Whether you're dealing with towers on your commercial property or your own personal, residential property, those tower structures are still bound to the same painting and condition regulations from the FCC and the FAA. That means the towers must be painted, inspected, and maintained properly no matter where they are. Here are a few things that you should understand about tower paint condition, painting, and other specialty finish information for the towers on your property.
Know Where To Look When Inspecting Tower Condition
In order to determine if the towers need to be repainted or maintained, you need to inspect the towers on a regular basis. However, many people fail to do this inspection properly. In fact, properly inspecting a tower is more difficult than you might think, especially for a layman.
You can evaluate the condition of the tower from the ground, but you are only able to assess the condition of part of the tower that way. Additionally, the part of the tower you inspect from the ground is the portion that's far less susceptible to weather damage and wear.
The higher up the tower you go, the more weathering and damage the tower's finish is likely to experience. That's why your inspection and evaluation should include the entire tower. Given the fact that this can be a dangerous process, it's often best to have a tower painting company do the inspection for you.
Signs That Repainting Is Necessary
Inspecting the tower is important, but it isn't going to be effective if you don't know what you're looking for. Because of the visibility needs and safety concerns related to towers and aerial travel, you need to be sure that the paint and finish coating on the tower is in good condition at all times.
Any signs of wear, including fading, chipping, cracking, or other flaws, will indicate that the tower needs to be repainted. As the finish fails, it creates a vulnerability in the paint that can spread quite quickly, which is why you should attend to it as soon as possible. Additionally, the safety fixtures, including lighting, should be inspected at the same time to ensure that everything is functional.
The Existing Paint May Need To Be Removed
When there are signs of significant chipping and cracking, your tower painting company may need to remove the existing paint finish before they apply a fresh one. This usually requires sandblasting or a similar approach to remove the existing coatings and create a clean, fresh surface for the new paint.
If the tower painting company will be sandblasting the existing finish, you should talk with them about environmental exposure mitigation. Make sure that the foliage in the immediate area is covered and protected from the media debris and the residual paint chips. Otherwise, you may find that the waste material contaminates the growing foliage in the area.
You Have Finish Coating Options
In most cases, tower painting and lighting requirements are clearly defined by the FCC and there is little deviation permitted from those colors without prior approval. However, you may have some options related to the finish that's applied over that paint.
Talk with your tower painting contractor about the finish options, as you may want to choose a more durable finish coating if your tower is in an area that's near saltwater or anything similar. This is an important consideration because things like saltwater and other hazards can cause paint finishes to erode without adequate coating and protection. Your tower painting contractor can tell you if there are concerns you need to address with your coating selection.
These are some of the important things you need to consider when it comes to tower painting, inspection, and finish maintenance. Talk with your tower painting company today for more help.
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