All things design and fashion

Painting on a gate is easy peasy….I mean come on its exactly like painting on a normal wall right? WRONG.
For those of you in the know on painting a wide variety of surfaces, you will know just how much of a pain in the bum painting on metal surfaces can be.As I mentioned a few days back we want to give our gate a lick of new bright Springleap green paint, because let’s face it, our gate has seen better days.
For those of us who live by the sea side we know how quickly metal can rust and get pretty much “pwned” by the onslaught of the sea air….in good ol’ Sea Point the same rules apply.When researching on Google as to what steps to take in painting metal surfaces I picked up a few interesting tips from techno enabled painting gurus the world over.
I thought that I may as well give you a run down on what steps to take when painting metal, just in case the in-laws want you to work for your Christmas dinner LOL.

First things first, you have to prepare the surface:
Take a wire brush and remove as much rust from the gate as possible…that is assuming there is any rust to remove in the first place, but by my own personal experience there is always some rust hiding in a nook or cranny.
If your gate is covered with mildew you must get that rubbish off before starting.
Remove mildew by combing 3:1 water: house hold bleach, wash down the gate and leave for 20 minutes, adding more solution as it dries.
Once you have done these two steps wash of mildew, dirt and rust by using a detergent and water mix.
You can also remove dirt with a power wash jet of water…you know, like those Turbo wash things.
Also just a quick reminder when using wire brush to remove rust always wear a pair of goggles to protect your eyes….rust in eyes is baaaaad.

Alright moving on to step 2, which is priming:
Now that your surface is nice and clean it’s now time to apply a priming coat.
The ideal primer to use is a latex or perhaps a oil based exterior corrosion inhibitor which must be spread across every spot….its kinda like that irritating Colgate advert on the tube with the kid painting the picket fence, if you miss a spot the gate will be vulnerable to the elements.
The metal primer that we will be using on the gate outside is called “red lead” which I believe is a very good all around primer for metal.
Well we will soon find out just how good it is, as David will commence the gate tomorrow when he is here for the whole day…exciting.

Step 3: For painting use a good quality exterior paint (if your gate is exterior like ours), use an acrylic latex house paint if possible.
As for the actual painting itself, use smooth strokes in one direction and try to keep it “clean”, by which I mean no blotching and dripping…it must be smooth, otherwise it could dry funny and leave wrinkles.So there you have it, these were my tips on a successfully primed and painted gate.
Painting on metal is not as easy as you would think, so if you are going to do a job on metal do it right…get the right equipment and take the time to prime the metal properly…otherwise you could waste serious money.

Good luck out there painters and don’t forget to send David some positive chi tomorrow when he paints our front metal gate.

Duncs.