# Prepping rusty bare steel...



## porgyiii (May 3, 2012)

So a contractor I am working for is erecting a exterior steel stair with railings. He's fabricating it in the field. Most of the stair components he primed with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Most of the railing components are bare steel. There is flash rust all over this thing. 

Should I try to remove the rust before priming or just use rusty metal primer? If I am going to remove the rust, how? Rust converter? Acid? Wire brush? Finish coats will be with Devoe's Devguard alkyd semi-gloss.

Please consider time when you answer. This stupid thing is 4 stories tall...


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## MrPaint (Feb 19, 2012)

Getting a written specification from the Glidden rep is the best solution, it will most likely be something like this:
Pressure wash with 3000psi, blow the nooks dry with compressed air, apply a coat of Devguard 4160 and then the Devguard alkyd topcoat.


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## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

porgyiii said:


> So a contractor I am working for is erecting a exterior steel stair with railings. He's fabricating it in the field. Most of the stair components he primed with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Most of the railing components are bare steel. There is flash rust all over this thing.
> 
> Should I try to remove the rust before priming or just use rusty metal primer? If I am going to remove the rust, how? Rust converter? Acid? Wire brush? Finish coats will be with Devoe's Devguard alkyd semi-gloss.
> 
> Please consider time when you answer. This stupid thing is 4 stories tall...


I've painted a thousand stories of steel stairs,stringers,pans and railings by now,
And that might be a conservative estimate. I'd nock of the rust with 60gt, dust it down and paint it with alkyd. It's a spray job for sure-2 coats of an alkyd industrial enamel. Definitely don't powerwash that steel but you could use a leaf blower and a broom to dust it down after you sanded the whole thing.


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## Amish Elecvtrician (Jul 3, 2011)

My preferences are a bit different from the 'conventional' wisdom.

First, a LITTLE rust won't kill you. You do need to make sure all the loose rust and accumulated grime are gone.

So, my first tool is a brass wire brush. I hit all the rust, every vorner with it. If I see flaking rust, I might pick at it with a scraper, but I usually reach for my angle grinder. A wire wheel works wonders, but I prefer the AVOS 'scotch-brite-like' pads when I can get them.

I hit the rust spots with some 'rust reformer' and let it dry.

How much time can you wait for the paint to dry? Outside, with dust in the air .... well, I'm learning to love Japan drier.


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## NACE (May 16, 2008)

There are a miriad of systems here. What is the budget and what are the expectations of the person writing the check?


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## porgyiii (May 3, 2012)

The person writing the check is the apartment owner. This is a new building, but it's student rental and they expect to have to do some repaint in the not-so-distant future. They already erected this thing with some of the steel so close to the building, I can't get paint in there. They know there will be corrosion in the future. I just want to put that off as long as possible without getting into complicated, labor-intensive systems. 

No specified budget. This is an add-on and they know my estimate assumed pre-primed/shop-primed steel. That being said, this entire apt complex is run on a fairly low budget. They don't want the filet mignon of paint jobs.

Amish Elecvtrician, I'll be giving the Japan drier a try. Thanks. :thumbsup:


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