NLB surface prep equipment helps BNY Mellon Center earn Project of the Year Award

NLB surface prep equipment helps BNY Mellon Center earn Project of the Year Award
Surface prep on the 30-foot panels covering the BNY Mellon Center was done in place with VertaJet units from NLB.

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A major surface preparation project that overcame many challenges with the help of NLB waterjetting equipment was honored February 20 by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania as the Remediation Engineering Project of the Year. 

A variety of issues complicated the BNY Mellon Center project in downtown Pittsburgh. First was the surface itself: the building is covered with 30-foot painted steel panels that could not be removed, and had to be stripped and repainted in place. Other complications included continuous work on a 54-story building while protecting the continuous traffic below (thousands of pedestrians and vehicles every day), and minimizing noise and disruption for employees working in the building and guests at the hotel across the street. 

Contractor Burchick Construction of Pittsburgh chose to remove the rust and old coatings with ultra-high-pressure (UHP) waterjetting equipment from NLB Corp., which works quickly and leaves an excellent surface for recoating without any abrasive media that could harm passing pedestrians, vehicles or the environment. 

Burchick personnel used custom HydroPrep waterjetting tools from NLB, with three NLB Series 40225E pump units to supply the ultra-high pressure (40,000 psi) water. These electric units were set up in the building’s garage to minimize noise, with the water fed up through the building and recovered after the jetting operation to be filtered and used again. 

Some of the waterjetting was done with hand lances and some with semi-automated VertaJet SRT-6-LT units, which remove corrosion and coatings with patented rotating water jets in a 6-inch path. These units feature vacuum recovery that eliminates the need for containment and are typically handheld with vacuum attachment to the surface to reduce strain on the operator. NLB also supplied custom high-pressure waterjetting tools that were mounted in custom frames fitted to the building facade. 

The waterjetting equipment experienced virtually no downtime, thanks to proactive maintenance by Burdick. 

NLB Corp. a global leader in high-pressure and ultra-high pressure water jet systems, manufactures a full line of quality water jetting pump units and accessories for contractor and industrial uses. Applications include surface preparation, product removal, tube and pipe cleaning, drill pipe cleaning, pavement marking and rubber removal, tank cleaning, tube bundle cleaning, concrete hydrodemolition, concrete and pipe cutting, and more.



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