The Color Of Success: MBCI’s Durable Coating & Finish Options

The building is designed. The construction schedule is worked out. The materials have been chosen. The trades have been hired. There’s just one more crucial decision to make: The finish.

Metal construction with MBCI already has a long list of benefits basically built in, from enhanced sustainability to superior durability and longevity. But to ensure the long-term, high-performing life of the MBCI materials you’ve invested in, you also need to choose the right finish for your metal components.

Though many people think of finish as simply the color on top of the metal, it’s actually far more. Standard finishes include a primer designed to bind the colorcoat to the metal substrate and provides additional corrosion protection. The colorcoat is comprised of a resin and pigments to create a durable finish in a variety of colors. MBCI’s color finishes are composed of a combination of layers and ingredients to provide you with the best technology for your specific project. MBCI can provide customized finishes that can include additional layers of primer, colorcoat or topcoats depending on the level of protection you choose. The selected resins, pigments and other ingredients determine not only the color and gloss, but how well the finish can stand up to the elements, its expected longevity – and therefore the lifetime of the material it’s protecting.

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Which finish?

MBCI offers two categories of standard finishes. The Signature® 200 series of coatings is a silicone modified polyester (also known as SMP). Silicone modified polyester coatings are hard, durable finishes that provide remarkable gloss, color retention and chalk resistance. A perfect choice for doors, wall cladding, agricultural and high traffic commercial projects. The most economical choice, Signature® 200, comes in a variety of stock colors and can also be customized to your specifications.

For premium projects or projects in more aggressive environments, MBCI’s Signature® 300 series of coatings utilize a 70%polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin. PVDF finishes offer superior color retention and are highly resistant to harsh conditions such as UV radiation, high winds, high altitudes, acid rain, high humidity and other chemically or environmentally aggressive environments. Signature® 300 coatings are perfect for high visibility architectural and industrial projects. If you’re building near the coastline, MBCI carries a special finish formulated to stand up to marine environments and damaging salt spray.

MBCI also provides customized finishes for interior projects wherever corrosive conditions occur indoors, such as in water treatment plants, indoor swimming pools or facilities that use or manufacture caustic, corrosive chemicals.

Color Choices

The popular reds and greens of recent decades have given way to trends toward more natural colors, earth tones, calming blues and natural metallics such as copper and bronze. As MBCI Paint and Coatings Specialist Martin Thompson explains, “MBCI’s stock color options reflect the changes in color trends – and if there is something we don’t offer on the standard color chart, we will customize it for you.”

You can download MBCI’s Color Charts here:

Architectural Color Chart

Commercial & Industrial Color Chart

Residential Color Chart

If you don’t find the option you had in mind, contact your friendly MBCI representative to start the color customization process. We can match virtually any shade, but custom colors may require increased lead time.

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Maintenance/Best Practices

Once you’ve completed a project, you’ll certainly want to maintain it. While MBCI products require little to no maintenance, there are a few pointers that will help get the longest life and best performance out of your MBCI metal finish:

  1. Don’t allow cut panel ends to contact uncured concrete — Metal panels are susceptible to corrosion when exposed to chlorides or highly alkaline uncured concrete. Leave a gap between these panel edges and green concrete and ensure good drainage away from walls and off rooftops.
  2. Keep metal components dry  Corrosion is made possible by prolonged wet conditions. Inspect your entire building envelope at least twice a year, removing dirt buildup, mold, mildew or anything else that traps or holds water against metal components.
  3. Wash annually — A light washing with household soap or siding cleaner is recommended once a year. In wet environments with excessive organic material like mold or pollen, wash more frequently.

Warranties

We know our finishes are strong, and we stand by them. Both the Signature® 200 and Signature® 300 series come with 30-year colorfastness and 40-year film integrity warranties. Colorfastness refers to the color maintaining its appearance, while film integrity is an indicator of how long the finish will adhere to the panel surface. In exceptionally harsh environments such as heavy industrial or coastal areas, the warranty may be different. Speak to your representative for more details. In case of small scratches or blemishes, touchup paint matching your finish is available through MBCI.

When you’re ready to make decisions on coatings and finishes – or if you just have questions – don’t hesitate to reach out to your MBCI representative.

Design and Color Trends in New Metal Construction

Design and color trends in metal roofing products are not exactly black and white. In fact, a whole host of options are available when choosing textures and colors for new metal construction projects, depending on specific criteria. Some are practical, some are aesthetic—but all are shaping how designers are specifying metal products, coatings and paints. Let’s walk through a few of the top trends in the industry now.

More color options for coil coatings

Bright Color Options in Coil for Design
Through vertical integration, manufacturers are offering more color options than ever.

It used to be that coil options were limited to standard stock choices and availability was determined by the coil coaters. Now, with evolving industry strategies, such as NCI’s vertical integration, many more manufacturers are properly positioned to enter into the market with multiple color choices across multiple brands without as much deviation. This also allows manufacturers to quickly adapt to requests for custom colors—both internally or externally.

Ratings and regulations are leading to more energy-efficient choices

Moreover, color requests based on aesthetics and paint systems have evolved based on changing code requirements. For additional benefits, specifiers can turn to many rating systems, such as the Cool Roof Rating Council and ENERGY STAR®, as well as earn LEED points by having specific SRI (Solar Reflectance Index) values.

Much has changed over the past 10 to 15 years. For instance, the components industry has evolved from customers merely selecting colors based on preference to a more integrated approach accounting for aesthetics, cost and energy efficiency. Today, owners and architects are more likely to consider a color such as Solar White to save on insurance or receive tax rebates. Environmental considerations and regulations have changed the way customers purchase steel, incorporating such issues as unique regulations for different states and weather conditions, LEED points and reflectivity into the atmosphere.

Insulated metal panels used in higher-end architectural projects

Another design trend in the industry is a move towards insulated panels, mimicking what is typical in the aluminum composite material (ACM) world. High-end car dealerships are known for design with ACM. This includes blocked-off designs that can be elongated, can be different colors or have joints in different places. This application has been ACM’s primary wheelhouse for decades. Now that ACM manufacturers have entered into the insulated metal panel (IMP)  industry, more of the design community is considering a thinner, horizontal IMP. The intention is to replicate the appearance of an ACM panel, while reaping the major cost and insulating benefits of IMPs.

Depth of color and texture: the rise of metallic colors

Architecturally, more metallic paints are being used. Historically, metal panels were white, tan or Galvalume. The current trend has expanded to a wider color palette, including mica fluoropolymer. These metallic coatings give depth to the color, adding sheen and sparkle. In fact, there are actually metal flecks in the paint. Metal oxide-coated mica pigments offer up the metallic look and add to the durability.

 Signature® 300 Silver Metallic Color Design
Vasa Fitness in Lehi, Utah features MBCI’s FW-120 panel in Signature® 300 Silver Metallic paint.

What’s behind this trend? Designers are thinking about metal roofs in a whole new way. They are looking to leverage colors and properties of paint to bring out a unique architectural appearance not previously available.

Conclusion

Trends in metal construction are as broad as the choices of color and coatings. Whether a reaction to energy savings criteria or simply a desire of an educated consumer to bring new life to their project, it’s worth taking the time to investigate all your options when specifying your next metal project.

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