Vulcan Painters Wins National Coating Award

Birmingham AL--Jan. 31, 2011—Vulcan Painters Inc. of Bessemer, AL won a national award for the repainting of Vulcan, the statue of the Roman god of the forge that is the centerpiece of Vulcan Park and Museum overlooking Birmingham AL. The company received a George Campbell Award from SSPC, The Society for Protective Coatings, at its annual meeting Monday, Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

"We are very pleased to have been chosen to paint Vulcan, and to receive the award from SSPC," said David Boyd, president of Vulcan Painters. Vulcan Painters is an industrial and commercial painting contracting firm founded in 1952, and located in Bessemer, AL.

The George Campbell award is given for outstanding achievement in the completion of a difficult or complex industrial or commercial coatings project. The challenges of this project included weather--cold, wind, rain; access and rigging; and working around Vulcan's schedule as a popular destination for tourists and school children, as well as a venue for corporate parties and even weddings.

Those receiving awards for the project include Jeff Theo, Vice President of Field Operations for Vulcan Painters Inc.; Darlene Negrotto, President and CEO of Vulcan Park and Museum; Terry Wallace, Director of Sales Development-Western Region, Tnemec Company; Mark Thomas, Vice President of Marketing, Tnemec Company; and Robert Crumbaugh of SteelConCoating Systems. Also mentioned for their work on the project were CraneWorks, Sherman Industries, and Spider Staging.

Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world and stands 56 feet tall on a 124-foot 1938 WPA-era sandstone pedestal. The project scope was to prime peeling places on the statue and give it a complete refresher coating; and to clean and seal the leaking, porous sandstone pedestal uncovered during renovation in 2003, through which rain from storms was causing damage to the inner staircase and marble lobby.

SSPC was originally established for engineers and others using coatings to protect steel and other metals from rust and corrosion. The organization has since expanded its scope to coatings for concrete and other materials. SSPC has been setting standards and offering training and disseminating information about research in protective coatings since the 1950s.