In choosing steel coating systems for the 38,000-square-foot Baker Ferguson Fitness Center at Whitman College, the project’s specifier relied on Tnemec to ensure both the interior and exterior of the building stayed in perfect shape. “The $10 million physical education building was a textbook example of how to properly select and apply steel coatings,” according to Tnemec coating consultant Torin Mowbray. “A finish matrix developed by the architect on the project kept everyone on the same page, from the owner and general contractor, to the project manager and painter. This was a document that connected the specification to the finish schedule through an Excel spreadsheet so no one had any questions as to where the coatings were to be applied.”
Every piece of steel in the fitness center, including the stairways, was coated with Series 394 PerimePrime, a one-component, moisture-cured, micaceous iron oxide zinc-filled polyurethane primer that offers superior bonding to marginally prepared steel. “In my opinion, it has the best adhesion to steel of any primer available,” Mowbray noted. Nearly 300 gallons of primer were required for the project.
On the “dry side” of the building, two types of finishes were applied:
- Series 115 Uni-Bond DF, a self-crosslinking, dryfall acrylic finish, was used at 2.0 to 4.0 mils DFT on all interior steel in the offices, hallways and everything higher than 8 feet from ground level in the gymnasium. “It ended up taking 350 gallons of UniBond DF to cover all the duct work, overheads and 30-foot high, eight-inch diameter columns on the perimeter of the gym,” Mowbray reported.
- Series 73 Endura-Shield, an abrasion-resistant semi-gloss aliphatic acrylic polyurethane, was used at 2.0 to 5.0 mils DFT on all gymnasium steel from floor level to where the Uni-Bond DF ended.
- Interior steel on the “wet side” of the building containing a 25-meter swimming pool received a finish coat of Series 161 Tneme-Fascure, a polyamide epoxy that protects against abrasion, immersion and mild chemicals such as chlorine, at 4.0 mils DFT.
Exterior steel on the project received a roller-applied intermediate coat of Series 66 Hi-Build Epoxoline, a polyamide epoxy, at 2.0 to 6.0 mils DFT, followed by a finish coat of Endura-Shield. “Matheson Painting did a superb job of finishing all of the steel,” Mowbray reported. “And since this project was completed, everything the architect specifies now comes with PerimePrime as the primer.”