Industrial Fireproofing

When a fire emer­gency occurs, effec­tive fire­proof coat­ings can save lives and pre­vent a great deal of dam­age and loss. At Kaloutas, we take this respon­si­bil­i­ty to heart, mak­ing sure that our fire-resis­tive coat­ings are installed properly.

Indus­tri­al Fire­proof­ing in New England

What Is Intu­mes­cent Fire­proof­ing?

Intu­mes­cent paint coat­ings are fire-resis­tive paints that change state when exposed to flame or exces­sive heat. Though these coat­ings appear just like nor­mal paint and come in a vari­ety of col­ors and sheens, they decom­pose and expand dur­ing a fire, cre­at­ing a thick, spongy foam that slows the spread of fire and heat penetration.

Dur­ing a fire, intu­mes­cent paint will pro­tect struc­tur­al steel, giv­ing those in the build­ing a longer time to escape and fire­fight­ers a longer time to fight the blaze before the sta­bil­i­ty of the struc­ture is com­pro­mised. Fire-retar­dant coat­ings can also be applied to wood, dry­wall, con­crete, and CMU walls. 

Spray-Applied Cemen­ti­tious Fire­proof­ing for Struc­tur­al Steel

Struc­tur­al steel is not flam­ma­ble, so why are we fire­proof­ing it? At 1000 degrees, steel can lose up to 40% of its strength. At 1500 degrees, steel can lose up to 90% of its strength. 

Since the aver­age build­ing fire reach­es tem­per­a­tures of 1,500 – 2,000 degrees, fail­ure to fire­proof struc­tur­al steel pos­es sig­nif­i­cant prob­lems for main­tain­ing its struc­tur­al integri­ty and ten­sile strength, and that can lead to col­lapse. Fire­proof­ing acts as a phys­i­cal bar­ri­er between the fire and the steel. Fire­proof coat­ings for struc­tur­al steel come in two forms dry- and wet-mix. Dry-mix mate­r­i­al is blown to the spray­ing noz­zle, where it is mixed with aerosolized water as it is applied. Wet-mix is mixed with water into a mor­tar-like con­sis­ten­cy pri­or to being pumped to the noz­zle where com­pressed air allows it to be spray-applied. Since dry-and wet-mix have sim­i­lar appli­ca­tions and per­for­mance, which appli­ca­tion is used varies depend­ing upon sev­er­al fac­tors, includ­ing hourly fire rat­ing, thick­ness­es to achieve that rat­ing, envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions (cli­mate con­trol), weath­er expo­sure, and dura­bil­i­ty to with­stand impact. 

To address each sce­nario, fire­proof­ing mate­ri­als are offered in low (com­mer­cial), medi­um, and high density.

Fire­proof­ing Patching

Fire­proof­ing dam­age hap­pens all the time as a result of new builds and ren­o­va­tions. If your fire­proof coat­ing dam­age has left areas uncov­ered, or if coat­ings have cracked, the team at Kaloutas will deter­mine the prop­er mate­r­i­al and method for patch­ing and deliv­er a result that allows con­struc­tion to con­tin­ue with­out delay, in accor­dance with fire codes.

Ther­mal-Acousti­cal Insulation

In mixed-use build­ings, occu­pan­cy clas­si­fi­ca­tions dic­tate Fire and Build­ing code require­ments, includ­ing fire-rat­ing, insu­la­tion, and noise reduction/​transmission. Design teams must uti­lize a vari­ety of strate­gies to sep­a­rate res­i­den­tial, com­mer­cial, stor­age, util­i­ty, or park­ing areas. Among con­sid­er­a­tions such as space, aes­thet­ics, and per­for­mance, teams must also ensure the approach­es to achiev­ing these goals are com­pat­i­ble and well-inte­grat­ed. Oth­er­wise, you end up with project hangups and delays. For exam­ple, by using spray-applied fire­proof­ing, you can accom­plish the goal of fire-rat­ing. But to achieve the insu­la­tion rat­ing (R‑value) and noise reduc­tion (NRC), some meth­ods will adverse­ly impact the per­for­mance of the fire­proof­ing. At Kaloutas, we use fiber­glass-based, spray-applied ther­mal-acousti­cal insu­la­tion that is com­pat­i­ble with most fire­proof­ing prod­ucts. These ther­mal-acousti­cal prod­ucts are designed to deliv­er insu­la­tion R‑values and acousti­cal noise reduc­tion in tan­dem with fire-resis­tance mate­ri­als. The final result is effec­tive, code-com­pli­ant, and aes­thet­i­cal­ly pleasing.

Effec­tive Indus­tri­al and Com­mer­cial Fireproofing

Kaloutas is expe­ri­enced apply­ing cus­tomized fire­proof coat­ings in numer­ous facil­i­ties across indus­tries, including:

• Man­u­fac­tur­ing Facilities

• Indus­tri­al Spaces

• Hos­pi­tals & Nurs­ing Homes

• Schools & Universities

• Restau­rants & Hotels

• Retail & Mixed Use Spaces

• Apart­ments & Condos

• Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Facilities

• Indus­tri­al Spaces

• Ware­hous­ing and Distribution

• Con­trolled Lab Environments

To work with a com­pa­ny that takes safe­ty seri­ous­ly at every lev­el, call Kaloutas. 

Our teams can assess your fire­proof­ing needs, design the cor­rect prod­uct for your project with man­u­fac­tur­er sup­port, and pro­fes­sion­al­ly install the mate­r­i­al cho­sen, so the final result meets all code and man­u­fac­tur­ing require­ments with a visu­al­ly appeal­ing finish.

We serve com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al facil­i­ties in Rhode Island, Mass­a­chu­setts, Con­necti­cut, Maine, Ver­mont, and New Hamp­shire. Con­tact us or call 978−532−1414 for your fire­proof­ing esti­mate today.