Cladspray Solutions are onsite spraying and painting contractors who offer a wide range of services including roof coating, intumescent coatings and cladding spraying. The Norfolk-based firm work on commercial & industrial buildings across the UK, including Birds Eye Foods, Lotus Cars and NHS Hospitals in the East Anglia.

When applying protective coatings, it is vital that climatic conditions are measured along with dry film thickness to ensure these parameters are within the manufacturer’s technical guidelines and that the resulting quality and performance of the coating is at an optimum.

Using the Elcometer 319 Dewpoint Meter and the Elcometer 456 Coating Thickness Gauge

Dan Ruegg, Technical Sales Director at Cladspray Solutions says “The protective coatings process requires inspection at every stage to ensure compliance to the specification being worked towards - from the preparation of the surface being coated, through to climatic condition monitoring and then dry film thickness evaluation.”

Testing Climatic Parameters

Throughout each project, the team at Cladspray Solutions test the primer compatibility and thickness, the storage temperature of the coating, consistent testing of air temperature, substrate temperature, dewpoint and relative humidity. These tests run from start to finish of the entire job and are measured and recorded using an Elcometer 319 Dewpoint Meter.

“It is imperative that this record keeping is done throughout any intumescent coating project so that we can insure that the applied system meets the coating manufacturers required loadings and that the coating system will last for the lifetime of the building” says Dan Ruegg.

Measuring Dry Film Thickness

The firm use the Elcometer 456 Coating Thickness Gauge to measure the thickness of the Rustoleum Anti-Corrosive coatings and Sherwin Williams intumescent coatings they use. Cladspray Solutions have now been using the Elcometer gauges for over two years.

Dan Ruegg comments “The Elcometer 456 is fast and better at recording than previous dry film thickness gauges we have used – it allows us to get the job done quicker. A great feature for us is being able to record measurements on different parts of job as different batch names”.

All readings are stored and presented in a report at completion of the works

The team at Cladspray Solutions also utilise Elcometer’s Data Management Software ElcoMaster®, using it to generate professional inspection reports quickly on their PCs.

This strict record keeping is vital evidence that the coatings have been applied correctly and to the manufacturer’s specification, allowing Cladspray Solutions to supply clients with a fire certificate and a guarantee that the coating system will last for the lifetime of the building.