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THE CHALLENGE: The aquatic enclosure at the Houston
Zoo for the California Sea Lions, Zalophus Californianus, was due for
refurbishing to upgrade the attraction. Although the applications were to be
made in the dry it was understood that the concrete surfaces were liable to be
moist after years of sea-water service. Houston summer weather which can
generate thunderstorms in an instant was also a factor to be considered. A
smooth, tough coating was required that would provide years of service and be
compatible with the application requirements.
Sea Lion Enclosure before project
THE SOLUTION: The coating contractor, Maintenance
Solutions of Spring, Texas, met with zoo officials and TFT in a pre-award
meeting to discuss zoo requirements for timing, color selection, etc. Due to a
tight scheduling requirement and need for a smooth finish, it was agreed the
coating would have to be sprayed onto pool surfaces. In order to satisfy
environmental requirements, TFT's solvent-free coating BIO-DUR 560 was
chosen. It was custom tinted to the zoo-specified blue color and especially
engineered to have excellent UV resistance to fading or discoloration. In
addition to the pool surfaces, it was decided to recoat the "beach" area.
Before coating, the surface was prepared by high-pressure
water blasting to decontaminate the bare concrete and remove loose existing
coatings. Then, the coating process began.
Surface preparation in progress
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During the last and most critical days of the project, severe thunderstorms
threatened serious delays. However, the extreme water tolerance of BIO-DUR
560 allowed the crew to continue working in the rain to apply coating to the
entire waterline area using rollers. Later, a fortunate break in the
weather allowed most of the wall area and all of the floor area to be sprayed
using one-to-one ratio, heated, plural component airless spray equipment.
THE RESULT: The blue-tinted BIO-DUR 560 went on very
smoothly and cured quickly to a hard and tough KevlarŪ reinforced liner.
In addition, the beach area was coated with custom-tinted tan BIO-GARD 257
to form a smooth, tough and UV resistant surface.
Completed
Project
CONCLUSION: The blue color chosen by zoo personnel creates an almost
luminous effect in bright sunlight. Expansion joints and some minor cracks
treated using special flexible membrane during the liner application have now
been positively sealed and have effectively "vanished" after being coated over
with the BIO-DUR 560.
Not only the zoo personnel, but also the Sea Lion inhabitants are very happy
with the restored pool.
For more details regarding this project contact:
Jeff Longmore, Technical Director
Thin Film Technology, Inc.
P.O. Box 580669
Houston TX 77258-0669
(713) 910-6200
FAX: (713) 910-6210
E-mail: jeff@thinfilmtech.net
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