Martec, the only U.S. subsidiary of one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world, Merckle GmbH, Ulm, Germany, built a 9,000-squarefoot plant in the late 1980s. In 2003, Plant Manager Mary Stahl was worried that the old Glidwall System protecting the plant’s walls had completely failed. She called on Tom Dunn with KC Heritage, the plant’s long-time general contractor. Understanding the coatings challenge— walls and floors are regularly scrubbed with a 50-50 solution of Clorox and water heated to 220 degrees Fahrenheit — Dunn searched for a system that would withstand this abusive environment.

Dunn called Ron Goens with painting contractor Goens Brothers Painting, Inc., who then contacted Tnemec coating consultant Darrell Buerky, and the three men met at Martec in January 2004 to inspect the plant’s floor and wall surfaces. The decision was made to go with Tnemec’s StrataShield floor and wall coatings product line. “We applied the original Glidwall System,” Goens explained. “You glue it to the wall like wallpaper in 54-inch sections, then coat over it. It takes forever to apply. In contrast, the StrataShield system is much less labor intensive, requires little maintenance and has a much longer life expectancy.”

Goens explained that his crew roller-applied Series 201 Epoxoprime, the polyamine epoxy primer, to the lab walls. They then spray-applied the fiberglass reinforced Series 270 Stranlok, which has a curing time of only six hours. The walls were then sanded and sealed with Series 475 Triton, a waterborne acrylic polyurethane. Once the walls were finished, Epoxy Coating Specialists, Inc. crews then coated the lab floors with Series 237 Power-Tread, an aggregate-filled modified polyamine epoxy. Finally, all the floors were topcoated with Series 280 Tneme-Glaze.

“This Stranlok product is as tough as nails,” Goens said. “It has no competitor. And once it has cured, you can take a hammer to the drywall and punch a hole through the wall and the Stranlok will remain fast and untouched. This same toughness applies to the flooring protection. Tnemec is a first class company and makes the finest high performance coatings in the world. Ask any architect.”