The Coating Inspector's Handbook
The Coating Inspector's Handbook (R7.0, by Tom Swan of MTEST) is a free 10-section field reference covering the full coating verification chain: humidity and dew point, surface profile, visual cleanliness, invisible contaminants, wet and dry film thickness, holiday testing, and peel and tensile adhesion.
The Coating Inspector's Handbook (R7.0) is a working reference by Tom Swan of MTEST — written, in his words, not to turn you into a coating inspector but to be the resource a trained inspector reaches for when standards, instruments and coating systems keep changing. Ten sections cover the full verification chain, from climate readings before work starts to adhesion testing after cure.
Download the handbook (PDF, free) ↓
What's inside — the 10 sections
- Inspection. The inspector's role and workflow: what to verify at each hold point, documentation, and the project preparation checklist the handbook includes.
- Relative humidity & dew point in the field. Wet bulb, dry bulb, RH and dew point explained; sling psychrometers vs electronic meters (per ASTM E337), typical project limits — RH below 85% and a minimum 5°F surface-to-dew-point spread — and where measurement accuracy actually matters.
- Surface preparation: profile. Measuring the anchor profile on prepared steel — methods, instruments and how profile requirements tie back to the coating specification.
- Surface preparation: visual cleanliness. Assessing cleanliness grades visually against recognized standards before coating.
- Invisible contaminants. Salts and other contamination you can't see: why they cause failures and how to test for them.
- Wet film thickness (WFT). Measuring WFT during application, plus a sub-section on mixing and thinning.
- Dry film thickness (DFT). Nondestructive DFT measurement — and a dedicated sub-section on measuring coatings on concrete.
- Holiday (porosity) testing. Detecting pinholes and discontinuities in the applied coating.
- Tape (peel) adhesion. Peel-based adhesion testing: method and interpretation.
- Tensile adhesion. Pull-off adhesion testing to quantify bond strength.
Who it's for
Trained coating inspectors, QA/QC personnel and applicators who need current, standards-referenced testing practice in one document. It pairs with the M-TESTCO® instrument range, which covers the equipment the handbook's tests call for — and if you want the instrument catalogue rather than the handbook, it's here.