lthenderson wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2024 8:19 am
moi wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 11:30 pm
The contractor used spray gun to spray the paint, and I am concerned that the paint job won’t last and it’ll be 1-3 years before the paint fail, and the welded areas will be exposed to moisture (mostly from the sprinkler) and start to rust and fail.Do you think it’s reasonable to ask the contractor to sand, prime, then paint? It doesn’t sound like the contractor has intention to do that. Should I just pay a painter to do that so this new fence would last 10-15 years? I feel a proper paint job should have been included with the job
Thanks for the pictures. I thought they had painted over the welding but they painted the entire fence. I’m not sure why the fence wasn’t powder coated in the color of choice to start with. It would have been the most durable finish. As Sandtrap said above, painting powder coated metal is difficult because powder coating leaves behind a smooth hard finish that is hard for paint to stick too. Really the only way to get a somewhat durable paint layer (still won’t be as durable as the powder coated layer) is to sand and clean the surface really well before using a high quality primer and then paint color of your choice.
I wouldn’t expect a run of the mill contractor to do any of this without specifically stating it in the contract. It is a lot of work to do a decent job due to the four sides and close spaces involved. It will be virtually impossible to do this by hand on site and get in all the crevasses and corners without spending days on just the sanding.
If you didn’t specify it specifically in your contract, I’m guessing the best outcome is for the painter to touch up the paint but it will never be a durable finish. Those scratches in the paint are only aesthetical blemishes though as the powder coated finish underneath is still intact. No worries about rusting there. The only places you will need to monitor in the future will be where it was welded and destroyed the powder coated finish. You should probably inspect those areas every couple years or so and reapply paint as necessary.
1 year follow up for this fence project. The contractor did come back and spray painted the scratch. I never put in wire mesh to avoid scratching the paint.
Unfortunately, only 1 year later, where the powder coated prefab fence was welded/joined to the post DID rust !! And I’m talking about EVERY SINGLE JOINT has the same failure pattern. In fact, when I inspected the weld, only 3 sides of the square cross section were welded to the post. The bottom side was not even welded!!! (see photo). I contacted the contractor and they said they will come fix it.
Question: What would be the minimum they need to do to ensure the rusted part would last at least 5-10 years? At this point I don’t even care about the paint getting scratched off. I just don’t want the fence to rust and rot and need to be replaced again soon.
Would the following be needed? Grind off the rusted part. Weld bare metal. Sand the joint between the prefab fence and the post all around, put high quality primer on it, then paint? When I talk about sand, primer, and paint, I’m thinking 6 inches around the joint to create a protected area near the joints, which are the points at highest risk of failure.
Would highly appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
