By shielding and beautifying the surfaces to which they are applied, paints and coatings enhance the worth of everything - from office buildings, to manufactured products, to bridges and other structures. This enhancement adds value far beyond the price of buying or applying the paint or coating.

The best commercial painting services will offer a range of special paints and coatings that can benefit your facilities.

Nanotechnology is gaining momentum as it is being used in an increasing number of industrial and commercial applications. Designing materials and devices on the atomic or molecular level makes it possible to change the chemical properties of affected materials. When it comes to surface protection, nanotechnology is put to good use with nano-scale protective coatings products that imbue the surface with high performance and outstanding resistance from many types of damages.

"I want to build a billion tiny factories, models of each other, which are manufacturing simultaneously… The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big."

— Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize Physicist

Nanotechnology products are increasing in number, as hundreds of manufacturers across all industries use nanotechnology in their product designs. Their participation in this nano-revolution of sorts benefits the end consumers, who now have more innovative products to choose from, and in nearly all types of applications -- food, cosmetics, clothing, appliances, and yes, even protective coatings.

The technology to control matter at its molecular level has immense potential. Here are some of them:

Nanotechnology is one of the latest buzz words in applied sciences these days. Also called "nanotech", it is concerned with the study of matter and how to manipulate matter's atomic and molecular composition. This is science at its tiniest, dealing with structures sized as small as possible and even in one dimension. The results of nanotechnology are appliances or materials that offer great benefits to mankind, despite their tiny size.

Winter painting of storage tanks carries with it a high degree of challenges not normally encountered in painting activities in other seasons of the year. Equipments, manpower, and the protective coatings products used -- all are vulnerable to the cold weather. Environmental conditions in winter are harsher on painting projects, but this does not mean storage tanks cannot be repaired or maintained in winter.

Maintaining ambient temperature friendly to both applicators and protective coatings products is of paramount consideration for facility managers conducting their tank painting projects in winter. To maintain ambient temperatures, a useful reference is the document manual from the American Water Works Association (AWWA). The AWWA manual provides useful guidelines on working with steel storage tanks during cold and winter weather.

The protective coatings processes – from surface cleanup and preparation, to actual protective coatings application, to post-application activities such as surface curing and drying – are very dependent on and even sensitive to environmental conditions. The surroundings influence the way protective coatings applicators work, the speed of their work, and inevitably the quality of their finished output. Protective coatings products are also very sensitive to environmental temperature, because paint components react in various ways to temperature changes.

Some of the most challenging projects encountered by protective coatings contractors are tank repair and maintenance work done during the cold weather months. The winter season can hinder productivity more than the spring or fall seasons ever could. Even skilled painting contractors struggle with painting activities when cold temperatures and freezing environments are major obstacles. And even when humans put great effort to paint against the weather, all is in vain when even equipments and mechanical tools are less responsive when operated in cold weather.