We do Industrial Painting, LAX Cargo Terminals case study

Lufthansa Airlines – LAX Constant Use Cargo Terminal Painting

Parker undertook the challenging job of preparing and completing the exterior and interior commercial painting of the Lufthansa Airlines LAX air cargo facility during their recent corporate Logo transformation and deep blue color change in 2018. They were getting rid of their iconic yellow color and changing their logo.

The entire building was washed with hot water high-pressure diesel equipment. Care was taken to ensure the removal of nonadherent paint – see the photo of old blue paint failure from the white corrosion.

: Original failed Paint coating

: Commercial warehouse painters Los Angeles

: Powerwashing surfaces before coating

Industrial Exterior Painting in high places

We provided a very high-quality metal primer and finished paint since LAX is within two miles of the Pacific Ocean, along with the fact that the LAX airport has extensive latent jet exhaust nano-sized soot, a bad combination for paint and metal. The particulate matter from aircraft jet engines burning JP-4 fuel is ultra-fine, smaller than 100nm. By way of comparison, a human hair has a diameter of 80,000 nm, so the black nano particulates are 800 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Diesel truck fuel is kerosene composition very much like jet fuel. The diesel trucks are always left with engines idling while waiting for pick-up and delivery at or near the facility.

These nano-sized black soot particles get deposited on the building surfaces then saturated with salt moisture from the nearby ocean from the prevailing onshore winds. This is a very detrimental combination causing rust for metal and breaking down paint coatings. Buildings never get cleaned or washed as a part of maintenance, so the paint must withstand the soot and salt combination.

Painting a busy airport

This facility also houses Air Canada cargo and South China Airlines. It was in constant use around the clock seven days per week, with Semi-trucks lined up for delivery and pick up at over twenty-five cargo doors. With workers, trucks, forklifts constantly buzzing, always moving expensive cargo including horses, live animals, and expensive show cars everywhere, Jumbo 747 Airplanes on the active ramp, we made the painting job proceed smoothly with planning by utilizing our JLG Ultra Boom to safely reach out up over cargo eighty feet horizontal to execute this industrial painting job.

The airlines could move all their cargo with no delays from our commercial, industrial painting work. We were able to apply multiple coats of paint in one day by carefully scheduling and skillfully using booms and lifts.

Parker even performed extra work replacing the ten-inch steel commercial rain gutters on the airfield side of the facility. Our workers had OSHA 30 and OSHA 10 certifications and complied with LAX badge requirements.

The inside offices and warehouse were also painted during nighttime paintwork were done to accommodate the Airlines. The acoustic panel ceilings had not been painted since the 60s when heavy smoking was allowed, so they had deep yellow nicotine stains, which we blocked out with quality primer and paint.