How Should You Paint Your Colorbond Fence?
One of our most popular blog posts answers the question of whether you should paint your Colorbond steel fence or not. (You can take a quick look by clicking HERE). However, today we will focus on the rules you should follow when painting your Colorbond steel fence.
BlueScope Steel Australia will help to determine what is appropriate and what is not when it comes to overpainting and restoring exterior BlueScope coated steel products such as Colorbond steel fences.
Firstly, a quick introduction. COLORBOND® steel is a prepainted steel that has been manufactured by BlueScope Steel Australia using a continuous coil paint coating line.
High-Quality paint is applied on a metallic coated steel substrate that afterward is put in an oven with a high temperature.
If you decide to overpaint the Colorbond steel fence, understand the rules, or more like guidelines, associated with it.
If you use air drying paints to paint Colorbond steel fence, note that those air-drying paints have different weathering characteristics to COLORBOND® steel. What does it mean? It means that COLORBOND® steel finish, which is very durable, often doesn’t match the air-dried paints, even when you use the touch-up paint. Air-drying paint has a weather characteristic that is different from COLORBOND® steel, hence its weathering rate is also different from COLORBOND® steel’s weathering rate. In the long term, the appearance of the COLORBOND® steel and the air-drying paint will vary. Hence, it is not recommended to use touch-up paint to repair scratches on your Colorbond steel fence.
If you paint your Colorbond steel fence, know that it will void any warranties that Colorbond steel manufacturer, BlueScope, may have issued. Therefore, it is worthwhile checking if your Colorbond steel fence has a warranty before you rush to paint it.
1. Ensure that the surface of your Colorbond steel fence is in a suitable condition for painting. How you will prepare your steel fence for painting depends on how old is your Colorbond steel fence, but also in what kind of condition.
If it’s brand new (less than 1 year of weathering), it’s enough to use a mop to wash the steel surface using water or household detergent. That will help to remove any loose bits and pieces that have gathered on your Colorbond steel fence since you installed it. Then rinse and let it dry.
If the Colorbond steel fence is aged, meaning more than 1 year of weathering, it will have a weathered surface and the glossy surface will be reduced. Usually, that kind of weathered surface is good for the adhesion of the paint. However, you will still need to wash Colorbond steel with water and household detergent, then rinse and let it dry.
2. What kind of paint is the most suitable for overpainting the Colorbond steel fence? The answer is – water-based acrylic. However, you may need to consider a more corrosion resistant paint if your Colorbond steel is located in a salty marine environment.
3. Once your Colorbond steel fence has been prepared for painting and you have consulted with a paint supplier as what kind of paint is the most appropriate, then make sure you follow the paint supplier’s safety guidelines. Wear protective equipment!
If you think that painting your Colorbond steel fence is not an option and you would need to replace it overall, turn to Diamond Fence. We offer high-quality industrial Colorbond steel fencing in Melbourne!
Call us on (03) 9753 4566, shoot us an email on info@diamondfence.com.au or just get a FREE online quote.
