Painting of the Martin Hill Reservoir Water Tank, the largest steel potable water tank in the U.S., was recently completed by Thomas Industrial, a St. Louis-based painting contractor. The city of Austin, TX, awarded a $1.5 million contract to the contractor for interior and exterior tank painting, the 15-year-old tank's first maintenance repaint in its service life.
The 34-million gallon tank is 260 feet in diameter, 120 feet high in the center and 80 feet high at the sides and visible from miles away. Its base covers 53,000 square feet compared to 45,000 square-feet for a football field.
The Sherwin-Williams Company's Industrial and Marine Coatings group supplied the 7,000 gallons of high-performance coatings necessary to complete the project. Coatings used for the tank exterior were Zinc Clad® III HS (organic) zinc-rich primer, an intermediate coat of Recoatable Epoxy Primer, and a finish coat of Hi Solids Polyurethane, plus a final coat of Diamond-Clad® Clear Coat Urethane to enhance topcoat color and gloss retention. The interior walls and floor received three coats of Epoxide™ II.
