Tips for Industrial Painting in Vancouver, BC in the Winter Months

February 25, 2019 Published by Leave your thoughts

The cold weather of winter and early spring here in British Columbia provides a lot of hardships for many different professions, but particularly in industrial painting in Vancouver, BC. This time of year is primarily responsible for many of the corrosion issues that occur in industrial settings, especially if the initial paint job was inadequate. You have a lot of snow, ice and salt, all of which is a hotbed for rust problems.

You might feel as though you need to put off applying a new coat because it’s the winter, and the weather isn’t exactly going to make the job easy. However, there are still ways you can navigate the challenges of industrial painting in the winter months. Here are some of the biggest challenges you will have to overcome to make it happen:

  • Thick materials: During the cold weather, materials will have to be applied in different ways, because the paints and coatings will become thicker and harder to work with. Make sure you do plenty of research into the types of products you’ll be using. Some paint companies offer cold- or fast-cure systems, which feature accelerating additives that make curing in the cold weather a little easier. These additives or products are often only included if you ask for them, so make sure you know exactly what it is you need ahead of time and you’ll find you’ll have a much easier job applying the coatings and allowing them to cure.
  • Cold surfaces: Applying the material to cold surfaces might cause the paint to freeze or thicken to such an extent that it becomes nearly impossible to apply properly. Therefore, you should make sure you spend some time considering the substrate being painted. Metallic or non-porous surfaces will be easier to paint in cold weather than wood or concrete, because it will be difficult to determine the dampness of those materials. Any material being used must dry.
  • Long curing times: Paint might not cure properly in cold weather, or could stay soft for longer periods of time. Make sure you do plenty of research into the paint you’re using ahead of time, and be sure to read all instructions before you apply the paint. There are some cold-cure systems and accelerating additives that require induction time for proper performance. This is the amount of time the paint must sit after being mixed in order for those additives to properly mix in and begin interacting with the paint. This time may vary depending on the air temperature.
  • Ice on the substrate: Another common issue is that moisture can freeze on the substrate surface, causing application problems and coating failure. Therefore, you should use heat guns or other methods of supplemental heating to warm up the area being painted. Of course, you should make sure to be extremely careful with this process so as not to cause a fire hazard.

For more tips about industrial painting in Vancouver, BC during winter, contact the team at Hydro Tech Power Washing today.

Categorised in:

This post was written by Writer

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *