Cleaning Iron Railings (merged threads)

poppyroberta

Hi all

We are having the victorian sash windows restored and have managed to get 6 done (only another 9 or so to go).

Anyway the house is double fronted and detached and has 5 large sash windows to the front. 2 on either side of the front door which are the reception rooms and another 3 to the front of the house on the 1st floor.

There are some iron ( i think they are iron) decorative railings which sit on the roof of the bay windows on the ground floor if that makes sense just below the 1st floor windows. 2 all in all. They have been sealed with lead flashing onto the roof of the bay windows if that makes sense (I think I am using the right terms and that this is the case).

Problem is they were painted white (which I am happy with as the windows will eventually be repainted white again as well as the front door) but they are really rusty and sort of orange and just horrible and really make the house look like it's in a really awful state. Which maybe is not far off the mark!!!

I would really like to get these restored back to their former glory and be painted white again but don't know what it is I need to do.

Any help to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated. I have been on the Victorian Society website but could not find anything. Tried searching the internet but it's like finding a needle in a haystack! Just keep coming back to Ironmongers who will make something to my design but I want these restored and not replaced with a like for like really.

Thank you

ckerrd

You could just try removing the paint with a wire brush and then using something like Hammerite to repaint them white. I have just done some iron work and the tuff I had came with a built in primer to stop having to give it a couple of coats

Seakay

You could also try a rust inhibitor
http://www.nwepaints.co.uk/acatalog/RustTreatments.html (see from about halfway down the page)
And you may find some useful advise here:
http://www.realwroughtiron.com/wiac.htm

Poppycat

Clean the worse rust off with wire brush and paint with Hammerite Krust

Krust will kill rust in minutes and will change the metal to black, but it does need painting

ormus

do they have to be white?
black looks so much better, esp with gold tops/spikes.

kittiwoz

Matter of opinion. I think they look much better plain. I think gold spikes are pretty tacky tbh. I'm pretty sure the Victorians would never have painted them like that either so it wouldn't be appropriate for a restoration.

Hitch

I assume you can get safe access to them from a work platform or similar?

Paint stripper will remove a lot of old paints, but can be hard work. I would use some paint stripper and wire brush to remove the majority of it. And the remaining rust and paint will come off with a good wire brushing from a twist knot brush in an angle grinder.

Good thick clothes, gloves and googles are essentials.
If you are not used to handling powertools, see if you can find a friend or someone to do it.


IMO, if your fascia boards, windows etc are white, go with white.
Remove any traces of dirt, than 2 coats of a good quality metal paint, using primer if neccessary.

Another way, is to remove them and send them away for 'shot blasting' or sand blasting. That will remove every trace of paint and rust, but comes at a price. There are also comanies that do mobile blasting, but again, probably even dearer.

muir_steve

i am trying to strip paint from cast iron railings which form part of an internal bannister. I have tried paint dtriper which didn't really do much, got most of the paint off with a blow torch and wire brush but still can't get the paint out of the detail. i've tried paint stripper again but just makes a mess and moves the paint around without lifting the paint off. also tried wire brushes on a drill. any suggestions would be appreciated.

thank you
steve

Nile

Hello muir_steve

I've merged your thread with this existing thread.

Regards

Nile

Hitch

If the detail is very deep it will be quite hard work. You have already softened it by the sound of it. Sounds like scrapeing with the corner of an old chisel may be the way to go.

You say you have tried a wire brush in a drill, they are okay, but not particularly aggresive, a twist knot brush in a grinder is, but may struggle getting into deep detailings.

Is it neccessary to remove every trace?
Could the ironwork be removed without much hassle, for blasting.