Building A Bridge

[Defective]

Koop,

I've used POR-15 on a few small projects. It works as advertised.

The down-side is the price. On large projects, I've found it's better to spend the time & money on prep work. Sandblasting is the way to go. If you can set the bridge up away from the water for a few days, I'd rent a big compressor & blasting equipment. Clean it up good, then spray on a solid coat of primer followed by a couple of coats of your choice of top-coat. Once it's done, set the bridge in place & touch up with a brush.

I like Devoe products. The primer I use most often for structural steel is DevGuard 4160. I regularly spray this on rusted steel with minimal preparation. (scrub off the loose stuff & blow the dust away...)

 

[2manyrocks]

So how much to actually buy the bridge, how much for delivery, and what's the overall project cost?

Who is going to travel over this bridge? Your personal use or a larger development?

You've sunk $30,000 just to get this bridge to your property so I assume something significant is involved.

Do you know when the bridge was first built?

Maybe the painting part won't be as controversial as the engineering. Let's all get our wives to pick the color....

 

[koop]

The bridge was $27500

2 Cranes was $1500

Hauler was $3000

This will be the access point for two primary residences and perhaps up to four in the future.

We go the land for less than market value because there was no legal access and no physical access (i.e. a bridge).

For what ever reason, the wife does not have a strong opinion on color so for once in my life the decision falls on my shoulders. I must turn to the TBN audience for help.

Dark Green maybe

 

[2manyrocks]

The money breakdown is interesting. I would have mistakenly guessed that you got the bridge for a few thousand at most and the rest was spent moving it. Wonder what you'll have in it by the time you prep it and paint it?

The framework of the bridge looks a lot like bridges I've seen from what I think is the early 1900's. I'm still curious about the actual age of this bridge.

I remember the local road folks got a deal on some surplus light green paint, and painted the local bridge a light pastel green after a lot of prep work. Years later, it was thankfully repainted a darker green.

 

[TC29-dude]

I think you ought to paint it barn red...that's an old school color for an old school bridge.

Great project...keep posting pix!

 

[patrick_g]

Why not a rainbow bridge? Or maybe a sort of a camouflage job for clowns. But wait, there is a reason. Paint that sells for $27-$32 per gallon sells for $5 a gallon when it is MIS TINTED at the big box stores. Best quality for lowest prices!

Maybe you'd get lucky and find enough so you could blend them together into a color you wouldn't mind. IT sholdn't be hard. Any paint in my new house that isn't plain white was custom blended by yours truly using OOPS paint.

You could save over $20/gallon and you will need quite a few gallons. I recommend an airless spray rig. You will still need a good primer first.
pat

 

[tallyho8]

If you paint your bridge by mixing many different colors of "oops" paint, be very sure to get and mix at least 5 gallons more than you plan on using because if you come up short or want to touch up some places in the future, it will be near impossible to match it.

 

[patrick_g]

If you paint your bridge by mixing many different colors of "oops" paint, be very sure to get and mix at least 5 gallons more than you plan on using because if you come up short or want to touch up some places in the future, it will be near impossible to match it.

That is why you paint on a butterfly, list of toll charges, or whatever.

Pat

 

[PA hayseed]

I keep thinking, how cool, a bridge. I wish I had some water on my property now, or at least something deep enough to warrant a bridge.

I agree with tallyho, make sure you have plenty of extra paint. Your problem with mixing paints will be that you are limited to mixing 5 gal containers. So you would in effect have to mix each 5 gal bucket in equal parts to ensure it is all the same color. If you don't care, then don't bother. I think you should paint the bottom with whatever, noone will ever see it. If you care about the exterior finish, prep work is the key to a good finish. there are a million and one paints to use, but on exposed steel, there are far fewer. We used epoxies on the steel superstructure we painted, make sure that you have junk clothes on when you paint with that stuff.

The navy, which likely has the harshest conditions that a metal structure will endure, used to use a primer called p51 or p151. Don't know if they still use it or not.

 

[koop]

Abutment and wing walls on the first side are now complete.

We are now digging on the other side to pour the footer.

About 50 hours of metal work have been done to address weak areas in the bridge.

I have prepped most of the bridge for painting and started priming.

I included a couple of pictures. The forms have now been stripped from the wing walls.

The green we tried as a sample looks better in real life but I still am not sure if it is better than the red.