painting a grp canopy

[vac-care]

I need to paint a bow window GRP canopy.

Can I use any type of paint?

 

[TheDec]

Firstly why would you want to paint it, material wise they range from Polycarbonate, fiberglass, to plastic. which one of these applies to yours.

Dec

 

[vac-care]

The canopy has been painted in the past and has gone dull. I've no idea what type of material it is made from. How can I tell?

 

[TheDec]

If the canopy has previously been painted and as only become dull in appearance that would indicate that the paint system has become well adhered and only a repaint would be needed. The adherence here could be two fold, either it had recieved the correct primer or indeed was finished with two alkyd based glosses.

The mistake that is often made with regard to the painting of any non porus substrate is the application of an undercoat, this becomes brittle and will undermine your topcoat. So two full coats of any alkyd based gloss would be fine, if it was your intention to apply another paint system please let me know.

Dec

 

[vac-care]

Thanks for that Dec.

Is alkyd paint, the usual indoor/exterior paint, or a specialist paint?

Can I buy it from the usual DIY outlets?

Rick

 

[TheDec]

The term Alkyd refers to the binder of the paint, so a normal interior/exterior gloss would be fine. They are indeed available from diy outlets, yet always go for a trade paint eg Dulux Trade.

Dec