Commercial Painting - Specific Considerations For Painting a Business

Commercial painting is a matter of taking into consideration the type of clientele that will be frequently at the business. The interior painting of a restaurant, cafeteria, or food service will be quite different than painting an office building or corporate offices. Even though both businesses serve very different purposes, some of the needs are the same. For instance, both have a staff that will be spending long hours each day in the environment. Some visitors may have respiratory problems and others may be pregnant or very elderly but every person in the environment is subject to fumes from paint that could potentially be harmful.

Several years after an interior has been painted there are ingredients in the paint that will continue give of a harmful vapor. This is why the new eco friendly paints that have either low VOC levels or even zero VOC levels have been created to solve the issues of pollution in our air and water system as well as eliminating the odors of fresh paint.

When planning to paint a business where there is some kind of food preparation taking place there are specific things that need to be considered. Customers who come to the restaurant, cafeteria or food service business should feel their experience there is enjoyable. Of course good food will make their experience enjoyable but the environment does play a big part in the dining experience.

When the best choices of paint have been made and the painting is planned, an essential part of painting this type of commercial interior is that the crew doing the paint works quickly and efficiently so that the down time for the business will be minimized. It is not usually necessary to shut the business down to do some painting but this can only happen if the paints used have low VOC levels and therefore have little to no odor from the wet paint. This is extremely important in a business that prepares and serves food.

When the space where the actual food is prepared needs to be painted, the preparation of the walls and ceiling is very important and may need some special degreasers that are non corrosive and environmentally friendly to clean the area well enough to apply paint. The application of the paint must be done professionally and as recommended by the manufacturer of the paint that is used. Walls in these kinds of areas will need to be scrubbed down often so the paint must be durable and should be enamel that is not going to absorb dirt, grease and fumes from cooking.

The painting that needs to be done in the office environment is different but also has its own specific needs. If the painting needs to be done while the office is open, this will present specific problems. Again the fumes from the wet paint will be a consideration to those who are in the office. Hopefully the painting can be done after office hours so that the paint will be completely dry when the office staff returns the next day. Also, if the file cabinets, furniture and equipment of other kinds need to be moved it should be done after the end of the business day so the space is ready to be prepared for painting quickly. When the painting is done by a hired contractor it is necessary to know if the contractor is insured to do the job. Injuries that happen on the job can cause real paperwork nightmares if the contract does not carry their own insurance or use permanent staff that is part of their payroll system.