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Tips on painting the awning / fascia

S

soonermajic

Well-known member
Metal Color is baseball park green, & want to change it to Royal Blue. Smooth metal top awning, about 3' tall x 120' + 2 large vacuum bays.
Any tips?
Best paint
Need to use Killz
Wash w/ blech or power wash or just wipe with brushes
Use rollers

Anyone done this themselves before?
 
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We have our large Fascia Front where we had some customer damaged panels anyway. We had a sheet metal shop fabricate the ones we needed & ... at the time ... our neighbor & friend was a body shop. They prepped the panels & did an automotive paint job on them. It was very similar to a factory job.

On another project ... in the laundromat we actually had powder coating done by a local shop when we re-manufactured some larger pieces of equipment.
 
It's not terribly expensive to replace the metal, and the coatings they use now last 30-40 years. Mine has been painted and wasn't prepped, so it's peeling and will be more trouble to clean and repaint than to replace.
 
I got quote to replace my metal fascia on the front of my building about 18 months ago, they wanted $1700. I thought that was a little high.
 
Me & my 2 sons are gonna do this. FREE labor. Uninstall the metal & put it all back up new, would take 2 full days. I don't want any down time at all.

Does anyone have tips on what paint that you'd use, prepping , etc...
I figured there's be no shortage of guys who'd done this before...
 
soonermajic said:
Me & my 2 sons are gonna do this. FREE labor. Uninstall the metal & put it all back up new, would take 2 full days. I don't want any down time at all.

Does anyone have tips on what paint that you'd use, prepping , etc...
I figured there's be no shortage of guys who'd done this before...
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Go powder coat route and you’ll never have to touch again. A few days off the building worth it imho.
 
I've had good luck with both direct to metal and metalatex from Sherwin Williams. I painted a metal fascia dark blue at a car wash close to twenty years. I don't recall using primer. I went by there recently and it still looked surprisingly good.

I would definitely pressure wash. I would also attempt to clean a spot with a brush and let it dry. If it seemed to remove oxidation I would clean the entire fascia with a brush.
 
Coach I just painted two of my three washes with direct to metal from Sherwin Williams and so far so good. I hired someone to do it because I didn't want to jack with it myself and my guys were busy on other jobs. First, I would give all the surface a good power washing to knock off dirt, debris and old paint. I would recommend using a gun vs. brushes or rollers for a better finish. So far its been holding up good but this was also done last winter it hasn't gone through 100+ degree Texas summer heat so we will see. We went with a royal blue as well.
 

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Rfreeman said:
Coach I just painted two of my three washes with direct to metal from Sherwin Williams and so far so good. I hired someone to do it because I didn't want to jack with it myself and my guys were busy on other jobs. First, I would give all the surface a good power washing to knock off dirt, debris and old paint. I would recommend using a gun vs. brushes or rollers for a better finish. So far its been holding up good but this was also done last winter it hasn't gone through 100+ degree Texas summer heat so we will see. We went with a royal blue as well.
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I hand painted that exact same tupe metal, on my 1st wash! Was a motha!!! This fascia is smootj& straight! Will be 10x easier.
Thanks for the advice
 
Was hoping to hear about fabric covered awnings. Like them much better as they glow at night.
 
I have fabric awnings with backlit lights. It still looks great after 20 years but the key is I pay the sign company to clean and treat them with UV protectant every year. Sherwin will stand behind their product if you follow their instructions. I would clean the metal well and then scuff it with a scotch brite sanding cloth.
 
My experience indicates that if you don’t do a powder coating (or fresh material with auto paint sounds awesome) you will likely be painting every year. Not sure where you are located but for us once we paint something once we paint it every spring.

I’d go heavy on prep work, power wash, chipping, light sanding and chemical prep (not in that order). I would stop in the local paint supply store for advice!
 
Etowah
Powder coating is done with a powder (hence the name) that is electrostatically applied to an individual PART hanging in the air, which is then baked to melt the powder onto the part. So no one is going to be powder coating their mansard unless they take it down piece by piece, powder coat it, then put it back up. It'd be cheaper to replace it.
 
I agree MEP
Me & 2 sons can power wash, prep & paint for under $500. I just thought there'd be multiple guys on here who had did the same on multiple washea, & had some great advice...
 
The only time I've painted one it was new and had paint grip coating because they were out of the matching color. I used a good oil-based paint. The secret is prep. If you want the paint to stick, IMO you should clean and scuff the surface. It's going to be a lot of work if you want it to last.
 
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