Painting your commercial building as compared to residential painting is much different. You first have to be sure that you are using the right coating products.
Basic Commercial Grade Exterior Latex Paint
To give your building an attractive look while protecting it from the elements (including the weather and industrial wear and tear), ask your professional painting contractor to use a good or excellent quality commercial exterior latex paint. This industrial paint is recommended for use on various surfaces including plywood, masonry, vinyl, and wood siding. It is also great for coating primed metal and aluminum surfaces. While it is more crack resistant, some complain that latex paint leaves unsightly lap marks behind.
Epoxy Coatings
If your commercial building painting project is for the exterior of a highly occupied building such as a hospital or school, it’s best that your commercial painting contractor use a water-based epoxy coating so that it won’t give off a strong odor or contaminate products. Water based epoxy is also great because it is acceptable for use at certain food processing plants. On the downside, water based epoxies have been said to not give a good finish in cold temperatures and is more expensive than other types of exterior coatings.
Direct to Metal
If your job is to prevent rust from forming on piping and other metal surfaces, a direct-to-metal commercial coating will best serve your needs. The greatest feature of direct-to-metal coatings is that your commercial painting contractor does not generally need a primer, thus a cost savings for the painting project. This coating product leaves a beautiful glossy finish and resists corrosion. However, in very harsh environments, like near the beach, a DTM product is not as useful compared to applying a primer and topcoat.
They say that if you’re going to do a job, do it right the first time. Take the time to examine the different coating products your commercial painting contractor recommends before having them break out their brushes. Proper research will help make your commercial building painting job a breeze.
