The Youth Services Center for the County of San Mateo represents a new era of sustainable construction using materials that provide a healthy indoor environment, such as Tnemec coating systems with low volatile organic compound (VOC) content. “These systems are environmentally and applicator friendly from a toxicity standpoint,” reported Tnemec coating consultant Glen Amos. “They are either water-based or 100 percent solids, so there is no odor to bother other tradesmen working in the area.”
The project called for protective coatings on the floors, walls and ceilings of shower areas and on the floors of several other rooms throughout the $128 million campus-style facility. “In 1992, Series 270 Stranlok, a fiberglass-reinforced polyamine epoxy, was used on prison showers at San Quentin to protect the tile surfaces from being broken and used as weapons. Those shower walls have held up superbly,” according to Tnemec coating consultant Sherry Amos, who was also involved with the project. “In addition, the architect for this project had used these systems successfully in the past at various correctional facilities going back to the late 1990s,” added Amos.
The coating system for shower walls at the Youth Services Center consisted of block filler underneath Series 201 Epoxoprime, a high-solids, moisture-tolerant polyamine epoxy, applied at 6.0 to 8.0 mils DFT. A spray-applied coat of Stranlok at 25.0 to 30.0 mils DFT and a finish coat of Series 280 Tneme-Glaze, a modified polyamine epoxy, applied at 9.0 to 10.0 mils DFT, completed the wall system. The floors were mechanically abraded to sound concrete in accordance with SSPC-SP13 and ASTM D4259, then primed with Series 201 Epoxoprime at 6.0 to 8.0 mils DFT and coated with a ¼” trowel-applied coat of Series 237 Power-Tread, an aggregate-filled polyamine epoxy. The ceilings in shower areas received a prime coat of Series 151 Elasto-Grip FC, a waterborne polyamine epoxy, at 1.5 mils DFT,
followed by two coats of Series 158 Bio-Lastic, a specialized waterborne acrylate, at 6.0 to 8.0 mils DFT per coat. Bio-Lastic is specially formulated to resist mildew growth on the coating film.
Designed to comply with the county’s green building policy, the Youth Services Center is monitored 24/7 by computer systems in order to operate at the most energy efficient level. The center opened in the fall of 2006.