Can paint coatings affect the structural integrity of your school?
Can paint coatings affect the structural integrity of your school?
What is structural integrity? Structural integrity is an engineering field that helps ensure that either a structure or a structural component is fit for purpose under normal operating conditions and is safe for normal use even if conditions exceed that of the original design.
Painting is generally thought of as required to improve the visual appeal of the school and to stop the surfaces from aging prematurely. Correct.
A less often thought of point is that painting can also improves the lifespan of critical building components, by minimising the amount of moisture that is allowed to get to them.
How different substrates may be affected by weather
Building materials such as weatherboards or hardies protect the structural integrity of a building and of course in some cases they can hide signs of serious damage. For example, look at a timber-framed school with weatherboard cladding. There could be a small amount of rot on the exterior substrate (weatherboard) and underneath there is a build-up of moisture that is damaging the framework. Moisture is typically from exterior so if your substrate isn’t weatherproof you may have a problem. Similar situations will arise from steel structures.
Whilst concrete construction is generally more weatherproof, issues with flashing and expansion joints do cause issues, and you need to look out for minor hairline cracks in the concrete which may lead to other issues.
Does paint Actually waterproof a surface?
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It depends. Most paint coatings are acrylic and are designed to get max elongation - or stretch. This means that as a metal or timber substrate expands and contracts, the paint will do the same, as far as it can, without cracking and letting in moisture.
Concrete is different as it doesnt move in the elements like other materials, however the same concept applies where hairline cracks acn be filled with an acrlic substance to ensure that if the cracking increses, it’ll remain weathertight as long as possible.
