With Galvacoat®, Painters and Galvanisers Can Now Be One and The Same

Traditionally, the tasks of galvanising and painting have been regarded as separate activities, due to the inability of conventional paints to adhere to non-ferrous metals. And while most paints will adhere perfectly well to ferrous metals, the problem arises when they’re faced with a non-ferrous metal such as zinc.

Thankfully, Galvacoat® is a galvanised steel paint that has been specifically formulated to provide complete adhesion to non-ferrous metals, offering a highly effective and long-lasting galvanising paint solution that saves a huge amount of time and effort in painting galvanised surfaces.

In the past, painters were faced with one of two choices when it came to covering galvanised surfaces:

• They could choose to use an etch primer on freshly galvanised steel, which created a ‘roughness’ for the subsequent paint coat to stick to.
• Alternatively, they could simply allow the structure to weather for six months or so, which theoretically delivered the same roughening process.

The disadvantages to the painter in either case were fairly obvious:

• Firstly, there was the cost of buying etch primer, but more importantly, there was double the labour involved, as he had to first apply the etch primer, and then paint over it with the selected paint. This was tedious, time-consuming and literally ate into time.
• Secondly, if a surface was left to weather for six months, there could be difficulty accessing it after the time period has elapsed. What was an open, easily accessed surface on Day 1 could now be a block of flats or a factory building. Or perhaps there would be the additional cost of hiring a Cherry Picker to access it.

At the root of the problem, for traditional paints, is the issue of salt. Once the galvanising process has been completed, there is a chemical reaction which leads to the formulation of salt. And painting over salt by traditional methods will inevitably end in failure – and in the paint simply falling off the sheet over time.

This is why the traditional weathering process is doomed to fail, as the build-up of salt over a six-month period can be very significant on the galvanised surface.

The advent of Galvacoat® galvanised steel paint, however, means that today’s painter can apply a single coat to a galvanised surface – and simply walk away from it, confident that the job will last for many years to come.

It will actually retain its original colour to within a 5% variance for a period of up to 20 years. And for the property owner, this can lead to a huge saving over the lifetime cost of the painting job.

Another benefit of Galvacoat® galvanised steel paint is that it can be easily repainted over itself maintaining the adhesion of the original coat while reducing costs associated with traditional remedial work. This is particularly beneficial when the surface in question is difficult to access or open to the elements – perhaps in a coastal environment, for example.