Refresh Your Paint Storage with These Tips & Tricks

It’s crucial to properly store surface finishing materials, such as paints, powders, and coatings, to follow employee health guidelines and maintain the material’s longevity. Failure to adhere to this can lead to serious health risks, quality issues, and financial losses. By optimizing your finishing material’s storage, operations can improve, results will be more consistent, and the working environment will be safer.

Here are the best paint storage tips to follow for your finishing facility.

Get to Know the Material You Use

Several unique standards between paints, powders, and coatings must be adhered to for the best performance and effectiveness. For example, temperature and chemical proximity should be considered when storing surface finishing material. Here are the best practices to follow for different finishing materials:

• Water-based: These paints must be kept above freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) to maintain their quality. If your facility runs cold, installing a heater will be worthwhile.
• Solvent-based: These paints won’t freeze, meaning they can be kept at any temperature. However, they will need to be kept in a clean, dry environment.
• Powder coat: This material is extremely sensitive, as it needs to be kept below 80 degrees Fahrenheit and less than 50 percent humidity. An increase in moisture will cause the powder to clump and affect its performance.

Be Familiar with Hazardous Chemicals

The ingredients of surface finishing materials are crucial to know to avoid flammable, combustible, or explosive materials. Powders, for example, often have combustible properties and can be prone to fires or explosions. Solvent-based paints release harmful toxins and vapors into the air. Other items you may store together, such as thinners, cleaners, adhesives, gloss, and polishes, may also be flammable or combustible.

Knowing how to protect your employees and the environment from these hazards is vital. Your facility should adhere to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations. Some requirements may include storage room size, identification, segregation, special handling, temperature control, and ventilation.

Improve Your Finishing Process

Properly storing surface finishing material can have some serious benefits for your operations. You’ll be able to minimize waste, contamination, and financial loss. The longevity of the material will also significantly increase, allowing it to be reused. These savings will add up and lower overall shop costs.

Install Cost-Saving, Proper Storage

As mentioned above, there are regulations for surface finishing material storage. An Accudraft Mix™ provides a code-compliant, well-ventilated area for paint storage, including hazardous liquids. Our mix rooms can be standalone or attached to a paint booth to maximize productivity and save time.

To learn more about proper paint storage, contact Accudraft. Our sales associates are ready to walk you through solutions and installation processes.