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. From mixing, storage, and disposal – protective coatings primers, paints, sealants, and the like – are all at the mercy of the elements, so to speak.
This is even more so in winter, when cold or freezing temperatures often prove to be the hardest obstacles in painting projects. Maintaining the conditions suitable for protective coatings activities can be very difficult at the dead of winter.
Difficult as it may seem, it is not completely impossible to maintain the right temperature and conditions favorable to protective coatings projects in winter. The key is to device a way to pipe in heat and warmth into the facility interior. When the exterior weather worsens, more heat should be generated inside to maintain the interior ambient temperature. Coatings projects can then proceed unimpeded in the friendlier temperatures.
The same holds true for storage tanks. The tank’s surface should maintain the right temperature that will keep away the cold and prevent heat dissipation. This prevents cold-cure protective coatings from being severely affected, maintaining the overall quality of the painting application despite the cold.
