Fire has helped human societies evolve to the point they’re at today, but that doesn’t mean that people have “tamed” fire or learned how to control it. It only means that people have learned how to harness its power and, at best, contain it temporarily, through fire protection systems. If you’re starting a new construction project and want to make it as safe as you can in the case of fire, keep reading and see why you need to hire a group of specialized intumescent paint contractors or intumescent paint applicators, and to see how to find the best intumescent paint contractors or intumescent paint applicators to work with to guarantee the success of your project.

 

There are three main components to structural fire protection: active fire protection (AFP), passive fire protection (PFP) and Education. Intumescent paint is a passive fire protection system, because it is meant to limit the spread of fire once it’s started, instead of stopping it or quelling it altogether. When it comes into contact with temperatures exceeding 175 degrees Celsius, intumescent paint will swell and create a foam substance, which burns slowly and achieves two purposes. First, it slows the fire’s progression or expansion, giving people enough time to evacuate the premises, and giving fire fighters more time to reach the conflagration and extinguish it. Second, it protects the structural integrity of steel—which starts to crumble once temperatures reach approximately 550 degrees Celsius—which means, again, that people trapped inside have more time to get out unharmed.

 

Intumescent paint has been in use for a long time. This being said, in the past intumescent paint used to be much harder to work with for intumescent paint applicators or intumescent paint contractors. This is because the material tented to be lumpy in texture, and because intumescent paint applicators and intumescent paint contractors had to apply it with special equipment. The substances used contained toxic elements and carginogen components, and most types of intumescent paint had a foul smell to them.

 

Things have changed, however, and intumescent paint is much more manageable and versatile now. Intumescent paint can be applied in layers—the thickness of the layer depends on the steel used in the construction—but nowadays the substance is so malleable that it can be painted on very easily, without the use of cumbersome devices or equipment. It also comes in a range of colors, so talk to your intumescent paint contractors and see what your options are.

 

Wondering how you can know you’ve found the best intumescent paint applicators to work with? Start online, and do a simple search engine query on the subject. Look at as many websites as you can, and always check the portfolio section first. What you’re looking for will depend, in part, on the type of construction project you’re envisioning, of course, but looking at a company’s portfolio will let you know exactly how much work it can handle.

If you’re starting a new construction project where you want to incorporate intumescent paint for passive fire protection, find out what to look for in order to hire the best intumescent paint contractorsor intumescent paint applicators to get the job done right.