Bare and Rusted Steel Beams

Yes, Brian, there is a prize. You get two new nipple rings…installed slowly.:mrgreen:

yeah, I once owned a car that had numerous passivation layers on it.

My old Chevy P/U passivated itself into the scrap yard, once road salt and sea salt got under the paint. :frowning:

I will be 50 next month, and went snow skiing with my slightly younger brother monday, I at least bruised a rib during the outing, and laughing kinda hurts, you devil. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

OUCH:twisted:

In that case…very very slowly.:mrgreen:

In the bridge design world, we designate if it is weathering steel or not. All types of steel do not have the properties needed to form the protective layer. In this case the beam looks fine (it is not exposed to extreme elements, ex. salt), but I have typically seen them painted or atleast shop primed.

Richie Dimmerling II, E.I., S.I.
Inspection Engineer
Champion Inspection Services, LLC.
www.champion-inspection.com

Is that how you report findings to clients?:shock:

Peter I have no idea. Clue us in :wink:

Actually not all of them are. John Deere company developed a structural steel that doesn’t need painting. It is designed so that it’s exterior oxidizes and protects the interior of the steel. They manufactured their world headquarters in East Moline, Il out of it. They affectionately call it the “rusty palace.”

The Pennybacker Bridge not far from me in Austin, Tx was designed to rust and form the amber patina, passivation layer Doug was referring to. It’s been in use for 25 years now and looks the same as it did on dedication day.

Aloha Stadium was built with this type of steel also. However, in 1989 (14 years after being built) we had to retrofit and replace most of the structure.

Environmental conditions bear heavily on the the integrity of exposed structural steel components.

It will out last the home!

I wouldn’t worry to much about paint in that picture.
Before their is enough moisture in that crawlspace to affect that heavy duty beam, the whole floor would be rotted to hell.

[FONT=JansonTextLTStd-Roman][size=1]Steel members that will be enclosed in normal ambient conditions, which is most of them—typically do not need to be painted.

The inside environment of most buildings to-day is conditioned for human occupancy (low humidity).
Although the crawlspace is not for human occupancy, I doubt if the relative humidity will be above 70, and if it is, other problems will arise.

Detrimental rusting of steel takes place when the relative humidity is above 70%. Therefore, if steel is to be exposed for a short period during construction and subsequently clad and enclosed, the structural steelwork will not corrode and does not need any paint protection.
Specifying no paint saves the costs for cleaning, painting, inspection, touch-up paint, and the cost of the paint materials

I have built a few School Buildings where the shop primer was eliminated altogether for the whole structure. :slight_smile:
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