April 2003
Here is our April E-newsletter.
Sorry for the delay, but this is the time of year when we prepare for the summer onslaught.
To paint or not to paint, that is the question
The head of maintenance in an upstate NY school district wants to know why his lockers look so bad after being repainted by a professional painting company. After further investigation, we found out that at one time, many years ago, an overzealous custodian tried to spruce up the lockers’ appearance by applying a coat of house paint.
Most painting companies will use an epoxy or urethane to refinish lockers. If the lockers have already been recoated in the field they will use heavy-duty enamel. Epoxies & urethanes will generally react negatively when applied over latex or lacquer. Unfortunately, since most industrial enamels are solvent bound, they will also react negatively, albeit slight and controllable.
The rule of thumb is never (never, never, never) use latex or lacquer to refinish lockers. Once you apply it, you’re stuck with it forever! There are only 2 ways to remove this finish:
 | Sandblast – in order to accomplish this, you will have to remove the doors and either take them to a facility to be blasted or provide a well ventilated tent outdoors. In most states it is illegal to sandblast indoors unless it is in a specially designed room. In some states there are major environmental restrictions to sandblasting outdoors. Check with your local environmental agency before attempting this. In any case, this process is cost prohibitive. |
| Chemical paint remover – a chemical paint remover can be used, however, the floors and surrounding areas must be thoroughly protected. Think twice before attempting this process; the mess might not be worth the end result. |
In any event, good luck!
Epoxies vs. Urethanes
There has been an age-old ongoing war between locker refinishing companies as to which compound should be used when refinishing lockers. The majority of companies use epoxy for that purpose.
After 25 years in the field, we have come to some valuable conclusions in this regard. Epoxies have some distinct disadvantages. Epoxies will fade after cleaning, especially if chemicals or abrasives are used. If the surface is exposed to direct sunlight, the colors will fade noticeably in a short period of time. This is especially true in areas like Texas and Florida where the lockers are installed outside of the building. (The administrators in New York and Michigan are shaking their heads – lockers outside the building!)
In our humble opinion, the best compound on the market to refinish lockers is Pitthane-35 manufactured by Pittsburgh Paint & Glass (PPG). Pitthane-35 is nowhere close to the old, environmentally hostile, terribly toxic Pitthane, but it is the best there is.
It is scratch resistant, graffiti resistant, chemical resistant and almost kid proof. The distinct disadvantage to Pitthane-35 is that it is high gloss, which will show all the nooks and crannies, and any other existing imperfections.
Pitthane-35 should only be used by trained professionals with proper respirators. Without the proper equipment, it could cause brain & nerve damage. (The guy writing this newsletter has used it for 25 years – can you tell?)
HVLP vs. Electrostatic
A school administrator in Iowa wants to know if an electrostatic application will enhance adherence of the paint to the surface.
Application process has nothing to do with adherence. The 2 factors that effect adherence are surface preparation and compound.
The Nazis invented the electrostatic application during World War II. Since they were running out of resources and they had all these new tanks and planes to paint and very little paint to accomplish this, they perfected the application process. The theory was that if the paint had sufficient electrolytes and was positively charged, and the equipment was negatively grounded that the paint would flow directly to the surface without any over spray or waste. This technology is still available in the Ransberg-2 Process Gun. This is the original Nazi technology and is the best on the market with 97% material transference. The best American brands (Wagner, Graco, Binks) get a whopping 85% transference.
HVLP (high volume low pressure) was introduced to handle many of the environmentally safe products in use today. On a good day, you can achieve about 70-75% material transference. This is not bad when you compare it to 50-60% of the normal airless application.
What this all translates to is saving paint, which is normally lost in over spray, and saving the time required to mask the surrounding areas.
The Truth About Graffiti
Remember in the 70’s when it was cool to look at all that graffiti on the subways and on the sides of buildings and bridges? It’s not very “cool”, however, when you have to remove it from a locker surface.
We’ve seen one school where they use touch-up paint to cover the unsightly marks. Unfortunately, the result is a work of art in itself.
We have found that there is a household product that will remove most ink-based marks on the locker surface without damaging the finish. It actually works much better than most of the graffiti removers on the market today. Just in case, we suggest that you test this on the inside of the locker before “going to town”.
The product is Aqua Net hairspray in the pump bottle. (For some reason it doesn’t work as well in the aerosol cans) We are not chemists; we don’t know why it works, but it does. Just spray on the graffiti and wipe it off.
There is one drawback with this discovery, however. In the future, if you decide to refinish your lockers, they must be cleaned numerous times or the end result will be the dreaded fish-eye. A strong solvent or even paint thinner will do the trick. Better yet, there are some really good pre-wash products on the market that will remove hair spray.
Hair spray is a painter’s nightmare; you can’t see it, but it will wreak havoc on your paint job.
If you have questions or comments regarding this publication please fill out the Wizard Form provided on the web site. We hope that the information provided in this and future publications will be of use to you and your facility. If you would like to receive this monthly publication automatically by email, please use our newsletter registration form.
Until next month. Keep your doors hinged and your screws tight!