Even under the best of circumstances, coating an existing pipeline out in the field can be difficult to say the least. If the pipeline is a 60-inch (152 cm) welded steel pipe coated with coal tar and asbestos paper that is located in an environmentally sensitive area, the rehabilitation job becomes even more challenging.

After the most recent survey of the roof of the middle school, it was clear that the time had arrived for a new coating system to be applied on the roof.

You name it, they’ve seen it: overspray removal companies can relate horror stories that would make any coatings contractor shudder. You may even have one or two of your own. Unfortunately, overspray happens, even when you take the best precautions and think you’ve crossed every “t” and dotted every “i” in “containment.”

Control joints are used to accommodate concrete shrinkage during the curing and aging process in an attempt to “control” where a crack will locate. However, they can potentially create issues relative to surface integrity, sanitation, or aesthetics. Traditionally, these joints have been filled with a semi-flexible epoxy to support traffic, to maintain a monolithic surface, and to move with the contraction and expansion of the concrete. But are there other options?

Becoming a successful coatings contractor takes lots of time and training. It can be a very technical job that requires an extensive amount of knowledge and the ability to adapt to many different situations. No job is exactly like another. It should be no surprise, then, that it takes many years of experience to be able to handle any type of coatings challenge. Maybe even just to be able to handle a few types of coatings challenges.

You can’t often bridge the gap between the past and present as directly as Thomas Industrial Coatings is on the 139-year-old Eads Bridge rehabilitation. By using the TruQC application (or app), they’re connecting the bridge’s history with the app’s innovation. For this project, highlighted in “The Mighty Mississippi: Coating Crew Saves River’s First Bridge” (CoatingsPro, May 2013), the coatings crew is maintaining quality control over the daily hazard analysis, weekly environmental report, toolbox talk, incident report, and timesheet submission.

As the fall Ohio air turned crisp, a mural of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima came to life decades and a world away from the famed Pacific battlefield. The mural, the dream and creation of artist Michael Sekletar, is the reproduction of Joe Rosenthal’s iconic World War II photograph on the side of an office building in downtown Amherst, Ohio.

When examining efficiency in machine design, it is arguable that the human body contains some of the best-automated systems around. The circulatory system, for example, contains chambers and valves that efficiently direct and pump blood from the heart to the organs and the extremities of the body and back to the heart at a regular rate appropriate for production demands.

When thinking of industrial coatings, the first thing that comes to mind isn't usually conservation. But when it comes to repairing as opposed to replacing a structure, a quality coating can add years if not decades to its existence, saving a company thousands of dollars in build cost and lost time. However, repairing comes with its own set of pitfalls and challenges, and in the case of an aging riveted storage tank, this meant stripping the existing substrate and a rigorous check for leaks.