Case Studies

Real projects, from the problem the customer faced to the result we delivered. See how New Kent Coatings keeps prep, coating, repair, and NACE CIP Level 3 inspection under one contractor to bring tanks, containment, and concrete back into service on schedule across industries.

Industrial Tank Lining Completed Inside a Power Plant Shutdown Window

In brief: A Virginia power plant faced a hard restart deadline with a corroded raw water tank. New Kent Coatings blasted, repaired, and relined the tank interior inside the outage window using an application method chosen specifically to keep corrosion from restarting under the new lining.

Project snapshot

  • Location: South Boston, VA
  • Client: Power generation facility
  • Structure: Carbon steel raw water storage tank, interior
  • Scope: Abrasive blasting, steel pit repair, industrial tank lining
  • Coating system: Carboline Hydroplate 6500 high-build epoxy liner Surface prep: SSPC-SP 10 near-white metal blast
  • Outage window: 14 days 
  • Inspection: NACE CIP Level 3 certified
  • Projected service life: 10+ years

Power plants schedule maintenance shutdowns against a fixed restart date, and everything inside that window has to be finished before the plant comes back online. This facility’s raw water storage tank was on the list for a full reline. Once New Kent blasted the interior to bare metal, the crew uncovered extensive pitting across the tank wall, deeper corrosion than a routine reline accounts for.

The correct long-term fix for pitting that severe is to rebuild the tank or fill every pit with steel pit filler. Both take far more time than a shutdown allows. The customer needed the tank back in service on the original date, and a lining installed carelessly over that pitting would have failed within a couple of years.

New Kent triaged the tank interior by severity rather than chasing a full repair the clock would not permit. The deepest, highest-risk pitting was repaired with steel pit filler where it mattered most. For the remaining shallow pitting, the crew changed the application method.

Why brush and roll beat spray on pitted steel

Sprayed coating tends to bridge across a shallow pit and seal air inside it. That trapped air becomes a corrosion cell, a pocket where new corrosion starts under a lining that looks intact. Applying by brush and roll works the coating down into each pit and forces the air out, so the finished lining sits tight to the steel with no voids to fail from underneath.

One contractor from blast to inspection

Blasting, steel pit repair, lining, and NACE CIP Level 3 inspection all ran under a single contractor. There was no second mobilization, no waiting on an outside steel or repair crew, and no gap in accountability while the outage clock ran. New Kent also delivered a written specification for the permanent tank repair to schedule at the next outage, when time is not the constraint.

  • The tank went back in service inside the outage window and the plant restarted on schedule
  • The field-applied lining is projected at 10+ years of service life
  • The customer received a written spec for the permanent long-term repair
  • Prep, repair, lining, and inspection were handled by one accountable contractor

Wastewater Treatment Plant Coatings with a 12-Hour Return to Service

In brief: A North Carolina treatment plant faced a 7-day coating cure it could not fit into its outage. New Kent Coatings proposed and got approval for a system that returned all three tanks to service in 12 hours, on time and on budget.

Project snapshot

  • Location: Raleigh, North Carolina 
  • Client: Wastewater treatment plant
  • Structures: Holding tank, aeration tank, clarifier (all carbon steel)
  • Scope: Abrasive blasting and protective coating, three tanks
  • Original spec: Coating system with a 7-day cure
  • Installed system: Sherwin-Williams Dura-Plate 6000 coating, 12-hour return to service 
  • Inspection: NACE CIP Level 3 certified
  • Outcome: On time, on budget

This plant’s process runs holding tank, then aeration tank, then clarifier. All three were steel, which is less common in wastewater treatment where concrete usually dominates, and all three were specified for the same service. The design engineer’s coating choice suited the immersion and chemical exposure well. The issue was schedule: its 7-day cure could not fit inside the window the plant had to be back in operation. A treatment plant cannot sit offline for a week of cure time without disrupting the service it provides.

New Kent recommended a plural-component coating system rated to return to service in 12 hours instead of 7 days, matched to the same immersion and chemical demands the original specification required.

Why the team did not simply swap products

Changing a specified coating without sign-off puts the warranty and the engineer’s design intent at risk. New Kent worked directly with both the coating manufacturer and the design engineer to get the alternate system reviewed and approved first, then blasted and recoated all three tanks to that approved spec.

  • Holding tank, aeration tank, and clarifier were recoated and returned to service on time
  • The 12-hour return replaced a 7-day cure, keeping the plant’s downtime to the planned outage
  • The project came in on budget
  • The plant received the performance the engineer originally specified without the schedule penalty

Secondary Containment Coating Repair Done Without a Second Contractor

In brief: After stripping a failing coating off a Maryland containment area, New Kent Coatings found the concrete beneath was cracked. The crew repaired it structurally in-house with concrete stitching and recoated in one continuous scope, with no separate concrete contractor.

Project snapshot

  • Location: Baltimore, Maryland
  • Client: Bleach and chemical manufacturing facility 
  • Structure: Aging secondary containment, concrete
  • Scope: Coating removal, structural crack repair, containment coating
  • Repair method: Concrete stitching with stainless steel lock staples set in epoxy
  • Inspection: NACE CIP Level 3 certified

Secondary containment exists to catch a chemical spill before it reaches soil and groundwater. When New Kent stripped the old, failing coating off this containment area, substantial cracks appeared in the concrete underneath. Cracks in containment are not cosmetic. They are the path a spill takes to escape, and they can put a facility out of environmental compliance. A fresh coating laid straight over cracked concrete would telegraph the cracks and fail in the same places.

New Kent repaired the concrete itself using concrete stitching rather than stopping the job to bring in an outside contractor.

How concrete stitching works

  • The crack is ground out and holes are drilled across it
  • Stainless steel lock staples are set below the surface with epoxy, tying the two sides of the crack together
  • The remaining crack area is patched flush
  • The containment coating system is applied over the repaired slab

Why doing it in-house mattered

Because New Kent performs structural concrete repair as part of its own scope, the customer avoided halting work to schedule a separate concrete contractor, along with the remobilization cost and calendar delay that come with a second vendor. The concrete and the coating stayed under one accountable crew.

  • The containment was structurally repaired and recoated without a second contractor
  • The customer avoided remobilization costs and schedule delay
  • One contractor was accountable for both the concrete and the coating
  • The containment surface was sealed and ready for the next spill event

Concrete Crack Injection That Sealed Water Intrusion From the Inside

In brief: A concrete structure in South Carolina was leaking under outside water pressure. Instead of excavating and rebuilding, New Kent Coatings injected stabilization grout from the inside out and sealed the leaks in place, a repair most coating contractors do not offer.

Project snapshot

  • Location: Charleston, South Carolina
  • Structure: Pump house wall and floors in WWTP
  • Scope: Concrete crack injection to stop active water intrusion
  • Material: Stabilization / curtain grout – Avanti AV-290 Fast-Set
  • Alternative avoided: Exterior excavation and reconstruction

Concrete below grade or holding back water sits under constant hydraulic pressure from the outside. When that concrete cracks, water finds the path and pushes through. The conventional fix is major: excavate the exterior, expose the wall, and reseal or rebuild it. That means heavy equipment, long downtime, and significant cost. This customer did not know another option existed.

New Kent used crack injection, pumping stabilization grout from inside the structure through the concrete and out to the exterior face, sealing the leak at its source.

Why it is a search-and-rescue job

Water is opportunistic. As each leak is sealed, the pressure finds the next weakest point, so the crew has to chase and seal leak after leak until the structure is tight. It takes a trained hand to do this quickly and completely. Crack injection is an uncommon trade, and most coating contractors do not offer it at all, which is why customers are often surprised the repair can be done from the inside without touching the exterior.

  • The active leaks were sealed from the inside
  • No exterior excavation and no reconstruction were required
  • The customer avoided the cost and downtime of rebuilding the structure
  • A repair the customer did not know was possible solved the problem in place

Corrosion-Resistant Coating That Outlasts Steel in Roll-Off Compactors

In brief: A South Carolina operator was replacing corroded roll-off compactors on repeat. New Kent Coatings lined the interiors with a coating built for caustic service, stopping the leaks and costing a fraction of rebuilding the steel. The operator is now moving to coat the whole fleet.

Project snapshot

  • Location: Columbia, South Carolina 
  • Client: Roll-off trash compactor operator
  • Structure: Compactor interiors, steel
  • Problem material: Caustic liquids, mostly sugars
  • Scope: Interior corrosion-resistant coating
  • Result: First units successful, full fleet planned 

This operator’s roll-off compactors were failing the same way over and over. Caustic liquids, mostly sugars, were corroding the steel from the inside and leaking out onto customers’ concrete and asphalt loading docks. The operator had tried everything to reinforce the units and kept arriving at the same expensive answer: replace or rebuild the steel. Beyond the hardware cost, every leak onto a customer’s dock was a service problem waiting to happen.

New Kent applied an interior coating engineered to withstand that caustic, sugar-heavy material for years, turning a corroding steel box into a protected one.

Why this surprised the customer

Most operators assume no coating survives that kind of chemical exposure and that steel replacement is the only path. It is not. The coating holds up in the service environment and costs a fraction of repeatedly rebuilding compactor steel, while sealing off the leaks that were reaching customer property.

  • The first coated units performed well enough that the operator is planning to coat the entire fleet
  • The coating costs far less than repeated steel replacement (figures — verify)
  • Caustic leaks onto customers’ loading docks were eliminated
  • A recurring hardware expense became a one-time protective treatment

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