Commercial Painting in Tulsa, OK.

Wedlake Metal Fabrication Plant – Commercial Painting Project

When the folks at Wedlake needed to prepare and repurpose a 120,000 square foot fabrication facility in Tulsa they called in the commercial painting pros at CertaPro of Tulsa.

Wedlake is a long-standing manufacturing business in Tulsa that began as a simple metal fabrication business in 1979. Brian Wedlake Sr. began it with a portable welder in the back of a pick-up truck doing heavy and farm equipment repair after hours and on weekends. By 1984 it had become a full-time operation and by 1999 Oklahoma’s Business Monthly recognized it as one of Tulsa’s Top 50 Fastest-Growing Companies. Today they are a major manufacturer of a variety of metal products from generator enclosures to storage tanks to trailers and more. Over the years the number and size of their fabrication buildings grew along with their business.

The Plan

Their plans called for a complete repainting of a very large building in order to expand their manufacturing space. The building had sat unused for a long time and while it did not have the typical problems of unused buildings like rust and leaks, it did have a large accumulation of fine metal debris and dust from past use.

The Preparation

In order to prep the building pressure washing was ruled out due to the large amount of existing wiring and electrical connection that were to be used again. Instead, the building was literally blown out with compressed air and brushed out to get to a point where it could be reliably painted. Half an industrial dumpster’s worth of fine metal debris and dust were collected in the process.

The Painting

Once the building was ready to paint the Tulsa area experienced some of the coldest weather it has seen in a decade. In order to proceed on schedule, the building was outfitted with a whole series of powerful propane heaters working with the existing HVAC system to keep the interior within the recommended temperature zone for the application of industrial paint.

Pro Industrial DTM paint in safety yellow was used for supports and cranes and Pro Industrial Dryfall was applied to ceilings and walls. Scissor lifts were used throughout the job to reach the full height of the building’s interior.

The Outcome

In total the project took two months between prep and painting, working within the facility owner’s scheduling and deadlines. The entire process of painting a 120,000-foot building is shown below in our video and compressed into just over a minute in length. In the end, Wedlake got the expanded manufacturing space it needed and the certainty that the paint job would last well into the future.

When you’re ready to start your warehouse painting project…

Give CertaPro Painters^® of Tulsa, OK a call at 918-712-8188. We tackle commercial projects from small retail jobs to multistory office buildings, warehouses, industrial facilities, hotels, hospitals, and more.  When it comes to complex projects involving difficult work environments, tricky schedules, and unique challenges you owe it to yourself to call commercial painters with a proven ability to get the job done – on time and on budget. Click here to request a free estimate today.