Rustoleum has a paint intended for applying over rust. (Of course you
can use it on clean steel as well.) I have used it once in a while for
years. Just remove the heavier rust and flakes. No need to get all the
rust off. I have used it on light to moderate rust on steel exposed to
the environment and now going on 15 years later the paint looks nearly
new and there is no rust. No primer required. Lowes had it in silver
and black. My steel square tubes are still shiny black over 14 years
later and are exposed to the sun and weather. I had the paint dept
folks tint some quarts of silver with their darkest green pigment.
Result was light green with a little blue look to it. Pretty nice
looking but not what I really wanted. If you try getting the silver
tinted A N D you aren't going to use it up right away... stir or shake
the can and then remove some of the paint to make room for the pigment.
The cans of tinted paint I stored (without making space for the pigment
before coloring them) popped their tops when they got hot.
This paint isn't super cheap but is super good. For economy and to get
the color you want, just paint the rusted areas and areas likely to rust
and then paint over the whole tower with gray or whatever color you want.
Patrick
On 8/4/2017 8:33 PM, Donald Chester wrote:
The best and cheapest protective paint I have found for galvanised and bare
steel is ordinary aluminium paint. It should cover the old paint effectively,
and from my experience it is more effective than Cold-Galv. I put my Rohn 25G
tower up in 1981, insulated with a used broadcast tower base insulator. The
steel castings on the ends of the base insulator are bare ungalvanised steel. I
gave them a couple of coats of aluminium paint before putting up the tower, and
have re-painted them only once since then. I have seen no more rusty spots
appear at the surface of the bare castings than what has appeared on the HDG
tower itself. I have also used aluminium paint to touch up a few rusty spots
that showed up on the galvanising.
I tried Cold Galv that comes in a spray can on some bare ungalvanised steel
fence hardware, and within a year or two rusty spots were beginning to peek
through. Re-painted with aluminium, several years ago, and it has remained
rust-free ever since. Last can I bought was a gallon of Rustoleum from a big
box store for about $26.
Another use I find for aluminium paint is that it makes a good primer for
galvanised steel. The farmer who leases cropland and who keeps the antenna
field mowed off accidentally bumped one of the guy anchors with his mower. No
permanent damage was done, but I decided to paint the equaliser plates and
turnbuckles bright John Deere yellow to make them more visible than the
unpainted steel. Problem was, the yellow paint wouldn't adhere to the
galvanised steel and almost immediately peeled off. I tried an undercoat of
Rustoleum aluminium, let that thoroughly dry, and then painted with the John
Deere yellow and so far it has stayed on, 3 or 4 years now, without peeling.
Don k4kyv
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