It’s more than just choosing a color
Because Americans spend, on average, 90 percent of their time indoors, today’s building owners have found a competitive advantage by integrating interior and exterior space with skylights and atriums. In addition to attracting and retaining tenants, multiple studies have proven that ample access to daylight supports better outcomes in employee productivity, faster patient recovery and higher performance in student learning. Natural lighting through skylights and atriums brings the beauty of nature, light and spaciousness indoors. Complementing these attributes, manufacturers can create skylights and atriums that range from the purely functional to the grand architectural statements requiring complex, custom-engineered systems.
Many skylights and atriums feature curved shapes. Selecting a partner that provides both stretch forming and finishing offers such benefits as: single-source servicing, time savings, shipping efficiencies with less opportunity for damage, and a finish warranty. Regardless of the effect the curving process has on the finish, all manufacturer and applicator warranties generally are voided when parts are finished prior to curving. To obtain the best finish quality and keep parts fully warranted, it is best to finish after curving.
Building owners expect that the finishes applied to their skylight and atrium systems’ aluminum structures will endure the rigorous, day-to-day durability challenges and will preserve the longest life span possible. Protected by its naturally occurring oxide film, aluminum offers excellent resistance to corrosion. This is enhanced further by anodizing and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) paint finishing technologies. Selecting the appropriate finish for a building’s skylight or atrium involves much more than just choosing a color.
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Anodize
Building owners may select anodized aluminum skylights and atriums for their beauty, low maintenance, long life and durability.
• Architectural anodize has been used for nearly 100 years. In the 1920s, aluminum turned the metals world upside down with its benefits of lightweight, strength, fabrication flexibility and durability. The first finishing technology developed was the anodize process, which provided corrosion-resistant, long-lasting protection and color on the aluminum surface.
• Anodizing highlights aluminum’s metallic appearance. Unique to the anodize process, the coatings are created from the substrate itself, integral to the part on which they form.
• The anodize process contains no volatile organic compounds
(VOCs), making it a light-fast, durable alternative to high-VOC paints and organic coatings.
• Architectural anodize finish meets the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) 611-12 specification. This specification requires anodize finishes to meet rigorous testing performance standards including 3,000 hours of salt spray resistance.
• Anodize provides excellent wear and abrasion resistance with minimal maintenance in most environments.
• Anodized aluminum resists the ravages of time, temperature, corrosion, humidity and warping, adding to its long life cycle.
• Anodized aluminum is 100 percent recyclable, lending itself to post-consumer recycled content during demolition or restoration of the building.
PVDF paint
High-performance 70 percent PVDF coatings allow building owners, architects and specifiers to select nearly any color or combination of colors, while shielding the building against aging, weathering and pollution.
• In the architectural market, these high-performance PVDF coatings were introduced in 1965 and have been the trusted paint finish in the construction industry for more than 45 years.
• The resin system incorporated into the paint determines the characteristics and performance properties of the coating. The carbon-fluorine bond, such as that used in the Kynar 500 resin-based coating, is one of the strongest bonds known.
• PVDF paint coatings have the ability to withstand enduring and intense ultraviolet radiation, contributing to long-term color and gloss retention, and chalk resistance.
• The high-performance 70 percent PVDF coatings meet the most stringent exterior, architectural specification, AAMA 2605-11. This specification requires paint coatings to meet rigorous testing performance standards including 4,000 hours of salt spray, and heat- and- humidity resistance.
• The primary environmental concern with liquid paints is the solvents used to deliver the paint to the part; some of the solvents used are considered VOC content and must be destroyed. Responsible finishers use a 100 percent air capture system to destroy the VOCs with no adverse environmental impact.
• Construction damage repair and restoration of architectural skylights and atriums, originally finished in 70 percent PVDF coatings, can be refinished on-site by environmentally responsible, professional applicators utilizing the same type of high-performance coating in an air-dry system.
Be aware that even the most sophisticated coating systems have the possibility to corrode, lose gloss or color, or crack and peel if the aluminum skylight or atrium is not properly manufactured, applied or installed, or if they are exposed to unexpected environmental hazards on location.
Fixing these problems can cost millions of dollars, with added frustration if the warranty has been voided. Working closely with the manufacturer and finishing applicator early in the project will help ensure long-term satisfaction in performance, aesthetics and lasting protection.
Tammy Schroeder, LEED Green Associate, is Wausau, Wis.-based Linetec’s senior marketing specialist. To learn more, visit www.linetec.com
