Redecorating the meeting rooms

Posted on: 1 December 2016

Many professional painters who paint both residential homes and commercial properties will refer to themselves as commercial painters, but typically there is a difference between those who specialize in commercial buildings and those who paint mostly residential homes. If you have a commercial property that needs painting, either inside or out, note why you want to ensure you choose a commercial painter in particular for this job.

Concrete surfaces

Chances are that your warehouse, manufacturing facility or other such commercial property has concrete floors and possibly even concrete walls that need painting. These surfaces may need a special type of paint, as regular interior paint may easily peel up from concrete's smooth surface.

The concrete may even need special treatment before being painted; this might include a sealant that fills in its many tiny pits and holes so that the paint doesn't seep in and look uneven or a grinding to roughen up the surface and hold the paint better. Since most residential homes don't have these concrete surfaces, it's good to use a commercial painter who is familiar with the material and what it needs for a proper paint covering.

Building codes

Your commercial building will usually have building codes that affect the type of paint used, its colour and other such details, and a residential painter may not be familiar with those codes. For example, parking spaces and safety zones as well as exit signs and other markings are often painted with special reflective paint so they can be seen in the dark. Facilities that handle food or medicines of any type may be required to use certain paints that won't fleck off and contaminate the production line. To ensure your facility is always up to code, it's good to use a commercial painter who is familiar with these requirements.

Safety

Your commercial facility probably can't just shut down in order to be painted, so a painter will need to work around forklifts in operation, loading docks, and your own personnel. A residential painter may not know how to keep themselves safe when working in such busy conditions; they may be accustomed to listening to music and tuning out what's around them as they work, whereas a commercial painter may know how to stay aware while working in a business that is still open. This includes making their own workspace safe for others by keeping their tools organized and out of a walkway. To ensure your workers' safety and the safety of a painter, choose one that specializes in commercial facilities.