# Best primer for outside unpainted aluminum (and pre cleaner)



## davisrf (Aug 7, 2007)

Hi, I have an exterior job where there is an abundance of aluminum 6 " strips (exposed flashing type material , unpainted or treated. This is in a NOrtheast ocean environment. I need suggestions as to what to clean it with first and then what paint to prime it with. I'll be using Alkyd exterior white as a final coat which has performed well in this type environment. Any suggestions for the cleaner and type prime much appreciated, Steve


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## Retired (Jul 27, 2010)

davisrf said:


> Hi, I have an exterior job where there is an abundance of aluminum 6 " strips (exposed flashing type material , unpainted or treated. This is in a NOrtheast ocean environment. I need suggestions as to what to clean it with first and then what paint to prime it with. I'll be using Alkyd exterior white as a final coat which has performed well in this type environment. Any suggestions for the cleaner and type prime much appreciated, Steve


Depending on how long this flashing has weathering, IMO it's dirty from just sitting there. Aluminum also oxidizes. A TSP wash and rinse should remove most of the accumulated crud. Scuffing will remove most of the oxidation.

Best prime? I if available, zinc chromate or primewash aka wash primer. 

Maybe back that alkyd exterior with a coat of alkyd primer over the zinc chromate or primewash, just to make the job as callback free as possible.


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## davisrf (Aug 7, 2007)

*Best primer for outside unpainted aluminum*

Retired, thanks very much and yes, I always use a primer over whatever I'm doing on exterior jobs.. REgards ! Steve


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## Retired (Jul 27, 2010)

davisrf said:


> Retired, thanks very much and yes, I always use a primer over whatever I'm doing on exterior jobs.. REgards ! Steve


 
Zinc chromate or primewash is the primer. Both are sort of thin coatings and even a great alkyd white might not cover in one, thus the alkyd primer undercoat. 

Some raw metals if they are not oxidised badly or dirty, coat over well with any number of DTM coatings and do not require primers as such. Your rep or reps should be up on this technology and you might find one of the local paintmakers has something that will work well for that aluminum flashing. Aluminum outgasses and over time unless properly prepared will create enought gas to actually push the paint or coating away from the substrate.


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## FoilEffects (Dec 19, 2007)

Totally do not agree with primer being needed on aluminum siding and defiantly don't agree with the use of tsp! I have painted well over 1500 aluminum sided homes all throughout Peoria Illinois and Bloomington. 

A good washing with a scrub brush and mild detergent will clean most of the chalking off the aluminum. Primer does not penetrate the remaining chalking so you need a paint additive. Over 15 years ago I came up with a solution for this issue while at a concrete cleaning seminar. The additive is SealCrete (can be purchased at SW). I always used super paint with a mix of 2-4 oz per gallon of paint. What seal Crete does is surround the chalk and etch it to the aluminum. You can spray or roll, no difference!

Problem with primers if you do not clean off the dusting the dust will cause the primer on a spray job sit topical and the paint will come off in sheets. Trust me when i say you cannot go wrong with my mix and the job as long as you use a high quality paint like super paint the job will last over 10 years. I have some that are going on 15 years in dark colors and the beauty is the paint chalks off as the seal Crete etches to the aluminum and causes a permanite bond.


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## davisrf (Aug 7, 2007)

*Best Primer for outside painted alum.*

Foil Effects: Thanks very much, I will follow your learned advice. Steve


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## FoilEffects (Dec 19, 2007)

davisrf said:


> Foil Effects: Thanks very much, I will follow your learned advice. Steve


I promise you that I have tested this in all climates as I live in Illinois and we get the harshest of everything from heat, to cold, to high humidity and it works great. I also have a very good friend that lives in Maine and he does all soffits off the coast (lots of salt in the air) and it works the same for him there.

I dont know what is in SealCrete but I do know that once the paint cures out you will have a very hard time getting that back off the aluminum. Primed surfaces over a dusty aluminum will fail within 6 months to a year depending on climate.

SealCretes job is to stop dusting on concrete floors in industrial buildings, it is a waterbased product and blends into all latex paints and will etch itself to the old finish while grabbing the dust and making it part of the new finish.


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## FoilEffects (Dec 19, 2007)

Just so you know what you are looking for here is the link: 

Garage/Concrete Floor Sealer


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

FoilEffects said:


> Totally do not agree with primer being needed on aluminum siding and defiantly don't agree with the use of tsp! I have painted well over 1500 aluminum sided homes all throughout Peoria Illinois and Bloomington.
> 
> A good washing with a scrub brush and mild detergent will clean most of the chalking off the aluminum. Primer does not penetrate the remaining chalking so you need a paint additive. Over 15 years ago I came up with a solution for this issue while at a concrete cleaning seminar. The additive is SealCrete (can be purchased at SW). I always used super paint with a mix of 2-4 oz per gallon of paint. What seal Crete does is surround the chalk and etch it to the aluminum. You can spray or roll, no difference!
> 
> Problem with primers if you do not clean off the dusting the dust will cause the primer on a spray job sit topical and the paint will come off in sheets. Trust me when i say you cannot go wrong with my mix and the job as long as you use a high quality paint like super paint the job will last over 10 years. I have some that are going on 15 years in dark colors and the beauty is the paint chalks off as the seal Crete etches to the aluminum and causes a permanite bond.


Foli,You must be joking!!!!! You did not come up with this. Everyone has been doing this for years. It says it right on the can.And you don't want the floor sealer you want this http://www.seal-krete.com/original.htm
Actually we use a cheaper version and we use it on everything we paint.Always have. 
If you are the one who came up with this than Seal Krete owes you $million$ but I'm pretty sure that's what it was made for.


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## FoilEffects (Dec 19, 2007)

aaron61 said:


> Foli,You must be joking!!!!! You did not come up with this. Everyone has been doing this for years. It says it right on the can.And you don't want the floor sealer you want this http://www.seal-krete.com/original.htm
> Actually we use a cheaper version and we use it on everything we paint.Always have.
> If you are the one who came up with this than Seal Krete owes you $million$ but I'm pretty sure that's what it was made for.


You can use the original and you can use the floor sealer both work very well back 15 years ago it is what we sealed concrete driveways, industrial floors and so on with. At a concrete seminar I posed the question to some execs if it could be used as an additive to paint to stop chalking both on Victorian home clapboards and aluminum siding. They said that it would be compatible and they gave me the max amount to add but at that time there use to be a knight on the bottle and bottle looked nothing like that. Seal Krete is a concrete sealer and I do not know what it says on the side of the bottle but 15 years ago when I was at the seminar it was only used on concrete. Keep in mind I have not done any straight painting in 11 years and I defiantly do not keep up on what is what now.

Exactly why would they owe me millions??? The product was NEVER designed to be used as a paint additive it says right on the container and always has as far as I know know CONCRETE SEALER! Over the last 15 years I have told God knows how many people about using this as an additive for paint on forums and classes when I taught. If you havent noticed from posts that I have made I like to help when I can. I dont know it all and I learn something new each and everyday but I didnt just start painting last week as I have been on my own for 23 years and worked for my grandfather as a union painter/plaster prior to that.


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## Retired (Jul 27, 2010)

Whoops! I thought there for a minute the question was about unpainted alumimum and not that factory applied paint on aluminum siding that we also see on garage doors. Never tried that stuff from Florida but according to the link it works really well. Another product that might be good for the factory siding that is chalking is some Emulsabond.

Then again if a guy has painted 1500 aluminum sided houses in Peoria, and invented a technique that works, who is to argue? 

TSP is not the "greenest" of things to do a wash with but there are some substitutes on the market that can be used. TSP is a chemical and the amount used in a given amount of water is what is more important than the chemical itself. In a supersaturated mix or solution, the stuff will strip some paints or a half a teaspoon in a 55 gallon drum of water might be good for a nice shower after a day of sanding that darned aluminum siding to get it ready to paint.


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