MPI Update

More Than a Finish: Why Coatings Specifications Matter

On a commercial project, the painting specification is one consideration among many. It’s easy to treat it as an aesthetic decision about color and sheen. But the coating system you specify does more than finish the surface. It protects the substrate, and it determines how long that surface will perform before it needs attention again.

Get the system wrong, and the result is premature failure, costly rework, and a shorter lifecycle for the asset underneath. Get it right, and the coating does its job for years. That’s why MPI built the online specification manuals and the Decision Tree, and why the best specifications use both.

Coatings Are a Performance Decision
Every substrate behaves differently. Galvanized steel, concrete block, wood, and gypsum board each come with their own durability challenges, and the right system for one can fail on another. Location matters, too. A high-traffic public corridor demands more from a coating than a low-use storage room.

The MPI manuals are organized around this reality. Systems are grouped by substrate, with numbering that follows MasterFormat, and each system includes a description of uses, limitations, and benefits relative to that substrate. For example, High Performance Architectural Coatings (HIPAC) systems are identified for areas that need maximum lifecycle performance, such as public, high-traffic, and commercial spaces. Systems are generally offered in “Budget” and “Premium” grades, and these grades restrict product options to specific MPI product categories, so the products you choose meet a defined quality requirement.

Get More from Online Manuals
The Architectural Painting Specification Manual (ASM) covers new construction. It contains the information you need to evaluate paint products, select painting systems, select the necessary surface preparation, and assemble a painting specification.

The Repainting Specification Manual (RSM) covers maintenance and repainting. It starts with identifying existing defects and failures and assessing the Degree of Surface Degradation (DSD). That assessment guides the surface preparation and level of priming the project requires.
Both manuals include:

• Systems and system evaluations for interior and exterior surfaces, listed in descending order of performance, with links to approved products in each category
• Surface preparation guidance by substrate, including potential painting challenges and how to test for them
• Guide specifications, including long-form and short-form painting specifications
• Responsibilities, standards, and quality assurance information to help reduce conflict between project parties

The online versions are always current and searchable. You can save your selected systems and products and download the MPI Guide Specification.

Don’t Forget the Decision Tree
The MPI Decision Tree™ takes the systems and information from the online manuals and compiles them into a guided, step-by-step process. There are two tools:

• MPI Architectural Painting Decision Tree™ for new-build architectural and commercial coatings projects
• MPI Restoration Repainting Decision Tree™ for repainting and restoration projects

As you click through the prompts, the tool factors in your project variables, including critical environmental conditions, and leads you to suitable system choices. It then identifies the required products from the MPI APL. The result is a tailored specification and an editable paint finishing schedule you can download and export into the MPI Guide Specification. It saves time, captures project details, and helps reduce the risk of costly coating failures.

Why Use Both?
The Decision Tree tools tell you what products fit your needs. The manuals tell you why, and give you the detailed information to back up your decision.
The tools streamline your selection process, but the manuals hold the substrate information, system limitations, surface preparation requirements, and appendices that a long-term finish depends on.

MPI recommends that once a system is selected, review the surface preparation section so any pertinent data can be transferred to the specification. MPI manuals are designed so that all chapters and sections are used together, not out of context.

When used together, the manuals and the Decision Tree tools give you the speed of a guided tool and the depth of a complete technical reference. That’s how you get the highest quality result.

A Best-Practice Workflow

1. Start with the substrate. Review the Evaluation of Systems section in the ASM or RSM to understand the substrate and the uses, limitations, and benefits of each system.
2. For repaints, assess first. Use the RSM to identify defects and failures and assign a DSD level before choosing a system.
3. Run the Decision Tree. Work through the prompts for your project variables and environmental conditions to reach the right systems and APL products.
4. Review surface preparation. Return to the manual’s surface preparation section and transfer the pertinent requirements into your specification.
5. Finalize the specification. Export your results into the MPI Guide Specification and finishing schedule, and confirm product selections against the current APL.
6. Plan for quality assurance. Where available, a regional quality assurance program can support specification development, on-site inspection, and final sign-off.

Coatings are just one section of your specification, but they protect everything they cover. Explore the newly relaunched online ASM and online RSM, and try the MPI Decision Tree™ tools, including the interactive demos.

MPI Training Pass results

Congratulations to the Latest MPI Certified Students

Essentials of Paint and Painting Technology

• James Koulouris, John W. Egan Co. Inc.
• Laurence Gelinas, Benjamin Moore
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• Adrian Yarde, Harris Paints
• Jamar Weller, BH PAINTS
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• O'rnell McKenzie, Harris Paints
• Alex Doolan, Benjamin Moore
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• Adam Mullett, Benjamin Moore