Painting old corrugated iron fencing.

[alchemysa]

Hi. Ive got quite a lot of old corrugated, galvanised iron sheets. They are in good condition apart from a few nail holes. This is real old heavy duty stuff that you don't see often these days. It contains a lot of lead I guess. Anyway I want to reuse it for a fence about 30 yards long. Currently its bare metal. I'm thinking of painting it first but I don't want the paint coming off in big flakes later on. It's a north south fence so its going to cop quite a lot of sun.

I could spray it but I've also thought of making up a paint bath of some kind. Preferably I just want to use water based paint.

What do you reckon? Is this worth trying or should i just leave it bare. Has anyone else painted big expanses of old galv with success? What sort of preparation did you use?

Alchemysa

 

[Western]

On occasion we have to paint galvanized material. By it's very nature it doesn't take paint well. I can't recall what we use since it is so infrequent but, I do know it is developed just for painting galvanized surfaces and it is not a water base paint. We get ours from Sherwin Williams here.

Honestly I don't think it would be worth it, even with the right paint, you may have trouble with some areas and you may be looking at more maintenance in the long run. I would search or call a Sherwin Williams or do a Google search for your area paint supplier.

All the jobs we get that require us to paint galvanized is where some one went with a latex or other paint and didn't do the right prep work, so we have to first sand blast and/or scrape the old paint off, which is a PITA.

But there is paints specifically for this..

 

[Western]

Try this link for some info..

Peeling - From Galvanized Metal - Sherwin-Williams

 

[Egon]

Lots of hits on Google.

Another one.
How to Paint Galvanized Steel | eHow.com

 

[jinman]

I've always heard of cleaning galvanized metal with vinegar. This Google search provides lots of info on doing that. After cleaning with vinegar, I think you can prime and paint with a silver barn paint.

 

[tallyho8]

If it was in a spot where looks are not extremely important, I would leave it alone. If looks are real important, I would spend $360 for new metal.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm having a hard time visualizing how this is going to look painted or not. Is the goal to make the material look better or make it last longer or both? I remember seeing a fence design in a book where they had boxed in metal with a wooden frame and a open transom type frame at the top to give it more appeal.

 

[alchemysa]

I'm having a hard time visualizing how this is going to look painted or not. Is the goal to make the material look better or make it last longer or both? I remember seeing a fence design in a book where they had boxed in metal with a wooden frame and a open transom type frame at the top to give it more appeal.

Have you never seen a corrugated iron fence? They are very common over here especially in older areas.

 

[2manyrocks]

The mental image I have may not be what you mean. This is not common in middle Tennessee USA. I've seen a few automobile graveyards hidden behind fences sheated with roofing metal, but I'm not sure that this is what you mean.

 

[alchemysa]

The mental image I have may not be what you mean. This is not common in middle Tennessee USA. I've seen a few automobile graveyards hidden behind fences sheated with roofing metal, but I'm not sure that this is what you mean.

Your mental image is probably not far off the mark. I wouldn't put one across the front of my block, but they are fine in the right place as long as they are not too high. The more modern versions don't use rails. We don't have the timber available to us that you guys are used to so I suppose we have a long history of using alternatives to timber. Our electricity poles are concrete and steel too (although most electricity is undergrounded these days)