What's the best way to refinish a rusting deck?

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The contractors I bought my condo unit from obviously used steel with the wrong kind of coating on it, because it’s been rusting from day 1 — it’s got a black coating on it, that as soon as it gets any kind of wear, or stays wet for a prolonged period, flakes off and rusts.  I’d like to refinish it (get as much rust off as possible, neutralize it and then re-prime?) but am not sure what the best way to do that is.  The deck is 10′ x 10′ and then there are the stairs.  Any suggestions would be great – thanks!

annep

in Decks and Porches 12 years and 3 months ago

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stevecym | 12 years and 3 months ago

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well, there are more choices now than there were a couple of decades ago.  Initially, I would have said to wire brush as much of this off as possible and then prime it with a rusty metal primer and then put two coats of an enamel on there.  But some time in the past couple of years I bought a rust convertor made by Rustoleum.  I put that on a rusty piece of steel which I had intended on bringing inside for the winter but left out – and after sitting beneath snow and ice and a lot of water, the rust never returned (and several years on now, that very steel is in my basement with no rust appearing).  I would recommend this rust convertor as a base to painting.  The convertor worked fine on its own and I can only imagine it would be even better when painted – especially with foot traffic.  the directions claim that no priming is need over the convertor.   Years ago I did some auto work and prior to priming and painting we sanded to 320 and then applied etching acid to remove any oxidation.  that would be a little extreme here, but that is what was what was traditionally done with rust prior to applying a fine finish.   Steve