Trump order to paint border wall black could drive up cost $500 million or more

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

President Trump is once more pushing to have his border wall painted black, a design change that is projected to add at least $500 million in costs, according to government contracting estimates obtained by The Washington Post.

The president’s determination to have the steel bollards coated in black has fluctuated during the past several years, and military commanders and border officials believed as recently as last fall that they had finally talked him out of it. They consider the black paint unnecessary, costly and a significant long-term maintenance burden, and they left it out of the original U.S. Customs and Border Protection design specifications.

Trump has not let go of the idea, insisting that the dark color will enhance its forbidding appearance and leave the steel too hot to touch during summer months. During a border wall meeting at the White House last month amid the coronavirus pandemic, the president told Jared Kushner and aides to move forward with the paint job and to seek out cost estimates, according to four administration officials with knowledge of the meeting.

“POTUS has changed his mind and now wants the fence painted. We are modifying contracts to add,” said one official involved in the construction effort who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being fired.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-border-wall-black-paint/2020/05/06/dbda8ae4-8eff-11ea-8df0-ee33c3f5b0d6_story.html

[milestogo]

1. Yeah, we've got money to burn right now.

[Warpy]

41. At least he didn't insist on gilding it

with decorative marble over the posts.

That ugly black scar on our southern border is the perfect monument to that man.

[Mopar151]

43. Never been anywhere honest work is done!

Because a little "junkyard physics" observation will show that rusty metal stays far cooler than shiny chrome, in direct sunlight. The limiting factor is how much heat the surface will radiate (over 24 hours), vs. how much heat is absorbed from the hours of direct sunlight!
Time for some guerrilla "Mythbusters"!

[Warpy]

44. Chrome, bent to focus heat to the south

sort of like that parabolic building in London that tended to fry people on the sidewalk on sunny days. I'm surprised he didn't think of that one.

In the meantime, sections have already been taken out with battery operated Sawzalls. Wait until they discover what a little liquid nitrogen can do!

[Mopar151]

47. Bid the deal out to the Mexican scrappers, in small sections.

cut level to the ground, a post left, or re-affixed, for standard 5' chain link, or to mark the remaining foundation. Site left "broom clean" at completion, fade the US Gov't 15% of the proceeds back, just so's we can keep track of the whole deal.

[Bengus81]

2. Come on Trump,order it electrified with 220V at say....30 amps

Happy now?

[Miguelito Loveless]

18. Tish tosh!

Build a coal-fired plant to electrify it at 1000 amps and 10,000 volts.

[Lulu KC]

19. Surprised he didn't do this ages ago!

^^^^ and as I typed this reply title in, it autofilled. Of course.

[hatrack]

3. Why not post some Orcs and just go full Mordor, while you're at it?

Oh, I forgot, we don't need Orcs, we have ICE.

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. To save the cost, Trump could announce that companies could paint their advertisements on...

it. It would save the taxpayers $$ and it would be easy for consumers to see clearly which companies to boycott.

Win Win.

[alp227]

5. Trump sees a border wall and wants it to turn black

(sorry)

[doc03]

6. Not gold?

[genxlib]

7. Which will fade to gray in six months in the sun

And yeah it will be hot...in the middle of the afternoon. But what about dawn or the middle of the night?

Few hundred million here, a few hundred million there. Pretty soon you are talking about real money.

[Mopar151]

45. He's wrong on the physics!

Rust stays cooler than chrome, in the junkyard. Easiest way to get him off this (I've worked for idiots before...) is to tell him that a test of the paint systems is needed to pick the "best" one,

Make sure the test is done on the real "Trumpwall" segments, in place, in large, squarish sections, sufficently spaced to avoid thermal conductivity issues. Then summon the whole rotten RW Media out for an "EMBED" with the industrial media blasting / bridge painting crews doing the prep work. Make sure the shitflakes have NO PPE, and put 'em next to the guys in the moonsuits. 50 miles out of town, with no shower or clean clothes.

[TXPaganBanker]

8. Has he never heard of gloves???

n/t

[Bengus81]

26. Or ladders?? Wait...those would be in the "work" category.

Which that fat POS hasn't done ONE day of in his fucked up life.............

[left-of-center2012]

9. Doesn't steel get damn HOT in the desert Sun, paint or no paint?

[Mopar151]

46. Shiny chrome gets hotter!

Junkyard physics....

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

49. He could upholster the wall in black vinyl.

Those car seats got very hot in the sun.

[dalton99a]

10. We can be thankful he didn't order gold trimmings

[Cracklin Charlie]

11. Who is wanting to sell him the paint?

That would be a large contract. You know there’s a crony nearby.

[TimeToGo]

13. And, there it is. Exactly.

[Bayard]

14. First thing I thought of

He must have a buddy in the paint business, or at least someone willing to shovel over a kickback.

[Lulu KC]

20. Aha! n/t

[pandr32]

35. Yup

[notdarkyet]

12. The wall is coming down as soon as trump loses the election. Giant waste of money which I

Believe is his goal. He wants to break us and is doing his damnest.

[not fooled]

40. Crazy whim of the emperor

on full display.

[tanyev]

15. Oh lordy, he just wants to play Paint It Black at his pep rallies.

[LiberalArkie]

28. The Stones will not let him play 2 notes of any of their tunes.

[Totally Tunsie]

36. He already does - at the end of every rally.

[benld74]

16. Just leave as is, take pix, photoshop the pix, 'Voila!!

[Newest Reality]

17. If the house was on fire...

If the house was on fire, first thing I would do is start looking at paint chips and think about what color to paint it.

[machoneman]

21. All prevoius posters missed the point: he ordered the paint so every 50' or so a paint mask.....

upon removal will reveal the words "TRUMP'S WALL" in 6' tall letters.

Just watch.................................

[Canoe52]

22. White graffiti paint will really stand out on black.

[winstars]

23. The Rolling Stones again? Whats with this idiot...

[BlueIdaho]

24. Lots of big problems today

Wondering about what color to paint an imaginary wall isn’t one of them.

[Submariner]

25. Why bother? We'll have Joe tear it down starting next January anyway

the steel can be better used elsewhere.

[Totally Tunsie]

37. I picture Joe having a slightly revised Ray-gun moment:

"Mr. trump, We tear down your wall!"

[Mendocino]

27. There is a reason not to paint steel.

The New River Gorge Bridge was designed using US Corten Steel. It rusts but once, then stops corroding. It is not necessary ever to paint it. Most bridges like the Golden Gate or Mackinac are always in the state of being painted indefinitely. I don't know what kind of steel is being used in the wall, but I bet its from the Kushner Steel Works with Paints By Ivanka.

[LiberalArkie]

31. COR-TEN steel

Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericized trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance after several years' exposure to weather.

[nilesobek]

29. Gestapo paint job for that authoritative look.

[marble falls]

30. Let alone the fact they'll be hiring undocumented workers to actually do the painting ...

with tons of kick back bucks for all the non participants.

[robbob]

32. What next? Painting the white tulips red?

He’s out of his mind.

[Historic NY]

33. Let Mexico paint it.

What the hell makes him think that they going to climb the fence in 100+ degree weather. A couple of years and it will be rusty.

[lagomorph777]

39. Oh they will and it will look really cool!

On the south side.

[gab13by13]

34. I have yet to get an answer to this question,

why does everyone continue to call a fence a wall?

[lagomorph777]

38. He took his advice from the Rolling Stones.

Probably not as bad as Stephen Miller though.

[jmowreader]

42. You know what needs to be done with the steel

After Joe wins the election, we tear out all this steel Trump had erected, and build a new ship for the Navy out of it.

It will be named the USNS Donald J. Trump.

It will be a garbage scow.

It will be commanded by a Petty Officer Second Class (the same rank as an Army sergeant).

And it will be crewed by inmates from the Norfolk Naval Station brig.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

48. Good. If he's focused on painting his Ego Wall he'll forget about repainting AF One.

Even though the law prevents a president from ordering a new paint scheme until his second term, we know how effective laws have been at keeping Fat Donnie from doing whatever the hell he wants.

On a practical matter, how many N95 masks could the VA obtain for $500 million?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

50. I don't want to give the Mexican drug smugglers any ideas, but ...

... what if they made the crossing at dawn, dusk, or night? Maybe the wall wouldn't be so hot.

Think they thought of that?