DIY Steel Paint
- 1). Scrape off any peeling or damaged paint.
- 2). Feather the edges with 150-grit sandpaper so that the old paint blends easily with the new. Sand the entire surface to roughen it up and allow the new paint to stick.
- 3). Clean the surface of all paint chips. An air compressor is a great tool for this, but a tack cloth will do the job admirably.
- 4). Wipe the surface of galvanized steel with white vinegar. Apply pure white vinegar to a clean rag, and simply wipe it over the surface you need to paint. This simple, affordable step will go a long way to prevent the paint from peeling from the galvanized surface.
- 5). Select a rust-inhibiting primer that contains rust-inhibiting pigments. This is a must for exterior applications. Apply the primer with a brush. Let the primer dry completely before applying the paint.
- 6). Select a high-quality acrylic latex paint. Depending on the size of your project or the level of detail of the object, you may want to use a paint sprayer. Paint sprayers make your job a lot easier, but if you don't have one, go ahead and use brushes. Remember, glossy finishes are much easier to clean than flat finishes. Fingerprints, for example, will be much easier to wipe from a semigloss-finished door than a flat-finished door.
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