Sandpaper grit needed

Ususaly by the time they need paint the gloss is gone and no sanding is needed, the most important thing is to be sure its real clean, heavy soap using a brush and a good powerwasher. My fence has thick pollution-dirt on any horizontal areas. Use oil it bonds better. If you want to sand 50g is quicker than 80, but wire brushing works.

On 3/3/2009 8:30 AM WhiteTea spake thus:

I'd start with 150 grit, see how it goes. Anything finer won't cut fast enough.

You might want to try an "open coat" paper that won't clog with paint too fast; normally when deglossing paint, the paper gets clogged or loaded before actually wearing out.

If the paint surface is already dulled in some spots from weather, you don't really have to sand it. All you're doing is "scuffing" to paint so that the new paint will adhere to it.

You are going to use primer first, right? Tip: If the paint is a dark color, get the primer tinted (gray) so you're not painting a dark color over white. I did this recently on a wrought-iron fence, dark green, and the paint covered in one coat.

Remove loose paint with a wire brush. Wash with TSP, rinse, dry. But, it's best to follow the manufacturer of your paint for best results. Sometimes several layers of built-up paint must be removed to bring back details, and for that use a stripper.

It would seem to me that to try to use sandpaper of any grit on an iron fence is going to be a hell of a lot of work. As someone else pointed out, usually the paint is weathered enough by the time you go to paint it that just a good cleaning will work. I'd use a pressure washer and if it did require abrasion, then I'd use a sand blaster.

If you want a hell of a lot of hand work just use a Scotch-Brite=99 pad to scuff it up.

If you want to do it the easy way use an "adhesion promoter" like Bulldog to give the old paint some "tooth"

- gpsman

No "Adhesion Promoter" will do didly over dirt, this is wrong info gpsman, sorry but its a sales tactic. Clean, unglossed, low temp, NO sun w/oilwhen hot, is what it takes.

quoted text -

Bravo, somebody understands logic and Iron. Even better - best , is renting an Electrostatic Sprayer, so you dont waste a gallon per section, But cleaning is Key and a Powerwasher usualy does it.

"tooth"

I agree with both comments, scotchbrite I trust (esp. the auto body kind, not the kind that you use to scour your stainless pots) anything in a bottle I do not.

nate

Sorry, but nobody suggested painting over dirt, you remarkable Bullisesque f****it.

In fact, first on the list of Bulldog "features and benefits" is, "Makes paint stick to any *clean* surface".

Bulldog has been in use in the best automotive paint shops for more than 30 years. -----

- gpsman

On 3/3/2009 10:16 PM gpsman spake thus (responding to "ransley"):

Hee hee. I second that emotion, but am puzzled: what is "Bullisesque"?

Pertaining to "Richard Bullis", aka "Richard the Stupid", aka "RtS", undoubtedly the most indescribably ignorant, stupid and prolific poster to ever manage to accidentally trip over Usenet.

- gpsman

I ended up using a combination of 100 grit and a drill mounted wire brush.

I underbid the time factor big time, but I still made $3.50 an hour.

The Sherwin Williams industrial paint I used worked very well.

The cheap mexican brick chipped off when attaching the wall anchors but their strength allowed me to use less and it was easy to drill into.

I plan on getting a sprayer for future jobs.:-)

Andy