antenna tower surface prep: cost vs benefit

[jgaeta]

hello folks,

I have a ~90' galvanized/painted antenna tower that is quite old and is in need of repainting. The existing paint is chipping and there are some rust spots that need to be taken care of. My question is, what is the cost vs benefit of sandblasting or similar vs hand tools/manual labor to prep the surface for repainting? Environmental issues are a concern so I imagine the tower would need to be covered completely prior to any blasting which would create even more expense. I am assuming that blasting the tower would be the most effective but most expensive option for prep and hand tools/labor would be less effective but less expensive. Can anyone chime in on this or help guide me a little to a next step? I suppose I could/should call and obtain rough estimates for each alternative from several reputable businesses.

 

[swall]

What is the environment? Dry land or on the sea coast? How long is the paint job required to last? If the answer is "20 years", then you need to take the whole thing down to bare metal by blasting. If the goal is 5 years, you probably can get by with wire brushing, priming and painting.

 

[jgaeta]

The environment is dry land and the paint job would hopefully last more along the 10 year range.

 

[hokie66]

Sandblasting will of course make the coating last longer, but if you only need 10 years, manual preparation along with a coating specifically designed for less than optimal surface preparation should do the job. Here is one coating which I have specified for a long time, and it has always performed for me.

http://www.corrosioncoatings.com/catalog/pdf/Carboline/Carbomastic-15-15FC.pdf