Painting downpipes

[Eagle]

Any advice about painting downpies?

I flicked weathershield all over the downpipe when I was painting the boards and now need to do something as it looks a bit messy.

What sort of paint should I use for painting a metal downpipe? 

[Simon]

Hey Eagle, before doing any painting on the down pipes, unfortunately you will need to remove all of the Weathersheild paint thats flicked onto the surface - if you dont it may affect your new top coat.

Luckily Weathershield can be removed easily; metholated spirits on a rag is a quick cheap fix, but for something fast acting and less elbow grease, a paint stripper will take everything off the surface.

Once your downpipes are clean and dry, you will need to use specific metal paints because of your surface. These paints involve a primer coat first, and then a seperate top coat afterwards. You won't be limited by colour choices for these special paints, and are usually gloss (shiney) or semi gloss (also called Satin) finishes.

Another side note to these paints is that they are oil based, so there will be more of a smell and will take a bit longer to dry compared to what youve been using.

[Jason]

@Simon

Many thanks for your detailed reply. What fantastic advice! I'm sure @Eagle and other community members will really benefit from your experience. 

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts soon.

Jason

[timdawg]

hey @Eagle if you're not too keen on using oil based paints there are some great water-based alternatives available.  They don't smell and dry much quicker then their oil based counterparts.  

Being metal you will definitely need a primer to get the job done right.  I would go with a water-based, all-purpose interior/exterior one.  Once primed use a good quality, water-based, exterior paint for your top coat.

Note: if you are having problems with rust I would still go with the oil based paint, some of them are formulated to be rust inhibiting which is a big help.

hope this helps

[Jason]

Hi @Eagle,

Just wondering how you went with painting the downpipes? Have you tackled it yet or is it still on the to-do list?

Jason