Repainting Metal Window Bars
Need advice on painting the original bars on the garden floor windows and the gate underneath the stoop. Our GC suggested just scraping and painting the bars. The paint is severely cracking so a lot of it can come off by scraping however, we are looking for as near to perfect as we can get…
Need advice on painting the original bars on the garden floor windows and the gate underneath the stoop. Our GC suggested just scraping and painting the bars. The paint is severely cracking so a lot of it can come off by scraping however, we are looking for as near to perfect as we can get in the finish. The GC tried blowtorching the paint and ended burning the wood trim around the window behind it. That obviously won’t do especially since it’s the original window trim. He is now suggesting removing the metal bars and stripping, painting and putting back. At first that sounded good to me, because I thought they could just be unscrewed and screwed back on, but then he said he may have to cut and weld them back on. I don’t like the sound of that at all. Does anyone have experience dealing with this? Thanks!
Our GC removed our bars to replace the window. He cautioned us that he may need to saw them off. Turns out that by removing the bolts at the side, they were able to be slid out of the concrete and did not make much damage at all. No cutting. Good luck.
The best option will ne to remove them and have them sand/media blasted and re-finished. If they are cut out with a sawzall, the re-welding will be minimal. If you want to keep them in, I have found that using bicycle chains to strip the finish works well (old trick sailors used on ships to remove rust). You start by running them around the bars and then holding each end, pulling on alternating ends working your way up and down the bars (works better on round stock.
JOE
What about using a wire wheel? I recently stripped an old metal desk with wire wheels and a random orbital sander, came up bare naked metal. Lowe’s or Home Depot sells wire wheels that fit into the end of a drill – and make sure you have protective eye gear. Hope this helps.
if they are the originals and if you are on a landmarked block (or in my opinion, even if not), i wouldn’t be removing them & then re-installing -you could attract the wrath of landmarks (in many instances the landmarks designation report references original window guards as a feature of the property). sorry that’s not so helpful as cautionary.