sspc visual guide surface cleaning

Surface Cleanliness – Knowing When It’s Clean Enough to Coat

Using project specs and standards to achieve surface cleanliness before coating application is the focus of the newest installment in the PaintSquare Video Learning Center series.

Surface Cleaning” is one of 19 videos in the original instructional series, which explores multiple aspects of protective coatings work.

“Surface Cleaning,” part of the PaintSquare Video Learning Center series, discusses the degree to which surface debris must be removed before applying coatings.

Created and narrated by experts at KTA-Tator Inc., the series of concise videos covers a wide range of topics, from quality-control and health and safety issues, to basics on the proper use of coatings instruments.

Intuitive Cleaning

In this video (5:56), KTA’s Ken Trimber discusses the degree to which rust, old paint, mill scale and other surface debris should be removed before applying coatings.

“At a very early age, many of us learn that you don’t apply new paint over rust or old paint,” says Trimber. “Almost intuitively, we believe that until the surface is perfectly clean, the coating should not be applied.”

Ultimately, project specifications guide the level of cleanliness, Trimber explains.

SSPC has several surface cleanliness standards that are numbered chronologically from SSPC-SP 1 to SSPC-SP 16, plus SSPC-WJ 1 through SSPC-WJ 4 for waterjet cleaning.

SSPC visual standards
“In the event of a dispute, it is the written standard and not the guide that is the governing document,” Trimber advises in “Surface Cleaning,” a new video.

In addition, SSPC’s four visual guides give before and after photographs to help assess whether surfaces have been prepared to project specifications before painting, Trimber explains.

“In the event of a dispute, it is the written standard and not the guide that is the governing document,” Trimber says.

Future Topics

PaintSquare expects to present a new Learning Center video from the series every two weeks. Future topics in the series include:

  • Adhesion;
  • Concrete Prep and Painting;
  • Film Thickness issues;
  • Holiday Detection;
  • Moisture Testing;
  • Soluble Salts; and
  • Steel Surfaces.

The full series will be available free in the Paintsquare Video Learning Center.

As seen on Paintsquare, April 2014