­ran­ty. More­over, the pas­si­va­tion qual­i­ties of spray fire­proof­ing may dimin­ish when applied in high­ly humid envi­ron­ments; pas­si­va­tion is a process that pro­tects met­al mate­ri­als from cor­rod­ing. In oth­er words, high humid­i­ty lev­els can increase the risk of cor­ro­sion despite the pro­tec­tive bar­ri­er pro­vid­ed by fire­proof coatings.

Stop Microbes in Their Tracks

Where there’s water, there’s the poten­tial for life. It’s no won­der, then, that high­ly humid envi­ron­ments attract micro­bial growth, allow­ing these organ­isms (fun­gi, bac­te­ria, etc.) to thrive. Sprayed fire­proof­ing may pro­tect sur­faces from flames, but it won’t pre­vent microor­gan­isms from tak­ing over, espe­cial­ly if it takes a long time to dry. This can quick­ly lead to dis­col­oration and an unde­sir­able aes­thet­ic. Main­tain­ing prop­er humid­i­ty con­trol dur­ing and after fire­proof­ing will mit­i­gate the risk of micro­bial growth and help expe­dite the dry­ing process.

Longer Dry Times Can Cause Delays

Struc­tur­al dam­age and micro­bial growth aren’t the only issues asso­ci­at­ed with high humid­i­ty and fire­proof­ing spray insu­la­tion – time is also of the essence. Whether your com­mer­cial facil­i­ty is under­go­ing a con­struc­tion project or var­i­ous repairs, high lev­els of humid­i­ty and slow dry­ing can lead to all sorts of delays. Con­trac­tors must do their best to adhere to a strict sched­ule, and if even one project is tak­ing longer than expect­ed (e.g., pro­longed fire­proof cur­ing), it can throw off every oth­er aspect of the entire endeav­or. Ulti­mate­ly, these delays will inter­fere with your oper­a­tions, cost­ing you pre­cious time and mon­ey. Invest­ing in prop­er humid­i­ty con­trol will help every­one stay on sched­ule so you don’t have to wor­ry about unwar­rant­ed down­time or shutdowns.

The Bot­tom Line

Any wet mate­r­i­al takes longer to dry in an envi­ron­ment rid­dled with mois­ture, and spray fire­proof insu­la­tion is no excep­tion. The typ­i­cal cure times for these prod­ucts are lengthy enough – there’s no need to extend that process fur­ther, espe­cial­ly if it puts your facil­i­ty at risk of struc­tur­al dam­age, micro­bial growth, and/​or cost­ly delays. Your fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor should be well aware of the ways in which tem­per­a­ture, air exchanges, and humid­i­ty inter­act with their spray fire­proof­ing appli­ca­tions. Like­wise, your con­trac­tors should inform you that intu­mes­cent fire­proof­ing is typ­i­cal­ly a bet­ter option than cemen­ti­tious fire­proof­ing in areas that har­bor more moisture.

Rest assured that Kaloutas has the knowl­edge, resources, and expe­ri­ence to prop­er­ly fire­proof your facil­i­ty in accor­dance with your unique sched­ule and needs to min­i­mize down­time and ensure the best out­comes. To learn more about us and all that we do, con­tact us online or give us a call at 9785321414 today.

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