If your facility has rusting equipment, peeling coatings, or rising maintenance costs, it’s time to act. Neglected surfaces lead to asset deterioration, safety violations, and unplanned downtime. All of which disrupt operations and hit your bottom line.
At Roe Painting, we’ve helped industrial sites fix these exact issues before they became five or six-figure problems.
In this article, we’ll break down the top five problems that occur when industrial coatings are missing, aging, or misapplied and what you can do to stop them. Whether you manage a plant, mine, warehouse, utility company, or food processing facility, you’ll walk away knowing what to look for and how to protect your assets long-term.
Unchecked corrosion leads to costly repairs, safety risks, and shortened equipment lifespan.
Industrial facilities often battle rust and corrosion due to constant exposure to moisture, chemicals, or abrasive materials. When protective coatings wear down—or weren’t applied correctly in the first place—metal structures, machinery, and even support beams can begin to fail.
Not only does this create safety concerns, but it can also result in surprise shutdowns, equipment replacements, and increased insurance scrutiny. The longer corrosion goes unaddressed, the more expensive it becomes to fix.
At Roe Painting, clients often come to us after structural issues have started. But the right industrial coatings applied at the right time can prevent corrosion, saving you from reactive costs and future facility disruptions.
Damaged or outdated coatings can put your facility out of compliance and your people in danger.
In industrial environments, safety markings, non-slip floors, and chemical-resistant linings aren’t optional. When coatings fade or fail, the risk of slips, equipment mishandling, chemical leaks, or evacuation confusion increases dramatically.
This not only compromises worker safety but can also result in violations from OSHA, the EPA, or your industry’s specific regulatory body. What often looks like a cosmetic issue is actually a high-liability hazard.
Staying on top of your facility’s safety coatings is one of the simplest ways to reduce risk, improve audit readiness, and create a safer work environment, all without major capital investment.
When coatings fail, your equipment doesn’t just look bad; it starts breaking down. Unprotected surfaces exposed to chemicals, moisture, or friction wear out much faster. What starts as minor flaking or rust can evolve into component failures, system inefficiencies, or even complete shutdowns.
The problem is rarely obvious until it's urgent. A tank that suddenly can’t maintain containment, a pipe that corrodes through, or machinery that seizes up due to environmental exposure, all trace back to missing or inadequate protective coatings.
A report by Swiss electrical manufacturer ABB uncovered that two-thirds of the 3,200 global plant leaders surveyed experienced unexpected downtime at least once a month. Each hour of downtime comes in at a staggering cost of $125,000 per hour. The cost per hour varies by industry, with the automotive industry losing a shocking $2.3 million per sixty minutes of unscheduled downtime.
Preventive coating maintenance may seem like an expense, but it’s far more affordable than losing days or weeks of production due to an avoidable equipment issue.
A facility’s appearance often reflects its operational discipline. When coatings aren’t maintained, it can signal deeper issues to employees, inspectors, and clients, such as neglect, inefficiency, or even safety risks.
Uncoated or degraded surfaces also attract and retain dirt, chemicals, and moisture, making cleaning more difficult and less effective. This increases the risk of contamination in sensitive environments and adds unnecessary wear to floors, walls, and equipment.
A clean and well-maintained environment promotes health and even enhances productivity. Maintaining fresh and functional coatings supports a cleaner workspace, improves team morale, and reinforces that your operation is well-managed and audit-ready.
If your facility struggles with heat retention or cooling costs, your coatings might be to blame. In industrial environments, temperature control is often essential for safety, product integrity, and energy efficiency. When roofs, walls, tanks, and pipes lack proper thermal coatings, your systems work harder, costs rise, and energy is wasted.
Reflective roof coatings can reduce surface temperatures by up to 50°F, significantly lowering cooling demand in hot climates. Similarly, insulating coatings on tanks and piping help maintain stable internal temperatures, reducing the load on HVAC systems or process equipment.
Over time, even small inefficiencies add up to higher utility bills, equipment strain, and uneven operating conditions—all of which can be addressed with the right coating system.
Coating failures start small—surface wear, fading lines, rust spots—but they rarely stay that way. Now that you’ve seen the top five problems that come from neglected industrial coatings, you know exactly what to watch for and why it matters.
These aren’t surface-level issues. They lead to downtime, compliance violations, unnecessary energy costs, and asset deterioration. Problems no industrial operation can afford to ignore.
At Roe Painting, we’ve had years of experience with industrial coatings in food production, mining, utilities, and more. With an AMPP Certified Project Manager on staff, we are ready to help you assess your facility and apply the right solutions for long-term protection.
If you're unsure where your facility stands, the next logical step is a coating assessment. Just request a quote, and we can give you a clear picture of what needs attention and where you can prevent more costly failures down the line.