Metal Railings - what to paint them with?

[AK]

I have a metal balconette (that's what is was called in the brochure!!) across french doors on the first floor. The house is only 2 1/2 years old and they are really rusty already. I doubt they used the proper paint as it is all falking off. I am going to have them taken down and I'm going to do them myself so I know a good job has been done. I have a couple of questions. Do I have to get all the paint off before I repaint or can I just get off the flakey rusty bits? I intend to use a wire brush attachment on a drill. I was intending to use Hammerite, do I need an undercoat or can I just paint it on directly to the metal? Is there anything else that is better? I want it to last as long as possible so any tips would be helpful

Thanks

Angela

[Rick Dipper]

Angela

I would do as you suggest, the hammertite hammer effect means you don't have to get the metal smooth. I would get off all the loose stuff. The wire brush on the end of the drill will remove amlost anything from anything, so I suggest some saftey glasses and gloves.

Hammerite says on the time, apply directly to rust, you really do have to follow the instrustions regarding times between first and second coat.

Rick

[nightjar]

If you know someone with a grit blaster, it will do a much better job. You should try to get off all the old paint, as anything you apply on top is only going to be as good as the bond between the old paint and the metal and you don't know how good that is.

Hammerite works best if painted directly onto rusty metal, slightly less well if painted onto bright metal and can be quite poor if painted onto existing paint. Smooth Hammerite generally gives a better finish than the traditional hammer finish. Do follow the instructions about times between coats very carefully.

Marine grade epoxy paint for steel. That is designed to protect steel immersed in sea water for long periods. However, it may take a bit of finding and is far from cheap.

Another alternative is to find a company that will powder coat the metal for you. The problem is that the powder coating companies usually don't like doing small jobs. Again, not cheap, but I had my garden furniture done that way about seven years ago and it is still in first class condition.

Colin Bignell

[Andy Dingley]

I wouldn't use powder coating on a gate. The problem is that powder coating tends to split on the edges, then it acts as a moisture retainer and the metal rusts beneath it. It looks good, but one day the whole lot starts to fall off. Much depends on your powder coater

- the cowboys use a thin coat that's especially thin on the edges. For a gate that's likely to get kicked open, I'd really expect an early failure where it gets mechanical wear.

Last powder coating I had done (10 years old now) took me ages to prepare because I ground all the edges down to 45° chamfers, However it's lasting better than any other powder coating I've had done.

Hot dip galv is the only really good solution to railing though. Costs you about 50 quid for a minimum order charge, btu that;'s a fair bit of railing.

My favourite paint here is real truck chassis paint, a recipe akin to original Pontypool Japan (mine is Leyland). There's a lot of asphalt in it, so it's only in black, not glossy, but it does stay flexible and resists damage. It also has the advantage that you can just paint it onto railings in situ.

Hammerite, as ever, is rubbish. Smoothrite is nearly as bad. They have minimal adhesion and they're too brittle as a coating. Very prone to cracking. If they're applied too hot (ideally they really need spraying) then there's a problem with solvent bubbles in the finish too, which cause early rust spots.