DURABILITY OF PAINTS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29269, 29 July 1960, Page 20

DURABILITY OF PAINTS

D.S.I.R. Report On Tests (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 28. The exterior painting of Government buildings and State houses was the biggest single item of maintenance expenditure involved in protecting these assets, and durability of paint therefore assumed considerable economic importance, said the annual report of the D.S.I.R. tabled in the House of RepresSntives. The State Advances Corporation alone spent nearly £200,000 annually on exterior painting. An investigation into the cause of extensive paint failures on State houses showed that poor workmanship and inferior paint were the prime causes of poor durability, and that excessive weathering of priming coats and the dip-treatment method of timber preservation were contributing factors, said the report. New standard specifications for exterior oil paints, coupled with regular inspection of paints sampled on building sites, did much to improve durability. Tests also showed that the use of totara primers on timbers other than totara gave rise to early failure of the paint system. Tests which had been in progress three and a half years had not yet shown any loss in durability attributable either to the nature of the timber or the method of preservative treatment.