Providing 25 years fire protection to a multi-storey car park in Osnabrück

The Lotter Straße multi-storey car park in Osnabrück was built in 2016 as a steel skeleton structure, the galvanized steel girders at the entrance on the ground floor and on the first floor were provided with a single pack fire protection coating before installation.  Due to this construction method, cars entering and leaving the car park caused vibrations in the steel structure, which led to hairline cracks in the original fire protection product applied. This resulted in the penetration of condensation water, as well as de-icing salt, which destroyed the fire protection coating within five years of operation. In order to be able to maintain parking operations on the ground floor and first floor of this car park for the long term, the fire protection coating had to be replaced. 

Sherwin-Williams Fire Protection Specialist, Sebastian Mels, worked with the client and coating contractor, to select a long-term solution to meet the required fire resistance class, and ensure timely evacuation in the event of a fire. 

As the refurbishment was to be carried out during ongoing car park operations, containment was placed around the work areas. The specialist company H&T Oberflächentechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Halle, then blasted the damaged coating with slag to achieve a surface preparation grade Sa2.5. However, as this method would remove some of the galvanizing, the steel girders on the ground floor and first floor were first primed with Macropoxy® 2706 EG, a 2-component epoxy, using airless spray. In the entrance area and ground floor of the building, to meet the required 60-minute fire protection criteria, the steel beams were then given a 2-component epoxy fire protection coating with  FIRETEX® Platinum-120. For the fire protection on the first floor, which had a fire resistance class R30 requirement (30 minutes protection), FIRETEX® Platinum-30, and finally Acrolon® 2330, a two-component acrylic polyurethane top coat in RAL colour 7012, were applied This topcoat served to visually signal the different fire resistance classes of the two parking levels to the emergency services, in case of fire. 

In total, 1,100 m2 of the steel beams on the ground and first floors, which were coated with FIRETEX® Platinum technology, will now have an economic long-term fire protection of more than 25 years.  No fire protection coating was required for the other five floors of the car park.

Frank Timpeltey, Managing Director of H&T Oberflächentechnik GmbH & Co KG, stated “The  FIRETEX® Platinum fire protection coatings are usually applied in the factory at new building, however even during ongoing operation, we were able to apply this system directly on site at the Lotter Straße car park, without any problems”

Featured Products 

• Macropoxy® 2706 EG
•  Acrolon® 2330
• FIRETEX® Platinum-120
• FIRETEX® Platinum-30

THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS DIFFERENCE

Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine delivers world-class industry subject matter expertise, unparalleled technical and specification service, and unmatched regional commercial team support to our customers around the globe. Our broad portfolio of high-performance coatings and systems that excel at combating corrosion helps customers achieve smarter, time-tested asset protection. We serve a wide array of markets across our rapidly growing international distribution footprint, including oil and gas, water and wastewater, bridge and highway, steel fabrication, flooring, food and beverage, rail and power, marine and passive fire protection.