Crescent Luxury Apartments

The Crescent Luxury Apartments in Arlington, Virginia feature environmentally sensitive living coupled with lavish amenities. Sleek architectural design is a major component of the interior, exterior and social spaces of the complex. An integral feature of the design is the stylish and minimal steel railings on balconies, defining outdoor social spaces and joining the gates and canopies over building entrances. Accenting the minimal design of the railings, gates and canopies is their striking aluminum metallic finish.

How OTN Became Involved

The Tnemec Company supplied the special acrylic polyurethane aluminum metallic coating. When local Tnemec representative Todd Guntner, was asked who he would recommend for application of his firm’s specialty coatings, he knew the logical choice was O.T. Neighoff & Sons, Inc. due to the size, resources and experience of their Blast & Paint Shop Chief Estimator & his crew.

Timeline and Logistics

The project extended from the fall into the spring while the Crescent was under construction and required major logistical coordination from the OTN Blast & Paint Shop. As each truckload of steel components was received, the OTN Blast & Paint crews were responsible for sorting them in the order that they would then be installed on the building. Each outgoing shipment was loaded so that the last component on was the first to be installed, streamlining the installation process.

Project Challenges and Specifications

To achieve the desired finish, detailed surface prep and coatings were specified. All components were abrasive blasted to a SSPC SP-6 Commercial Blast Specification and blown off with clean air prior to coating. Following surface prep, the following Tnemec coatings were used; a primezinc coat, an intermediate epoxy coat and the aliphatic acrylic polyurethane aluminum metallic finish coat.

Not only were the prep and coating specifications exacting, the technicians of the Blast & Paint Shop recognized the need to correct fabrication flaws prior to blasting and finishing. In order to create the smooth surface and sleek finish specified by the architectural design and painting specifications, all weld seams had to be filled and sealed with special attention paid to joints and seams. The Blast & Paint Shop organized, repaired, blasted, cleaned and coated 3,000 linear feet of railings and gates and 28, twenty-one foot long canopies of varying widths.

Service Continues After Delivery

In the spring, once the gates, railings and canopies were in place at the Crescent, OTN’s crews were contracted to repair inevitable miscellaneous damage caused during the installation process. Damaged areas were power and hand tool prepped and solvent cleaned prior to coating. As the crews were working at the building site in Virginia, care was taken to contain the work areas as needed. The specialty Tnemec coatings were then reapplied and the sleek modern building complete.

Project Results

The resources and skills provided by the OTN Blast & Paint Shop and crews were an important element in the successful construction of the Crescent. The Shop Foremen and crews applied their technical knowledge, exacting coordination skills and devoted great attention to detail throughout the Crescent project while also serving other Blast & Paint Shop clients through the winter and spring months.