# Operating Room Wall & Ceiling Finish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Archive - Product Discussions #3\ **Created:** [April 6, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778 "2007-04-06T21:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bwoodburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@bwoodburn](https://forum.4specs.com/u/bwoodburn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/1 "2007-04-06T21:16:15Z")
What’s the best finish for gyp board operating room walls and ceilings–High-gloss, low-VOC, anti-microbial, waterborne epoxy? Something else? A particular brand and product (and primer)? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![awhitacre](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex047/user_avatar/forum.4specs.com/awhitacre/32/117_2.png) [@awhitacre](https://forum.4specs.com/u/awhitacre)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/2 "2007-04-06T22:23:34Z")
first task is to speak to the Owner’s maintenance people. I’ve done work in hospitals that had a variety of requirements ranging from glazed type finishes to simply a low gloss paint. In some health care environments, they are on such a regular repaint schedule that they don’t need anything particularly scrubbable – and your normal low-odor latex will do just fine because they will do maintenance and repaint in two years. you probably don’t want high gloss anything – too much reflectivity, especially for all the imaging equipment and the use of scopes and lights. anti-microbial doesn’t matter, again because the surfaces will be washed down. epoxy is probably overkill and I haven’t specified it in at least 2 decades. ---
**Author:** ![bunzick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@bunzick](https://forum.4specs.com/u/bunzick)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/3 "2007-04-09T12:42:13Z")
Plus, according to a recent conversation I had with a paint chemist at MPI, most water-borne epoxies on the market do not perform as well as the high performance latex systems. ---
**Author:** ![wyancey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@wyancey](https://forum.4specs.com/u/wyancey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/4 "2007-04-09T16:22:06Z")
Bob, I agree with Anne. You should first ask the facilities maintenance staff. Last surgical suites I did used a seamless sheet goods on floor/base and walls to hard lid ceiling. The seams were heat welded with color matching welding rod for seamless end result. Product was made for clean room type environments. In my project all was white. I cannot remember the brand name of the product but will attempt to find out. Tarkett comes to mind but I cannot be sure. ---
**Author:** ![redseca2](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex047/user_avatar/forum.4specs.com/redseca2/32/50_2.png) [@redseca2](https://forum.4specs.com/u/redseca2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/5 "2007-04-09T16:51:23Z")
A majority of our work is in healthcare. As previous posters have noted, there is a range of finish options out there, from washable latex finishes up to very high build multi-part products from companies like General Polymers that form soft radius inside corners at wall to ceiling (and floor) joints. The latter come into play where the possibility of infection needs to be kept at an absolute minimum, and would be typical for open heart surgery and transplant surgery environments. In any case, you will need a scrubable surface. Some posters note that a simple finish may be acceptable because the hospital will frequently repaint. This may or may not be true. Hospital real estate is so valuable that each organization needs to weigh the pros and cons of different life cycle cost options. ---
**Author:** ![wyancey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@wyancey](https://forum.4specs.com/u/wyancey)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/6 "2007-04-13T18:18:10Z")
Bob, Eureka, I’ve found it. Product on the floor/base is Tarkett Optima; the walls are Altro Whiterock in color white, all heat welded (floor to base; base to walls). Internal corners in Whiterock are thermal moulded on site for form a radius; external corners are thermal molded over a bullnose drywall trim. Not many external corners. Some planning required to control joint locations in close proximity to corners. I hope this is not to late. Wayne P.S. Altro is the same company that makes safety flooring. ---
**Author:** ![spirozzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@spirozzi](https://forum.4specs.com/u/spirozzi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/7 "2007-04-13T23:53:32Z")
Bob, As an approved equal to the Altro system, you may also want to consider Isoltech’s product line: [http://www.techtonics.com/isoltech.html](http://www.techtonics.com/isoltech.html) ---
**Author:** ![bwoodburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@bwoodburn](https://forum.4specs.com/u/bwoodburn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://forum.4specs.com/t/operating-room-wall-ceiling-finish/778/8 "2007-04-16T19:49:10Z")
Thank you all for your suggestions, though there appears to be no consensus, and the list of viable options appears to be longer and more varied than I might have guessed. I’ll mull them over…