Painting a metal fence

How to achieve the perfect paint job

A metal fence is a timelessly beautiful ornament for your garden and property. A coat of paint ensures a long-lasting shine and reliable weather resistance – and at the same time, gives your wrought iron fence a unique color touch. We'll explain what you need to pay attention to when painting your metal fence. If you keep a few basic things in mind, painting your fence will be a breeze!

Repainting a Metal Fence – Pretreatment

Regardless of whether your metal fence is made of stainless steel and is new to your garden, or if it's a few years old and has rust spots, you can't avoid pretreatment if you want to repaint your metal fence.

Rusted Metal Fences – Can They Be Painted?
The general rule is: Even a rusty fence can shine like new. If your metal fence has rust spots, you must remove them beforehand so that the paint can adhere optimally to the metal.

Fence model "Belluno" in a patina finish

For severe rust infestation, a so-called rust converter, which you apply to the metal, is suitable. If the metal is corrosion-protected, you can try sanding off the rust. Since this is flash rust, a thorough sanding will suffice as preparation.

Once your metal fence is free of rust and you've roughened it with sandpaper, you can begin the actual painting. Make sure the paint you choose contains a rust-protecting additive. Alternatively, you can apply a separate rust protection layer before applying the paint.

You can buy rust converters, paint, and rust protection at hardware stores.

Can wrought iron be painted?

If you are the proud owner of a wrought iron fence and want to paint it, you must first remove any rust spots with sandpaper or a rust converter. Then, remove any dust from your wrought iron fence. Even if the dust isn't visible at first glance, the finest particles always settle and must be removed first. To do this, simply use water and a mild household cleaner or dish soap.

Wrought iron fence painted once, another coat needed

©moodboard/ AdobeStock: cleaned metal fence

Once the fence is dry and thoroughly cleaned, sand it again with sandpaper to roughen the surface and allow the paint to adhere optimally.

Painting hot-dip galvanized metal – is that possible?

Even a hot-dip galvanized metal fence You can paint it. However, you must first clean and sand it thoroughly to ensure an even and opaque finish.

©wupperbild/ AdobeStock: galvanized metal fence with balls as a finish

To paint galvanized metal, you must first perform a wetting agent wash. While this sounds complicated, it's actually very simple. Mix ammonia and water in a ratio of 1:10 and add a few drops of dish soap. Be sure to wear gloves and use a standard sponge when applying the cleaning solution. As soon as a gray foam forms during treatment, let the solution work for 10 minutes. Then rinse off the wetting foam with clean water. Once the surface is dry, you can begin painting.

Painting a metal fence without sanding – is that even possible?

Admittedly, sanding a metal fence is a rather tedious and time-consuming job. But unfortunately, it's also necessary to remove dirt, rust, and old paint, and to ensure an even, well-adhering paint application. However, you don't necessarily have to resort to sandpaper. Practical alternatives include:

Sandblasting

Burning

Stripping

With a sandblaster, your metal fence can be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and rust in a short time, while also roughening the surface. For this type of cleaning, hire a specialist in abrasive surface treatment techniques.

With a heat gun, which reaches temperatures between 500 and 600 degrees Celsius, you can remove old paint and adhesives from the metal. However, you'll need to remove the residue with a spatula.

Special paint strippers are particularly suitable if your metal fence has old acrylic paints, acrylic resin paints, or two-component paints stuck to it. The paint stripper is applied with a brush. Then you just have to scrape off the paint residue.

Paint or spray a metal fence?

Opinions differ when it comes to applying paint. Some prefer painting with a brush, others swear by a spray gun. Ultimately, what matters most is the cost. It's significantly cheaper to paint your metal fence with a brush than using a spray system – but it's also more time-consuming.

Fence is sprayed orange with a spray gun

©singjai/ AdobeStock: Metal fence is sprayed with red paint

With a spray gun, you can apply the paint quickly, evenly, and over a large area. Usually, one application is enough to paint the fence all around. Spraying achieves a uniform coat of paint. However, a spray gun or spray system isn't exactly cheap. You'll typically pay between €50 and €150 for one in stores. In addition to the high cost of purchasing a spray gun, covering it with a tarp is difficult – the fine spray mist spreads quickly and widely over the immediate area.

If you choose to apply the paint with a spray gun, be sure to wear a respirator and gloves.

©cherokee4/ AdobeStock: Metal fence is painted with brown paint

Brushes and paint buckets, on the other hand, are very inexpensive to purchase. Painting by hand is particularly suitable for small metal fences. The larger the fence, the more time-consuming the painting process becomes. A major advantage is that you can also paint intricate areas and fine details with a brush. You can also control the amount of paint applied more precisely than with a spray gun. Major disadvantage: One coat of paint is usually not enough to achieve an even and opaque result.

The advantages and disadvantages of brushes and spray guns at a glance

Spray gun

Advantages	Disadvantages
Easy to apply One coat of paint is usually sufficient Even result	Relatively expensive to purchase Potential contamination of the Environment through spray mist

Brushes

Advantages	Disadvantages
Inexpensive to purchase Precise painting, even small details	Time-consuming Usually multiple coats of paint are required necessary

Painting a fence – which color is best?

For metal fences, it's best to choose a paint with good coverage. As mentioned above, colored paints with integrated rust protection are recommended – this way, the new coat lasts longer and you can enjoy a rich, glossy color for much longer.

The choice of color depends on your personal taste. You can find a wide range of different paints from various manufacturers in stores. You can also find effect paints for hammered and textured effects, matte paints, or paints with a fine satin sheen.

Be creative: You can set accents with different colors. These look particularly good on richly decorated metal fences with lace and ornaments.

Buy a fence with a finished powder coating – it will last for decades

Don't want to wield a brush or spray gun yourself? Then save yourself the work and replace your old fence with a new model that includes a matching powder coating.

At ELEO Express, you'll find a large selection of high-quality metal fences powder-coated in elegant anthracite using the duplex process. The powder coating reliably withstands the elements – for years.