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Protection of stainless on a construction site

Q. Hi,
We are supplying stainless steel fabricated products to the Middle East now for the past year and our products are exposed on a construction site that will have contaminants flying through the air for possibly 12 months more. Rusty rebar lying nearby & possibly mild steel being cut in the area - along with strong winds, high temperature (over 40 °C regularly from April to October, high humidity (over 75% at dawn) and high salt content in the air as it is land reclaimed from the sea, sandy/dusty content in the air as well.

Now, what I want to do is protect the engraved corners of my manholes (we are supplying recessed manholes in stainless steel for the paved areas of the streetscape, with nice lettering laser cut in them identifying the water or electric utilities that own them). These corners can get scratched or concrete splashed or just generally not looked after properly on site & I have to accept that the site will be this way so I want to help my customer protect these for a year after installation but still during the construction phase.

In UK we put industrial masking tape on & it is great - just peel it off after a few months. Here in the Middle East are afraid of the tape adhesive degrading and we could have a bigger mess trying to remove a glue and broken down tape.

Have you any advice on what to use? I have tried 3M and they don't have any tape to recommend.

Some of you in hotter countries (than Ireland!) might have some good experience you could share

Shane Curtin
Sales Director - Stainless Fabrication Company - Wexford, Ireland
January 6, 2012