Bund Wall Lining
Bund wall lining is the chemically resistant, impermeable coating applied to the vertical faces of a bund wall, the engineered perimeter built around a tank, vessel or storage area. It works alongside bund floor lining and expansion joint detailing to form a continuous containment envelope that holds any escaped liquid safely.
What is Bund Wall Lining?
A bund wall is the concrete or masonry barrier built around a primary storage vessel to catch spills, leaks or overflows. Bund wall lining is the protective layer bonded to it, usually a multi coat resin system that makes the wall chemically resistant and impermeable. Untreated concrete is porous and degrades over time. Lined, the wall performs as part of a compliant containment system across its full design life.
When is Bund Wall Lining Required?
Common Bund Wall Lining Structures
Concrete bunding walls surrounding bulk storage tanks
Bund walls for oil tanks and heating oil installations
Fuel tank bund walls at depots, generator compounds and standby plant
Reinforced concrete bund walls around process vessels
Masonry and blockwork bund walls at smaller facilities
Precast concrete bund wall panels
Dwarf walls around drum and IBC storage areas
Walls to tanker offloading and loading bays
Chemical dosing enclosure walls
Internal walls subdividing compartmented bunds
Pit and sump walls within process areas
Bund Wall Lining System Performance Requirements
Recommended Bund Wall Lining Systems
The right resin for a bund wall depends on chemistry, temperature and how the vertical face is loaded: splash exposure in normal operation, hydrostatic load when the bund holds a spill, and weathering at the top edge. We specify from a range of proven systems.
Epoxy Resins
A core material for vertical hydrocarbon and dilute chemical duty. Modern thixotropic epoxies build to film thickness on a vertical face without sag, suiting most bund walls for oil tanks where splash and intermittent hydrostatic loading dominate.
Polyurethane Resins
The natural choice for external bund walls. PU absorbs the movement between a sun warmed outer face and a cooler inner face, copes with rainwater at the top edge, and bridges the fine cracking that shows first along a wall's vertical run.
Polyurea Resins
Rapid cure systems that reline a full bund wall in one mobilisation, walked on within hours and back in service the same day. Their toughness suits walls taking impact from tanker arms, drum handling and forklifts at the base.
Vinyl Ester Resins
Specified where the wall sees concentrated acid splash during decanting, loading or transfer. Vinyl esters hold up at the upper inner face where standard epoxies blister or soften, and outperform across the splash zone of an acid bund wall.
Novolac Epoxy Resin
Uprated chemistry for hot solvent vapour, high concentration acid splash and elevated service temperatures. Specified where the inner wall face sits above a heated tank or meets aggressive vapour rising through the bund.
Recommended Bund Wall Build Up Methods
Vertical work has its own demands: film thickness without sag, top edge weathering, formwork defects in the concrete and access from MEWP or scaffold. Every method below is shaped around them.
Surface Preparation
Vertical prep differs from a floor on access, dust control and waste capture. We blast or grind from MEWP or scaffold, contain debris falling to the bund floor, and strip laitance, form release and carbonated layers before priming.
Lining and Levelling
Addressing the defects of poured concrete walls: honeycombing, blow holes, form release residue and tie marks. The face is made flat enough for a thixotropic film to build cleanly before the chemical resistant coats go on.
Protective Coatings
Multi coat systems applied with sag and lap line control in mind. We work top down to manage runs, hold film thickness evenly across the wall height, and feather laps so the inner face reads as one continuous coating from cove to crest.
Bund Lining Repairs
Wall-only remediation where the floor below is sound. Typical work includes reinstating splash-damaged upper inner faces, repairing weathered top-of-wall sections, and patching localised
Trowel Applied Mortar Systems
High build mortars used selectively: rebuilding spalled top of wall edges, repairing kicker damage at the base, and reinstating splash zones where tanker arm impact or chemical contact has eaten back the face.
Site Fabrication
For elements standard sections do not cover: fabricated top of wall caps, drip flashings, tank to wall interface plates at the vessel skirt, and bespoke profiles around steelwork and pipework that pierce the face.
Key Bund Wall Design and Detailing Considerations
Bund Wall Lining Regulatory Compliance
Bund wall lining sits within a broad UK regulatory framework, and the specification should evidence compliance from day one. The principal obligations are:
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Speak to our technical specialists about your bund lining requirements. Free, no-obligation site surveys available nationwide.
Bund Wall Lining FAQs
A correctly specified, properly applied and well-maintained bund wall lining typically delivers 15–25 years of compliant service across most UK industrial duties. Top-of-wall and splash-zone areas tend to sit at the lower end of that range, while the main vertical face often outlasts the surrounding asset infrastructure.
Yes, every bund wall lining we install is specified to the substance, substrate, wall geometry, regulatory framework and operational constraints of the specific asset. Resin chemistry, film thickness, top-of-wall detailing and splash-zone treatment are all tuned to the site rather than picked from a standard package.
Yes, bund wall lining is routinely specified for outdoor service across tank farms, transformer compounds, fuel depots and external chemical storage. We use UV-stable polyurethane or aliphatic topcoats over the body coat to handle weathering, freeze-thaw at the top edge, and the thermal differential between sun-warmed outer and cooler inner faces.
Yes, provided the damage is addressed before the lining goes on. Broken arrises, cracks, blowholes and chemically attacked concrete are reinstated with compatible polymer mortar, and the substrate is prepared back to sound material before priming. Lining straight over damaged concrete without proper substrate repair guarantees premature failure.
Bund wall lining is vertical work, applied with thixotropic, sag-resistant materials worked top-down, with reinforcement at top edges and re-entrant corners. Whereas bund floor lining is horizontal, often self-smoothing, with falls and slip-resistant aggregate broadcast for foot and plant traffic. The chemistry can be the same, but the application discipline and detail focus are quite different.
Often yes, wall-only work can usually be staged into planned outages, weekend windows or duty/standby rotations without disturbing the floor below, and rapid-cure systems return the wall to service inside 24–48 hours where downtime is critical. Where adjacent live plant rules out access from below, we work from MEWP or scaffold to keep the wider asset operational.
Most bund wall lining projects complete in three to seven working days, including substrate preparation, application and cure, with rapid-cure polyurea systems compressing this further on time-critical assets. Larger tank farm walls and multi-bund estates typically run from one to three weeks depending on scope, height and access.
Featured Case Studies
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Speak to our technical specialists about your bund lining requirements. Free, no-obligation site surveys available nationwide.
