20 Year Old Wrought-Iron Gates Maintainable Painting.

[Dinger2]

Two conflicting points of view:Who is right ? Our double white painted wrought-iron gates bought second hand 20 odd years ago still look quite good against the green of the lawn and hedges after their annual bi/annual lick of whatever part cans of white paint I can lay my hands on. Being mindful of their age over the years I have in the past given the uppermost most visible parts a severe wire brushing down to the bare metal to create a "nicer" finish. However,when I "wirebrushed to the bone"I was horrified to see severely decaying iron , so, change of plan,for the protection of the good metal underneath,painted several coats extra over the wire rushed areas and then finished the rest off.There is probably 10 coats of paint on them now and on close inspection does look a bit weathered before this years coat within a week. However,my Mum wants all previous paint removed by paint stripper,wire brush,scrapers,wire wool,then a major wire rushing before primer paint then 2 coats of gloss ! I say this will take many hours and what's left will be too fragile and they only cost £20 anyway ! My method is to continue painting for the next 10 years to enable whatever good metal there is to withstand the winter elements . Opinions please .thanks A.B ers

[woofgang]

Well I would say whoever is doing the work, unless they are being paid for it, has the right to decide what work they will do.

[woofgang]

...but sensibly have you thought about using a protective paint like hammerite?

[Old_Geezer]

I'd have figured ten coats imply ten years without clearing back to the metal. Wouldn't hurt to go back at least once a decade and thus balance protection with a nicer finish.

[murraymints]

a lot of work and if underneath is not great may cause further damage..new gates ? and hammerite is the stuff to use

[EDDIE51]

Unless you strip the paint entirely and clean up the metal and remove the rust it will still be there under the paint eating the metal away. The gates will just fall apart due to rust, probably in a lot less than 10 years. It will be time consuming but if you want to save the gate it is the only way. You say they only cost £20, but what you need to worry about is how much it will cost to replace them. That will be more than £20 .
Just painting them is useless, as I said the rust is still there under the paint rusting away the metal and it will not stop just because you keep putting more paint on top.

[Khandro]

You need a blowlamp and burn it off using a scraper, then wire brush it and coat the metal with a prorietary rust remover from a car accessories shop. Do what it says on the tin and then use flat gloss white Hammerite for the finish.

[Dinger2]

ThanksEddie51 I"lol,wirebrush all of the worst rust spots down to the wood ,Hammerstein paint over them and then re-paint throughout. I'm an O.A.P. any way,loads of time spare. Do Boy Scouts still do a Bob-a-Job week ? lol !

[EDDIE51]

^ No bob a job week was banned years ago. No longer politically acceptable for young kids to go knocking on doors asking if there is anything they can do for payment.