Norpoint was contracted by the owner of a local refinery to complete a repaint of one of their storage on-site tanks. The project included an external surface prep and re-paint of a 180’ diameter by 45’ high floating roof tank including tank shell, nozzles, wind girder and stairs.

The tank was initially coated with a lead-based coating when originally constructed in the 1970s. Today, lead based paints are banned for use so most lead-based coatings require a complete removal which can be costly due to the large safety precaution and disposal fees required during removal of lead coatings. For this reason, Norpoint was engaged to develop a maintenance system as an alternative coating system to apply to the tank to preserve the existing lead coating but provide continual corrosion protection.

In order to help provide ongoing corrosion protection, we developed a custom maintenance plan for the project, inclusive of:

Coating Specification and Selection

Pre-Inspection, which included an adhesion test of the existing coating to ensure satisfaction to manufacturer standards.

The existing coating was then pressure washed with high pressure washing mixed with an emulsion cleaner designed to remove grease, dirt, chalking and also etch the surface of the existing coating. 

Following the thorough wash, the application of a surface tolerant epoxy was applied to provide tight adhesion to the existing coating. 

And as a final step, a polyurethane topcoat was applied to all surfaces to the desired finish color.

With an understanding of the clients needs, project budget, timeline and safety, we were able to deliver a corrosion prevention solution that can last for years to come.