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COATINGSPRO JANUARY 2017 89 explained Zuberecz. e job took about eight weeks from start to finish, and the crew worked on two smoke stacks simultane- ously. "W hile each layer of the coating system was drying, work began on the other one. is way, the crew didn't have any real downtime," he said. e weather cooperated as well, so there were no delays in the schedule. According to Zuberecz, although there were no real weather issues during the job, if it was too windy, the crew temporarily suspended work. "We watched the forecast for windy weather. For the most part, the late summer/early fall weather was very nice — calm and not humid either," said Zuberecz. Fixing the Stacks e first order of business for the crew was to fix all areas where the steel needed repair. According to Bennung, the smoke stacks were capped with a roofing material when the building changed over from industrial to commercial use. "e caps were not watertight, and there was water intrusion inside of the smoke stacks. is led to corrosion of the steel from the inside out," explained Bennung. In some areas on the exterior of the smoke stacks, the metal had rusted and deteriorated down to the masonry liner. JOB AT A GLANCE PROJECT: Repair and recoat four steel smoke stacks on a converted power plant COATINGS CONTRACTOR: Highclimbers Company 1349 Green Lane Chester Springs, PA 19725 (215) 953-1962 www.highclimbers.net SIZE OF CONTRACTOR: 4 permanent employees SIZE OF CREW: 6-person crew PRIME CLIENT: The Cordish Companies 601 E Pratt St., 6th Floor Baltimore, MD 21202 (800) 733-5444 www.cordish.com SUBSTRATE: Steel CONDITION OF SUBSTRATE: Areas of corrosion and rust SIZE OF JOB: 12,000 sq. ft. (1,114.8 m²) total DURATION: ~8 weeks UNUSUAL FACTORS/CHALLENGES: » Due to the height of the job and the high tourist and high traffic area, scaffolding would have been cost prohibitive and very difficult to construct. » The owners of Highclimbers Company are rock climbers who have been trained to make repairs and apply coatings on tall, difficult-to-access structures. » Because of the location of the job, all surface prep and coating applica- tion was done with hand tools. MATERIALS/PROCESSES: » Removed all loose materials by hand from the smoke stacks » Brush and roller applied Acrymax's PC-535 to areas with corrosion » Hand troweled Conproco's Structural Skin, a fiber cement material, in areas of deteriorated metal; covered these areas with Acrymax's AF-315 material either alone or with Acrymax's Poly-1 Reinforcement Fabric » Applied the PC-535 rust-inhibiting coating to the entire exterior of the smoke stacks at an average dry film thickness (DFT) of 8 mils » Applied Acrymax's AF-440 in two coats, 2–3 mils (50.8–76.2 microns) DFT per layer SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: » Wore full-body harnesses for fall protection, as well as gloves, safety goggles, and hard hats » Used a safety net to catch any dropped tools Because of the height and location of the project, scaffolding wasn't the best option. Instead, they used full-body harnesses for themselves and safety nets for any tools that could potentially drop.