dooleysm
Platinum Member
I'm planning on building a floating dock on my small pond here in the next month or so. I'm going to anchor the dock to the shore with 2 I-Beams burried in concrete. To the I-Beams will be attached a walkway, hinged at both ends, attached to the floating dock portion.
I've located a steel structure that was previously used by my in-laws to hold pallets of shingles at their construction supply yard. It is a steel frame with angle iron cross members every 16ish inches (maybe more, maybe less, I haven't measured yet). It's 4 feet wide. I know next to nothing about working with steel. I do know that steel costs a fortune now and I cna have this structure for free. I've got some buddies that can do a servicable job of welding and cutting steel that are going to help me.
My biggest question now is how to prepare the steel structure. It was previously used under an overhang, so it didn't get much moisture. For the past 18 months it's been sitting out exposed to the elements. It's accumulated plenty of rust in that time. I'm wondering if it's even worth worrying about the rust though. My thought is that if it takes 30 years for it to rust to the point of failure, then it will have more than served my purposes and my children's purposes (I'm 28 with a 4 month old son and more planned).
If it turns out that I should do something to protect the steel, what should I do? We've been toying with wire brushing it (with the help of an air compressor and grinder tool) and then painting it with Rust-oleum or using a 'rust converting primer'. This issues goes beyond my knowledge or that of my friends that are helping me.
Any thoughts?
shawn
I've located a steel structure that was previously used by my in-laws to hold pallets of shingles at their construction supply yard. It is a steel frame with angle iron cross members every 16ish inches (maybe more, maybe less, I haven't measured yet). It's 4 feet wide. I know next to nothing about working with steel. I do know that steel costs a fortune now and I cna have this structure for free. I've got some buddies that can do a servicable job of welding and cutting steel that are going to help me.
My biggest question now is how to prepare the steel structure. It was previously used under an overhang, so it didn't get much moisture. For the past 18 months it's been sitting out exposed to the elements. It's accumulated plenty of rust in that time. I'm wondering if it's even worth worrying about the rust though. My thought is that if it takes 30 years for it to rust to the point of failure, then it will have more than served my purposes and my children's purposes (I'm 28 with a 4 month old son and more planned).
If it turns out that I should do something to protect the steel, what should I do? We've been toying with wire brushing it (with the help of an air compressor and grinder tool) and then painting it with Rust-oleum or using a 'rust converting primer'. This issues goes beyond my knowledge or that of my friends that are helping me.
Any thoughts?
shawn