Corroding Iron railing

[rockran]

Hi All,
The iron railing leading up to the front door is corroding. This is a 70s style unit. What are peoples experience, recommendation ?
1. Sand down, prime and paint
2. Remove and replace .. but with what
3. Leave as is... tenants don't care anyway ?

If you have done 1 or 2 can you please let me know who or what you did.
Thanks,
REM

[Davo36]

Get it taken off and taken to a hot dip galvanising place. A builder did this for us at our home. It was a very long rail, so they cut it into 4 to 5m long sections, welded on tongue join bits, hot dipped it and brought it back, bolted it together.

Sounds horrible but worked really well. and looked very good. That was 6 years ago and the rail still looks fine, no corrosion showing.

[rockran]

Davo36, sounds good but expensive ? do you still remember the guy who did it ?

[Davo36]

It cost us $1500 but that was for heaps of it, probably 20 to 30 metres. A local builder took it to an engineering outfit.

The builder is no longer around and I don't know which engineering place it was, but any of them should be able to do it.

[PC]

If it's too far gone you can remove it and replace it with a new timber railing.
Hopefully the steps are solid enough to bolt a new railing to.

[rockran]

Do you guys think it makes a difference to potential tenants of a 2 bedroom unit ?

[blurt]

All you need to do is go over it with a wire brush and apply rust converter. This converts the rust into an inert form and it acts a a primer, so you can go ahead and finish it with enamel spray paint. Easy.

Brent

[blurt]

Actually I can think of another way to go if the rust is not too bad you can sand/wire brush and spray with zinc-it, this is a good way to go if you like a galvanised finish as you won't need to paint afterwards.

[NovInvestor]

Rockran,

If the railing is not corroded to the point where you can break it by hand, then you can just prep and paint/spray to get a decent finish on it.

If you lean on the railing and the railing gives away, then you need to replace it as it is now a hazard.

Prep and paint/spray to tenant your unit.

Only replace/upgrade the railing if you are planning to sell.

The tenant doesn't care about the outside, they only care about the inside of the unit.

[rockran]

Cool thanks for that

[rockran]

Just an update all. I got a grinder and a wire brush from Bunnings. Only ended up using the wire brush actually.
I then used Dulex Quit Rust metal primer on it which turned it black. A couple of days later I added 2 coats of Dulex Quit Rust top coat (white) and it turned out great.
Many thanks to the guy at Bunnings who was very helpful. It did take a lot of my time because it's a long railing so I hope it lasts a few years.

[NovInvestor]

Good job! and thanks for the helpful info =)