By Ronald Vantricht – coating consultant ATS Sprl

Can’t be done? Think again!

There is a general consensus amongst coating professionals that Polyurea is a great product, but difficult to apply. Because of this, it is rated suited for functional applications such as waterproofing and industrial flooring. No one would try to use Polyurea to coat anything with highly aesthetical purposes such as design furniture… No one?

Mad labs

Being the size of a rather large city, Belgium becomes a lab for many new services and products introduced on the EU market.  Usually it is the first place where things are tried out, before introduction on a bigger scale, permitting fine tuning the product and / or marketing strategy. Not only the small size, but the interesting make-up of the Belgian population accounts for that. Nothing different for Polyurea. Fifteen to twenty years ago, pioneers introduced Polyurea on the Belgian market. Most disappeared soon, some were here to stay.

Master

Like everywhere else Polyurea was introduced as the miracle everybody had been waiting for: it sticks on anything, with no surface prep and all other fables that lead to misfortune for early believers. Since then, the product, delivery machines and minds have got better. Polyurea is still hard to apply, harder than most coatings, until you get the hang of it. But a lot has improved, for, creative or not, those Belgians couldn’t do what they do without proper tools. With Imexfa’s products, and the experience of the Brussels based formulator Mr. Alain Descampe, the tools are made available. Masterly managing pressure, stand off distance, temperature, setting time, chamber choice and most of a all skill and patience make a lot possible.

Reception desk to shower

Since a couple of years, trends in design have taken us back to the sixties when plastic was great. In later years “plastic”  became synonymous for “fake”. But plastic is back ! Since Polyurea is spray-on plastic, and it can be sprayed on wood, foam, brick, why not use it in offices, as reception desks, or chairs? Ultra light, super strong design furniture is not only a possibility, it is made here in Belgium and it looks great!