We have brown metal downspouts, but these feed into connectors that come about two feet off the ground. These connectors are some kind of heavy plastic-type material and are white.
Dumb question, but you never know these days when you might do something wrong:
If I prime these pipes thoroughly, can I paint them brown?
Of course. If you really want to be picky about it, remove them, scrub them, and get the appropriate Rustoleum products (primer & paint). If they're riveted in place, this gives you a good reason to add a rivet gun to your tool collection, if you don't already have one. Fancy breather mask, too, since you may want to do the spray painting in the garage.
Sand, clean, paint. Should work well. A primer would be best. You could probably use most any type of paint.
NEVER use citrus degreasers. They leave oil.
Use a paint meant for plastic, like the spray paint for refinisheing plastic lawn/garden chairs,
Ray wrote the following:
Yep. I have white downspouts and I used pieces of green plastic sewer pipes going down into the ground to divert the rainwater away from the house. I painted those pipes white with Rustoleum plastic spray paint. I
On 1/11/2011 11:47 AM hr(bob) snipped-for-privacy@att.net spake thus:
Absolutely no need for that.
Use any good ordinary oil-based primer. Not going to hurt any kind of plastic used for that kind of stuff (ABS, PVC, etc.).
I use Krylon plastic paint and no primer. Clean pipe first. WW
The paint for use on plastic has better adherence characteristics and also seems to expand better with the temperature expansion of plastic which is quite high.
Why is there absolutely no need to use a paint that is formulated to go on a particular material?
It's not a question about hurting the plastic, it's about bonding to the plastic so the OP won't be doing it again in a couple of years. Why in the world would you want to double the amount of time...excuse me, double the amount of _application_ time (probably 10x or 20x the total time if you include drying time for typical paints like you're suggesting) instead of using a paint meant for plastic?
I'm guessing you've never used paints meant for plastics. Fusion by Krylon works great, comes in a spray can which eliminates cleanup and makes painting non-planar objects far easier, and dries in fifteen minutes. It also bonds well to glass and ceramic tile - let's see a "good ordinary oil-based primer" do that.
The OP should buy a couple of cans, spend half an hour spraying and use the rest of the time writing a post about why using a one-step paint was so much simpler than mucking about with different paints and cleanup. ;)
R
I did our septic tank caps a year or so ago, and they're flaking quite badly. I just gave those a quick spray (with a view to doing something better if needed) and figured I'd see how it went; the answer seems to be "not well" :-)
Like you say, some surface prep - light sanding and then primer - is probably a good idea.
cheers
Jules
On 1/11/2011 9:58 PM RicodJour spake thus:
Because it's overkill? Because other ordinary products work just as well?
I don't see excessive application time as a problem here: in fact, my method, applying oil-based primer with a *brush*, is probably faster.
Now I'll concede that the purpose-made plastic paint may be better for painting plastic. However, being a spray can, this requires either disassembling the downspout, or a lot of masking off to avoid painting what you don't want painted.
Not true at all. In my modelmaking mode I use paints formulated for painting plastic (primarily styrene), although I also often forgo them and just use regular oil-based paints.
I've also painted outdoor "plumbing" with oil-based primer and ordinary house paint, and have seen that it lasts for years.
Using the correct paint is overkill - interesting.
Excessive to me means unnecessary. I don't recall the OP asking how he could paint slowly. He'll stick a piece of cardboard behind the pipe and spray away. Two coats in half an hour and he's done. It's also extremely unlikely that the OP just happens to have a _dark brown_ paint on hand, right? He'll have to get a quart tinted and even at the Borg that's as much as a can or two of spray paint. And he still has to buy the primer.
I find it odd that you think that one coat of oil-primer (minimum drying time for oil primers is usually an hour (unless you've given up on the idea that the OP has the correct oil primer on hand and buys some speedy dry stuff (which make it not ordinary))) and two coats of paint (how fast do your theoretical paints dry BTW?) would be faster than spraying two coats of 15 minute and dry paint.
A funny thing about a spray can, or any sprayer for that matter - it only takes one hand. He'll stick a piece of cardboard behind the pipe and hold another one in his hand to prevent overspray. He wouldn't be spraying with a compressor.
I worked for a year in a professional model making shop in Carnegie Hall that specialized in large scale architectural models. $50K models were not unusual. What sort of stuff do you do?
Not all oil-based primers are recommended by their manufacturers for use on exterior plastic. Some are okay with using their primer on plastic only if it's interior. I suppose it is possible that the OP has some oil-based primer on hand, but I'd bet you a box of donuts he doesn't have one where it is recommended.
So, to sum up, either the OP uses a one step spray and saves on application time, drying/waiting time, spends the same amount of money or less, and follows the manufacturers directions, or he follows your advice, spends more time, money and effort, and possibly ignores the manufacturer's directions on your say so. The choice seems obvious.
ROn 1/12/2011 1:00 PM RicodJour spake thus:
[Meant to answer this earlier but never got a round tuit]Certainly nothing like what you mentioned. I'm a mostly model-railroad hobbyist, so I've built a fair number of structure kits, mostly styrene, and decorated them (painting, signage, etc.). But my current obsession is scratchbuilding models of actual local structures, mostly out of paper. I just finished a local commercial building front, and am finishing up a model of a long-gone small train depot (at Lands End in San Francisco). The first building came out very nicely.
Some pics of the comml. building model (haven't got pictures of the finished piece yet):
So what kind of stuff did you do? At the prices you mentioned, it must have been quite a bit more extensive that my little projects.
No problem. I'm always getting pulled in different directions, too.
Interesting. Nice that you're doing real buildings - why did you pick that particular one? Any special significance?
The dentist I went to when I was growing up was a big time railroad model guy. He had three daughters and no sons, and whenever I'd go over there, he'd take a break and we'd go up to the attic where it was completely filled with a layout. He had an electrical engineer friend who took care of the electric end of things, but as he was a truly gifted man with his hands (ergo dentistry) he didn't need help with the rest of the model. Really top notch stuff.
Most of the models I built back then were for architects working on commercial projects. Office buildings, civic centers, malls, that sort of thing. The model shop owner was also a bit of an inventor with a money-guy backing him, and I was their prototype guy. I wish I knew then what I know now. We turned out some good stuff, but my skill set is much, much better now. Except for the vision. Back then my eyes were something like 20/15 in one eye and 20/10 in the other. Now I see blurry letters if I'm not wearing my glasses.
I haven't built any big time models in a while, but this is one we built the model for:
The owner of the model shop was a _real_ perfectionist. Certifiable, and he wouldn't let models leave until they were ready. That didn't always sit well with the clients. One time there were six of us working on a model for maybe a month or six weeks, and he kept putting off the client. Finally, the client called up and said, "George, we don't need the model anymore. You can keep it." Ouch! So he ate a many thousand dollar model. But I still admired his care in his work.
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