Really old railing repair...

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Morning gents,

The overriding question here is a pretty simple one... hoping you can help me confirm my plan.

I have this railing going along the side of my garden (on the other side is a park) and I want to do 2 things with it - 1) I want it repaired and 2) I want it all painted black (I've purchased the expensive 5 litres of Hammerite Direct To Rust paint - and I'm hoping that will do the job).

2BGRailingRepair.jpg


For 1), the repair, I am sure that I'll need a professional because there are parts where the tops of the railings are not connected into the piers any more - this is a pretty old railing, after all. This person, whoever it might be, will need to weld (or something) the connections back in to the piers and also find or make me a bit of metal that can go into that big gap / missing bit.

For 2), the refresh, I reckon I can go for the cleaning-up and painting part myself. I just want to check that I'm going about it the right way - my plan was to use some wire brush drill attachments I've bought to get rid of all the green paint and rust, then wipe them down and put the Hammerite Direct To Rust 8 Year Protection paint on it... is it as simple as that for me?

And my overriding question is this - can I get on with 2) before I find someone to do 1)? In fact, it is better for me to do it that way, or should I be waiting until someone's repaired the joints first before starting my refresh work?
 
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Best get the repairs done first....any welding will immediately destroy any coating anyway.
However, there's nothing to stop you bashing on with your painting, so long as its not too close to the repair area.
These old railings may well be wrought iron, so their tendency to corrode will be less than mild steel. As for the Hammerite treatment, I've used most of their products from time to time and I have to say they never perform as well as they are claimed to....however, once the rust is there its there so all you can do is to minimise the corrosion - which will definitely come back!
John :)
 
As for the Hammerite treatment, I've used most of their products from time to time and I have to say they never perform as well as they are claimed to...

Thank you. I did not want to hear that about this Hammerite stuff... I spent a load on this paint, thinking it was the best thing I could get. I think I may crack on with my wire brush attachments then... better find my goggles!
 
I know how you feel.....I've been trying to find the magic compound for years, and that includes mega expensive stuff by Bilt Hamber....get stuck in and see how it performs!
John :)
 
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I reckoned it would be smart of me to try my drill attachments on another bit of already-black railing that was going rusty, to see how the things worked and how the new black paint looked.

After many minutes of using the wire brush attachments, I ended up with this bit...

RailingProgress.jpg


...it was quite a bit of effort to get this bit done. Is this supposed to be easy, or should I expect it to take me many weeks to complete? I was not pressing the brush drill attachment down on the railing very hard... there was definite contact, don't get me wrong, but the stuff took a long time to start looking silver.

I've now painted that bit in the Hammerite, time will tell what it ends up looking like... I think it will stand out, but that doesn't matter for the green painted railings I will be doing all of.
 
You've done well on that bit, and I reckon you'll be sick of your life before you've done much more (the drill will be tired too!)
You won't get the surface any better......does this Hammerite need any primer?
John :)
 
I think you'd be ready to top yourself if you got stuck into that by hand :eek:
I guess it has to depend on how good you want the finish to be.....perhaps you could let us know in 2018!
Be lucky
John :)
 
The other tool that may or may not be quicker than a wire brush on a drill is a needle descaler.

You might be able to hire one.

Let me know if you try it - I have a similar but much smaller project that might eventually get to the top of my to-do list.
 
Very careful if you use an angle grinder......you must use a wire mop that's suitable for it, and the chances of snatching are high.
A needle descaler would work well, but they use huge amounts of compressed air - unless there is an electric one.
John :)
 
I'm going to do one of two things... one is that I'm going to talk to a railing repair company and just see if what they say is interesting, then - if not - two is that I'm going to persevere with the drill attachments. I've got two drills and various attachments, so I might drag the other half along for some of the experience!
 
It may be a dumb question but is it possible to remove the panels from the pillars?

If so then remove them and have them shot blasted.
 

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