Located in Cumberland, Md., the North Branch Correctional Institution is a maximum-security state correctional facility that underwent a multi-phased expansion in 2005. Once completed, the project provided four 69,000- square-foot housing units, each with 256 cells spread out over two floors. For the building interior, Richard Craft, Project Manager, Maryland Division of Capital Construction Facilities Maintenance, knew the facility required a durable, low-maintenance coating that could withstand daily wear and tear and abuse from the residents, eliminating downtime during cell repair. Having worked with Tnemec products with much success since 1988, Murphy contacted local Tnemec coating consultant Todd Guntner.
With those requirements in mind, Guntner worked closely with Murphy to develop a coatings system. For the interior cell walls, he specified Series 130 Envirofill, a waterborne cementitious acrylic block filler, as the primer and Series 84 Ceramlon ENV, a ceramic-like modified aliphatic amine epoxy coating that provides excellent protection and easy cleaning, as the intermediate coat. For the topcoat, Guntner specified Series 113 H.B. Tneme-Tufcoat, a high-performance stain-, abrasion-, and chemical-resistant waterborne acrylic epoxy. Murphy particularly liked the satin finish of Series 113; he wanted to avoid using a high-gloss finish that might cause a reflective glare which could irritate the correctional officers’ eyes in an already stressful environment.
On the building exterior, Guntner specified Series 156 & 157 Enviro-Crete, an elastomeric, breathable concrete and masonry coating that provides excellent protection against driving rain, freeze-thaw and UV light.
This project provided North Branch Correctional Institution with space- and cost-effective housing units. “We want to avoid vacating the cells during repair and repainting, rendering them uninhabitable,” says Murphy. “When this happens, the facility operates at less than maximum capacity."