Do you recommend adding a clear coat?

A clear coat is only required over metallic colors and some bright and exotic colors. Adding a clear coat to a painted finish that is not required will not extend the warranty of the product.

Paint manufacturers do not recommended using a clear top coat over a white color paint. The application of a clear coat can affect the tone of the underlying color. The color coat typically shifts more yellow when a clear coat is applied.

Does Linetec use lead and cadmium in its paint?

For the health and safety of our employees, our customers, and our environment it is Linetec’s position not to apply paint coatings containing lead or mercury. As well, Linetec also prefers not to apply paint coatings containing cadmium.

Certain uses of paints and/or coatings, which contain lead, mercury or cadmium, are banned or restricted by federal, state and local laws, regulations and/or ordinances. Heavy-metal paint (containing lead, mercury, or cadmium) should never be used on any project that involves a school, daycare, playground equipment or any building surfaces that children will come in contact with.

Prior to your selection of a heavy-metal paint, we suggest that you fully assess all laws and regulations that may be applicable to your use and application.

To achieve certain bright and vibrant colors, paint manufacturers may use small amounts of cadmium in the paint formulation. Linetec works hard both internally and with the manufacturers to create the closest match possible without the use of cadmium. In many cases, however, the matches will not have the same color characteristics as when cadmium is used.

If the project color specified requires the use of cadmium, and cannot be matched without it, Linetec will consider these projects on a case by case basis. However, it is our desire that customers will choose to support our effort in eliminating the use of all heavy-metal paints.

What can I expect a paint finish to hide?

A typical architectural finish is applied with only 0.8 to 1.2 mils (or thousandths of an inch) of coating. A good rule of thumb is: If you can feel the blemish (scratch, ding, dent, etc.) with your fingernail, the paint will most likely not hide the defect.

Most solid colors will hide any staining or streaking of a substrate at the required film thickness; however, there are certain mica and metallic based colors that will not hide the substrate, and the use of a base coat may be necessary to further enhance the paints hiding effectiveness.

How important is the paint pretreatment system?

Regardless of the paint finish you choose for your project, Kynar®, baked enamel, or powder coat, the critical first step in the application process is pre-treatment. Without proper pretreatment, premature failure of the finish system can almost be guaranteed. Paint systems are designed to be applied over clean metal that has been properly pretreated.

The most time-tested pretreatment system for architectural aluminum products is a chrome phosphate conversion coating. Chrome phosphate conversion coatings continue to be recognized by many as the most effective pretreatment for aluminum. As a result, products installed along the seacoast and other harsh industrial environments may not be warranted or the warranty length and coverage may be compromised if a chrome pretreatment is not utilized.

At Linetec every piece of aluminum is pretreated with a chrome phosphate conversion coating, whether we are applying a baked enamel finish that meets AAMA2603 or a 70% Kynar® finish that meets AAMA2605. This assures you of the best quality pretreatment for your material.