# Application for aluminum siding



## APC (Sep 25, 2007)

I've got a small office building very close to a busy road. I'm sure if I sprayed it, it would leave the best look on this aluminum though it's not a ton of paintable area and its to close for comfort on passers by. My question is how do you think this will look if I brush and roll using maybe a 3/8" nap? 2 coats of Duration and of course powerwash first.


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## KCT (Feb 15, 2008)

Lap siding? I roll aluminum garage doors, both textured and smooth, with Superpaint or Duration and they look good to me. No special roller, just good quality 1/2" usually.


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## HomeGuardPaints (Jan 17, 2008)

Rolling will be fine


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## Rustbuster (Mar 25, 2008)

Did my own aluminum sided house with a roller and it looks just fine. Could have done it a bit quicker with an airless but the finshed product wouldn't have looked much different and ran the risk of overspraying neighbors cars. Had some bad experiences with overspray in my days and am very careful about when and where I will spray now.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

I have rolled them and laid off with a brush and looked great.


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## spectrum (Apr 27, 2007)

I find that while a nice finish can be acheived on aluminum siding, or any metal surface , using quality rollers and good, leveling paint, there is really no comparison to a spray finish on metal. We have painted aprroximately 60 homes with aluminum siding to date, all using airless spray equipment, fine finish tips, extensive masking techniques and SW Super Paint _(which is not too thick, like Duration)_ . We actually learned from the pros, ALCOA, who insturcted us in detail how to re-paint siding that had faded while under warranty. We did much of their warranty work. We were forbidden to us a brush or roller on aluminum siding re-finishing work. Spray only!
I equate it to taking your car to an auto body shop for repainting and the owner states that all the cars they refinish in their shop are re-painted using brushes and rollers, not spraying. How would you react to that statement? 
There is just no comparison in the quality of a fine spray applied finish on metal when compared to even the best work with a brush and roller. 
Most painters who brush and roll metal siding do so because they have not elevated and mastered their airless spray painting techniques, equipment and masking to a higher level, or they fear spraying for some reason. 
If you run your hand over the finish and look closely, you can clearly see and appreciate the difference in quality between a roller applied finish and a spray applied finish. Granted, from the road they look about the same. The real advantage of a fine sprayed finish on metal shows up in years to come. The finer, smoother, tighter sprayed finish sheds water and atmospheric dirt and soot while the roller applied finish will tend to retain this fine gray soot in the texture of the finish. This leads to an uneven grayish cast in the paint that permantly discolors the finish.

There are those times when all the masking and spraying are just not justified or the risk of overspray is just too great, such as a case like this. In that case, we use 6" Wiz rollers (the gold foam series) with a thinner bodied acrylic, such as SW Super Paint, with a little EB added to loosen it up and help it level out as well as adhere to the aluminum siding. We work in the shade to slow down the drying time. The results are pretty good and the customer is usually very pleased, however, we can see and feel the difference between our roller application and the impeccably slick finish of fine spray application. We always opt for spraying any metal suface _if possible,_ even metal entry doors, shutters, metal roofs, gutters and leaders and aluminum trim.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

I have to say if you were painting under warranty? then the consumer was not paying you? 
In my experience with painting the few I have done it was because you had a comsumer that was too cheap to replace there siding to begin with. Siding was way to faded and from the 50's and looked fine after brushed and rolled but in the end should been replaced with higher grade vinyl oout today or cement type product or even cedar. 

As for cars certainly no one is going to brush and roll a car, there two different elements not apple to apples there.


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## spectrum (Apr 27, 2007)

Many of the aluminum sided homes we have re-finished were not warranty related and were paid for by the homeowners. Why would you want to replace quality, heavy guage aluminum siding that's in nice shape overall just because it is faded? You wouldn't replace wood siding just because it is faded. It's not a matter of being cheap, it's a matter of being smart with your money. Plus, they get there choice of unlimited color selections. 

When we re-finish aluminum, the customer can expect at least another 15 -20 years out of the paint job. We have many re-finish jobs that are over 20 years now and all we do is powerwash them every couple of years and keep them clean. Aluminum siding, when done right, looks as good as the factory finish and holds paint extremely well. 

Most of the time, if a painting contractor does not own or _really_ now how to use spray and masking equipment proficiently, they will pick up their brush and roller to paint aluminum siding. _I am not saying there is anything wrong with that method_, but what I do know is that a spray finish on metal is far _superior_ to a roller or brush applied finish on metal. _(whether it be a car, a refrigerator, a metal door, metal heat registers, gutters, or aluminum siding)_


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

I totally agree that a sprayed finish is nice, my point is no matter what color you paint it, 1950's siding looks like 1950's siding... Some things go out out of style.. and most around here have had some type of ding, dent, scratch etc... I know those can be fix also... But come one... Styles change... I would say most who paint thee aluminum siding are doing to save money over replacing..


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

Mak-Deco. Spectrum is on to something. There are a lot of aluminum sided houses out there where the aluminum is a pretty good quality. I've even seen some of the 50s houses where the siding is oxidized but still ok. The older stuff tends to be wider planks. Check out this job. XIM UMA Bonding Primer, Superpaint. $3500 paint job raised the value of this house over $10,000 and made it marketable. Job looked a whole lot better than a vinyl siding redo.

As a side note XIM got its start in 1935 when the Horsburgh Company in Cleveland developed a clear primer for aluminum siding. The formula number was X- IM - the Roman numeral for 900. Hence the name


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

The job looks great Primerguy... but like you said the wider planks are what makes it out dated. Just not not my style...

I am sure tho the owner was happy with the increase in market value!


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## HomeGuardPaints (Jan 17, 2008)

Primer guy that house looks nice, glad i'm not competing with you cus I could make it look nice but not for $3500.


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

Not my job. Contractor is a guy who uses our products a lot He does nice work and is pretty proficient with a 395 spray rig. He sprayed primer and topcoat in 1-1/2 days. Trim, prep, and clean-up in about 2 days. The 2 guys on this job worked very hard. He seems to being doing pretty well and is always booked. We used him in the Peel Bond video on the Peel Bond web site.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

Hey Primer, I am looking to get Peel bond this year and use it on some trouble spots I have at town home complex. Do you have anyone who stocks it in or near my zip which is 60447 or in the job zip 60108

Thanks,

M
MAK


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

MAK-Deco said:


> As for cars certainly no one is going to brush and roll a car, there two different elements not apple to apples there.


I agree. Also, cars are sprayed usually in a semi-downdraft spray booth. If I could figure out how to get a house in the booth, or build a temporary booth around the house, I would think its a great idea.


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

Primer Guy said:


> We used him in the Peel Bond video on the Peel Bond web site.


Do you have that link?


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

vermontpainter said:


> If I could figure out how to get a house in the booth, or build a temporary booth around the house, I would think its a great idea.


V gets the quote of the day.:clap:


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

*peel bond web site*

www.peelbond.com


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

Mak-Deco- I'll get back to you on Monday. The short answer is SW stores are supposed to keep it on shelf. I can give you other stores when I look up the files back at the office.


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## welovepainting (May 13, 2007)

Ive never rolled aluminum siding, we have sprayed hundreds of them though. Rolling aluminum siding just doesnt sound right and seems like it would take forever. I would imagine you would have to use a good amount of flowtrol.


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

Mak-Deko- My Chicago geography is a little rusty. SW stores in Joliet, Plainfield, West Chicago, St. Charles should be near or on the way to the Bloomingdale location. PM me if you have a problem and I will make sure you can get it.


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## MAK-Deco (Apr 17, 2007)

Primer, thanks for the info. I am not a SW guy but I will into getting it there and see what they can do for me.


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## Thomas Zayatz (Feb 26, 2008)

House looks great and you can't beat the price.. but I'm curious as to what guarantee you would offer for the 3500 alum siding paint job?


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## Primer Guy (Apr 20, 2007)

As I stated before, this was one of our contractor users. Although the pictures don't show it, the house wasn't that big. My guess around 1500 sq ft. I'm pretty sure the contractor guarantees the job for 2-3 years. I'm not certain though.

This house was obviously sprayed. There was little prep needed outside of pressure washing, cleaning and a small amount of wood trim. Painter used a 395 Graco, flat Superpaint and gloss Superpaint for the trim, UMA for the bonding primer coat which left the surface with a nice base for the topcoat.


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

MAK-Deco said:


> As for cars certainly no one is going to brush and roll a car, there two different elements not apple to apples there.


I swear, I know a painter who brushed his truck. And it looked alright.....from about 15 feet away!


(NO, it was not me)


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## In Demand (Mar 24, 2008)

I painted my truck with a whiz roller. Looks like hell.


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

lol there is someone who drives around my town in a hand painted, sand textured car. I am pretty sure they repaint it twice a year with interior flat paint. you can get an alright finish on aluminum usually with thin foam rollers. anyone hvlp aluminum siding to cut down on the over spray?


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