Industrial Coating Inspection
Most coatings that fail early were never checked properly while they went on. Columbia Industrial Coatings keeps a NACE Level III coating inspector on staff, so industrial coating inspection on our projects is done in house, by the highest level of NACE certification, rather than left to whoever happens to be available. NACE certification is now administered by AMPP, the body formed when NACE and SSPC merged.
Industrial Coating Inspection Services
Inspection is built into every coating job we run. It is also available on its own, for owners and contractors who want a coating checked against its specification before it is accepted.
What Gets Checked
Before Coating
Surface cleanliness and surface profile after blasting or grinding, checked against the specification. Contamination such as oil, salts and dust. Concrete condition and moisture where a floor or containment system is going down.
Conditions on the Day
Air temperature, surface temperature, relative humidity and dew point. Coatings applied outside their window can look fine and still fail, so conditions are measured and recorded, not guessed.
During Application
Wet film thickness while the coating goes on, so problems are caught while they can still be fixed. Mixing ratios and pot life on two part systems. Recoat times between coats.
After Application
Dry film thickness across the surface, with extra attention on edges, welds and corners where coatings run thin. Holiday testing on linings to find pinholes and gaps. Adhesion testing where the specification calls for it.
Documentation
Every inspection produces a record: what was measured, where, when and against which specification. On tank linings, potable water work and fire protection, that record is part of the deliverable. It is what the regulator, the insurer or the next maintenance manager asks to see.
Why It Matters
Inspection is the cheapest point in a coating’s life to find a problem. A thin spot found with a gauge on the day costs minutes to fix. The same thin spot found as rust two winters later means taking the asset out of service. Our City of Tieton potable water tank lining passed every regulatory inspection on the first attempt, with the application NACE inspected throughout. That is the point of having the inspector on our own staff.
Safety and Compliance
Alongside the NACE Level III inspector, our supervisors are OSHA 30 trained, we are ISN and Veriforce verified, and we are EPA Lead-Safe Certified. Contractors who need those credentials for site access can request our safety packet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Checks that a coating is applied to its specification: surface preparation, ambient conditions, wet and dry film thickness, holidays and adhesion, and records the results.
The highest level of the NACE coating inspector program. NACE certification is now administered by AMPP, formed when NACE and SSPC merged.
Yes. Our inspector checks our own work on every project, so inspection is part of the job rather than an extra contractor.
Yes. Measurements, locations, dates and the specification they were checked against are documented and handed over.