# Repairing Steel Frames Paint Work



## steelboy (Apr 4, 2008)

Good Morning Folks,

I have a potential client who would like us to repair some steel frames where the rust beneath the paint is coming through.

My plan is to wire brush/sand to remove paint, ospho, and two-part epoxy over the affected areas. Below are photos.

What would you recommend in this situation?

Thanks everyone!


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Remove all the rust and prime it. I wouldn't suggest using ospho here. 

Ospho works best where you don't remove any of the rust. The more rust the more reaction you get, and the more iron oxide will transform into iron ferrous.

If you could blast it that would be ideal, but it doesn't look that bad really so a mechanical brushing would probably get it clean.


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

a grinder with a wire wheel would probably get most of that junk off a lot faster than a wire brush - and do a better job.


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Urethane, not epoxy. Epoxies dont do well outside


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## steelboy (Apr 4, 2008)

i think it may be an epoxy coat on there now, can I wire wheel it down, clean it off (not ospho), and apply a primer and urethane?


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

yep. From the looks of it, that may be alot to try and wheel down. Have you looked into having it blasted?


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## steelboy (Apr 4, 2008)

unfortunately there is no economical sand blasting here (ironic, with the amount of sand we have...)

We will take wire wheels and then grinding wheels to it, then clean, prime and paint with urethane ($90/gal primer, $70/gal paint!). 

The total area is about 300 sq. ft., I would think 2 gallons of each primer and paint should cover this correct?


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## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

I would use 1 gallon DTM Wash primer, and 1 gallon per coat of Industrial Urethane Alkyd Enamel. Both are Sherwin Williams products. (I'm sure there is a comp in other brands, these are the ones I know). The Wash primer, looks like water, and is not a high build, all you need is one coat. It runs about 60 a gallon. 40 something for the Urethane. Dry time will be 24 hours for the Urethane so factor that in your bid for multiples. By 24 hours, I mean 24 hours. Its still going to be tacky 6 hours later. FYI. Just got done repainting some tennis court lights yesterday with it :thumbup:.


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## momule (Feb 5, 2010)

It kinda depends on what your considering a "good job". It really depends on if your looking for a "band-aid" fix or if this is a potential client and you wanna do it right the first time. You may wanna do some testing to try to find out what the coating is on it now that is failing. This may also be useful to decide which primer/top coat may be most effective. 

Good route would be. 
Ken Kromik (alkyd rust inhibiting primer) > DTM acrylic or Sher-cryl (top quality acrylic latex top coat)

Better route would be. 
Kem Bond HS Metal (High build alkyd rust inhibiting primer) > Hydrogloss (Single component Urethane) 

Best route would be. 
Macro Poxy (2 part polyamide epoxy) > high Solids Polyurethane (superior Gloss retention and rust protection)

Hope this helps. 
Nick


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## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

or you could do that..... -^-


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## lmkguy (Nov 5, 2010)

Be sure an remove the vegetation from the area, it retains moisture.


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