Painted Steel Casework and Epoxy Resin Work Surfaces for a Multi-Room Fit-Out: Brombergs, Birmingham, Alabama
A multi-room fit-out in Birmingham, Alabama needed durable, chemical resistant work surfaces and storage across several adjoining rooms on a mezzanine level. Labs USA supplied painted steel casework, one inch black epoxy resin countertops and wall shelves, undermount sinks, and the brackets, fillers, and cutouts to tie it all together.
The Situation
Not every project that needs laboratory grade casework is a laboratory. This one was a set of adjoining work and service rooms on a mezzanine level of a Birmingham, Alabama building, fitted out through a general contractor as part of a larger renovation. The rooms needed work surfaces that could take water, cleaning chemicals, and heat, storage that would not sag or swell, and shelving above the counters, in a space where ordinary commercial millwork would have been the default choice.
The reason ordinary millwork was the wrong answer is simple. Wood core casework and plastic laminate tops fail in the same three places every time: the joint behind the backsplash, the drawer boxes that carry weight, and the front edge of the counter where water sits. In a room that gets wiped down daily, that is a five year surface, not a twenty year one.
The layout added its own complication. The scope covered several rooms with multiple elevations in each, sinks in two of them, wall shelving in most of them, and corners where two counter runs met. Multiple rooms mean multiple opportunities to be a quarter inch out, and a mezzanine level means every cabinet, top, and shelf has to get up there through the building’s existing access.
The scope also had to be drawn precisely, because it sat inside a larger construction job. Some elevations were casework, some were shelving only, and at least one canopy hood was out of scope entirely. Getting that boundary written down before fabrication is what prevents the site arguments that delay a general contractor’s schedule.
The Solution
Labs USA supplied the rooms as painted steel laboratory casework with black epoxy resin work surfaces. The base run uses standard laboratory units rather than commercial cabinets: two door base units, four drawer base units, full width drawer units in a twenty five inch deep configuration, and two door sink base units supplied with undermount sink hangers.
The wall storage is worth a closer look because it is the part of a fit-out most often downgraded. Instead of melamine shelves on pins, this scope uses one inch thick black epoxy resin shelves on anochrome double slotted standards with double brackets, plus shelf rests where two shelves meet on a single bracket. Slotted standards mean shelf heights can be changed in minutes without patching the wall, the brackets carry concentrated load at the standard rather than at a plastic pin, and the resin shelf itself is unaffected by water, solvents, or the weight of full containers over time.
Work surfaces are one inch thick black epoxy resin with a four inch high applied curb, bonded with epoxy adhesive so runs read as continuous rather than as butted panels. Epoxy resin was the correct specification here rather than a lighter phenolic: it is non-porous, it will not stain or swell, it tolerates heat and chemical contact, and it is the surface that still looks serviceable after fifteen years of daily wipe down.
Two rooms received undermount sinks, supplied with undermount sink cutouts, one and a half inch resin sink outlets with removable strainers, and service hole cutouts for fittings. Undermount was chosen deliberately: with an undermount basin the counter drains into the bowl with no rim to catch residue, which is the difference between a surface that can be cleaned properly and one that merely looks clean.
The rest of the package is the detail that makes multiple rooms line up. Front and side base fillers close out gaps at walls and between runs, corner front base fillers and corner strut assemblies support the countertop where two runs meet, and each elevation was quoted against its own drawing reference so the installed rooms match the documents. Where an elevation was shelving only, that is exactly what was supplied. The complete package sits in the same family as our standard lab furniture and lab casework programs.
Features
Advantage
The argument for laboratory grade casework outside a laboratory is a cost of ownership argument. A commercial millwork package for these rooms would have been cheaper to buy and would have needed replacing at least once inside the life of the renovation. Painted steel boxes with epoxy resin tops do not have a water failure mode, a swelling failure mode, or a delamination failure mode.
There is a second, less obvious advantage: serviceability. Laboratory casework is built as discrete units. A damaged drawer unit is swapped. A changed workflow means a base unit moves to another wall. A new sink location means one sink base and one top. Built-in millwork has to be demolished to be changed, which is why fit-outs done in millwork tend to be done once and then lived with.
The third is finish consistency. Painted steel casework carries a chemically cured finish in a standard color range, with interiors finished to match. That means an addition in three years looks like the original rather than like an approximate match, which is rarely true of custom millwork.
Labs USA specifies this class of product across the full range, from casework and cabinets to work tables, shelving systems, and bench level fume extraction, so a general contractor can carry one specification across a whole set of rooms rather than mixing suppliers.
Benefits
- Non-porous epoxy resin surfaces that do not stain, swell, or delaminate under daily wipe down
- Adjustable epoxy resin wall shelving on slotted standards, changeable without patching walls
- Undermount sinks that let the counter drain into the basin with no rim to trap residue
- Discrete steel units that can be swapped or relocated instead of demolished
- Fillers and corner supports specified up front, so installation was assembly rather than fabrication
- Scope written against elevation references, which kept the casework boundary clear inside a larger renovation
Undermount basins with resin sink outlets and removable strainers: the counter drains into the bowl, the sink base is supplied with hangers to carry it, and the whole assembly is the same chemically inert material as the top.
Return on Investment
The measurable return here is replacement avoided. Plastic laminate on particle core in a room with sinks and daily cleaning is a consumable. Epoxy resin on steel is not. Across several rooms, avoiding one mid-life surface replacement, with the demolition, downtime, and disruption that comes with it, covers most of the difference in first cost.
The second return is installation certainty on a general contractor’s schedule. When fillers, cutouts, corner supports, and adhesive are in the order, the casework crew installs and leaves. When they are not, the crew is cutting on a mezzanine floor in an occupied building, and the finish trades behind them wait.
The third is maintenance labor. Continuous bonded tops with an applied curb, undermount basins, and adjustable shelving on standards are quick to clean and quick to reconfigure. Over years, cleaning time saved every day outweighs the equipment difference on a set of rooms this size.
The fourth is flexibility. Slotted standards mean shelf spacing is a five minute change, not a project. Rooms that can be re-shelved without a contractor tend to get used the way the work actually needs, rather than the way the drawings guessed.
Project Process
Read the Elevations
Quote each elevation against its drawing reference and state what is excluded.
Select Materials
Specify painted steel casework with one inch black epoxy resin tops and shelves.
Detail the Wet Points
Add sink base units with hangers, undermount cutouts, resin outlets, and service holes.
Close Out the Runs
Include front, side, and corner fillers, corner strut assemblies, and adhesive.
Coordinate Delivery
Sequence delivery to the general contractor’s schedule and mezzanine access.
Serving Birmingham and Central Alabama
Birmingham has a deep base of medical, university, industrial, and specialty commercial buildings, and a large share of the casework work there is renovation inside an existing shell rather than new construction. Mezzanine levels, converted upper floors, and buildings from several different eras in the same block are normal, and all of them constrain how casework gets delivered and installed.
That environment rewards two things: a specification that includes its own closeout parts, and a supplier that will quote against the architect’s elevations instead of a generic room. Both were true here. Humidity is the other Alabama factor worth naming. Non-porous epoxy resin surfaces and steel cabinet bodies do not care about seasonal humidity swings, and wood core casework does.
Labs USA supplies casework, work surfaces, shelving, and fume extraction to projects across Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Homewood, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, and Montgomery, working directly with general contractors as well as with end users. Whether the scope is lab casework, lab furniture, or laboratory fume hoods, the estimate is built from the drawings you already have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use laboratory casework in a room that is not a laboratory?
Because the failure modes of commercial millwork are water, chemicals, and load, and those are present in a lot of non-laboratory work rooms. Painted steel casework with resin tops has no wood core to swell, no laminate to delaminate, and drawer hardware rated for laboratory loads, so it lasts through a renovation cycle rather than inside one.
What is the difference between undermount and drop-in sinks?
A drop-in sink sits in the counter with a rim above the surface. An undermount sink is hung below the counter, so the work surface runs into the bowl with no rim. Undermount is easier to clean and better where the counter itself gets wiped down toward the sink, but it requires a sink base with hangers and a properly finished cutout, which were both included here.
How much load will epoxy resin wall shelving carry?
Capacity comes from the standards and brackets, not the shelf. One inch epoxy resin shelves on double slotted standards with double brackets and shelf rests where shelves meet will carry full containers and heavy reference material. Load must land on the standards, which is why bracket spacing and standard placement are specified rather than left to the installer.
Can the scope be limited to part of a room?
Yes, and it should be written that way. In this project some elevations received full casework and others received wall shelving only, with one canopy hood excluded. Stating the boundary on the quote, elevation by elevation, is what keeps a casework package from colliding with the rest of a construction scope.
Are custom finish colors available?
Standard painted steel casework is offered in a standard color range with interiors finished to match. Custom colors are available at additional cost and with a longer lead time, so most projects are better served by selecting from the standard range unless there is a specific design requirement.
Does Labs USA work directly with general contractors?
Yes. Much of our casework work is supplied to a general contractor as a defined package on their schedule, quoted from the architect’s elevations, with delivery sequenced to site access. That is how this multi-room fit-out was handled.
Casework That Outlasts the Renovation
If you are fitting out work rooms that see water, chemicals, or real load, send us the elevations. Labs USA will quote painted steel casework, resin surfaces, shelving, and the closeout details as one package.