Coating System Used to Achieve Biotech Office Center Restoration Goals
In 2016, after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. purchased the 1 Rockwood office building in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., the company began a major renovation, including a complete restoration of 40,000 square feet of exterior aluminum panels. The five-month project was conducted by Stuart Dean Company.
“The aluminum panels had previously been field-painted with an acrylic polyurethane,” said Chris Incorvaia, National Manager of Façade Restoration with Stuart Dean. “That coating had degraded significantly due to UV exposure and weathering.”
NeverFade Coatings by APV Engineered Coatings were chosen for the project, Incorvaia said, because they can be used on previously painted surfaces. The system contains Kynar Aquatec, a water-based PVDF resin that is ideal for air-dry, field-applied coatings.
“We liked NeverFade for this project because it’s a premium, weather-resistant coating that can be easily applied to a variety of substrates,” he added, noting that the system meets the same requirements as factory coatings that use American Architectural Manufacturers Association, Publication No. AAMA 2605-13.
Preparing the Surface
Proper surface conditions are crucial to achieving good coating adhesion and long life, so the Stuart Dean team started by removing sealants from all joints: metal to metal, metal to glass and along window perimeters. These sealants were replaced 72 hours after the final topcoat.
Next, they washed all surfaces to remove environmental contaminants such as chlorides and nitrates. Finally, they prepared the surface for the new coating by scuffing and sanding it to achieve a 1.0–1.5-mil anchor profile in accordance with NACE surface preparation guidelines.
Roll application of the W-1650 Bonding Primer PHOTOS COURTESY OF STUART DEAN COMPANY
Facilitating a Smooth Application
Stuart Dean masked windows and adjacent surfaces to protect them. Then the team began the coating application, starting with one coat and 1.0–1.25 mils DFT of APV’s W-1650 Bonding Primer, which was roll-applied.
The primer chemistry is designed to adhere directly to metal and to tough, coated surfaces such as Kynar 500 resin, siliconized polyester and powder coatings.
“Its water-based, low-VOC chemistry provides early water resistance, corrosion protection and a smooth, factory-like finish, which delivers optimum aesthetics to the coating system,” said Erin Neff, Director of Marketing and Business Development, APV Engineered Coatings.
The primer was followed by two coats and 2.0 mils DFT of roller-applied NeverFade Metal Restoration Topcoat. According to the manufacturer, the topcoat’s advanced formulation provides extreme UV protection and resists algae, fungal growth, abrasion, dirt pickup and stains. The company offered the building owner a 15-year, transferrable product-and-labor warranty, which covers color fading and chalking and guarantees highly competitive performance even in extreme environments.
As it does with all NeverFade projects, APV custom-matched the topcoat in a color selected by the building owner—in this case colonial white.
“A high-performance coating is critical for white exterior surfaces, especially in damp environments," Neff said. "When traditional latexes and urethanes break down under harsh UV rays, the paint film degrades, turning chalky, and eventually erodes. That chalkiness is not always noticeable on the white surface, but paint is losing its protective qualities. A chalked surface also becomes a food source for mold and mildew growth and makes conditions ripe for dirt collection.”
Throughout the entire coating process, Stuart Dean paid special attention to ambient environmental conditions.
“The building is located on wetlands and is subjected to high moisture and precipitation,” Incorvaia said. “To maintain quality control and ensure the long-term performance of the coating, we diligently measured air temperature, surface temperature, relative humidity and dew point. Coatings were only applied when conditions fell within APV’s approved parameters.”
Extending Building Life with Minimal Disruption
The building remained fully occupied during the project. Tenant disruption and risk were kept to a minimum, thanks to Stuart Dean’s strict safety protocols and the low-odor, low-VOC coating system.
Service life of the aluminum panel system was extended by more than 20 years and prevented the panels from having to be replaced—a time-consuming process whose cost was estimated at four to five times the cost of the restoration conducted.
Neff said, “We appreciate that, like so many others, the 1 Rockwood owner and specifier trusted our coatings to sustainably extend the life of their valuable real estate with minimal disruption.”
The finished job
Claims or positions expressed by sponsoring authors do not necessarily reflect the views of TPC, PaintSquare or its editors. NeverFade® is a registered trademark of APV Engineered Coatings, Inc., sold under a trademark license from Arkema, Inc., owner of the Kynar®, Kynar Aquatec®, Kynar 500® registered trademarks.
