The city of Katy, Texas, is well-known for its heritage, but in late 2017, the town added to its legacy with two high-profile water tank murals that are modern works of art. With the help of a fluoropolymer coating system from Tnemec, these tanks instantly made the city stand out among the many towns in the Houston area.
The two legged tanks, one located off of Franz Road, near the Katy Police Station, and the other near the Katy Mills shopping center, were both painted with almost identical designs. The major difference between the tanks is their size – the Franz Rd. water tank can hold up to 250,000 gallons and the Katy Mills tank, with more legs and a larger diameter, is capable of holding up to 500,000 gallons.
The murals themselves were designed by Rolf and Peter Goetzinger based on the City of Katy’s ideas. The Goetzinger brothers have a long history of creating other water tank murals, having completed highly regarded projects across the country for more than 20 years.
“Each tank was being handled by a different crew,” explained local Tnemec representative, Pat Barry with The Barry Group, LLC. “They both worked hard to complete the initial work on the tank before the Goetzingers made the trip to Texas to apply the murals.”
Both tanks were prepared and coated with a high-performance system from Tnemec. The system began with a zinc-rich primer, Series 90-97 Tneme-Zinc, which was spray-applied to the interior and exterior of the tank. Following the primer, the interior received a stripe coat and a full coat of Series 141 Epoxoline and the exterior received an intermediate coat of a high-performance acrylic polyurethane, Series 73 Endura-Shield.
The tanks were topcoated using Tnemec’s fluoropolymer topcoat, Series 700 HydroFlon. Series 700 is formulated to provide long-term color and gloss retention and has been proven to resist the effects of UV light degradation.
“Both coating contractors did a great job,” stated Barry. “The tanks were both fully coated – with the exception of the murals – by early November 2017.”
Peter Goetzinger and his son, Orion, utilized Series 700 in a variety of colors to paint the murals. The murals were complete in December 2017.
After both projects were completed, the Katy tanks were nominated for Tnemec’s Tank of the Year contest – alongside more than 270 other tanks – and awarded the top prize, chosen by a panel of water tank enthusiasts based on their aesthetic, creative and innovative use of exterior coatings.