Painting a Facing
Technical Bulletin No. 3

Painting FSK and PSK Facings

FSK, PSK and ASJ facings have been successfully painted with water based, oil based and solvent based paints.  Facing surfaces should be wiped clean and free from contamination.  All seams must be sealed and any holes in the facing must be repaired prior to painting.  Interior water based acrylic paints are usually used for FSK and PSK faced insulation.  All paints should be tested for adhesion and flexibility before using. 
Tests can be conducted as follows:

Adhesion:

Brush apply 1 or 2 coats of the test paint to several one sq. ft.  pieces of the facing and allow to dry for one to two days at room temperature.   When dry, apply masking tape over the painted surface and rub well to insure intimate contact.   Check adhesion by removing the masking tape at both slow and fast speed.  If the paint film cannot be removed with the masking tape, the adhesion is good.  The paint adhesion is satisfactory if the paint film comes off with the masking tape and provides some resistance to removal (similar to removing masking tape on painted walls at home).  The adhesion is not satisfactory if the paint film is removed easily with little or no resistance.

Flexibility:

Brush apply test paint and allow to dry as above.  When dry, crumble the painted facing into a tight round ball as though you were going to throw it into the waste basket.  Then immediately unroll to its original flat shape.  The paint should be flexible and not crack or flake off during this test.  The facing is a flexible membrane and will elongate or shrink with changes in temperature and humidity. The paint must be flexible and remain adhered to the facing during changes in temperature and humidity.

It should be noted that painting may impact the fire performance of the faced insulation.  Since all paints are different and Lamtec has no control over the selection or application of the specific paint, we make no claims with respect to the performance facing once painted.