Tips For Caring For Iron Gates And Fencing

Simple Repairs

Simple repairs to iron gates and fencing can be achieved quite successfully by anyone. Just remember though, if you are not confident in your ability to do these simple repairs, it may be better to get a professional to do them for you.

Simple repairs on your gates or fences include replacing fasteners or hardware. This should be done with fasteners that match the older ones as closely as possible. Drill out the old fasteners. Then re-tap the hole with the same thread count or similar and then install the new hardware.

You can also bend your fence back to original shape quite easily as well. This can either be done cold or with heat from something like a blow torch. Heating up the area that you want to bend does make the process easier though.

Surface Preparation

Preparing the surface of your gate or fence for painting is a fairly simple process it just takes a bit of time. The first step is to remove all of the rust and flaky old paint. This can be done with a paint scraper and a wire brush.

You can then sand the metal to remove any areas that you couldn't reach with the wire brush. To speed up this process you can use a sand paper disk in a drill.

It is important that you get all of the rust off from every nook and cranny as any rust left will continue to eat through the metal.

After the fence is completely free from rust you can wash the fence with clean water and once this is dry. You can then apply the rust converter product. This can be found at any DIY store and will help to prevent rust from forming.

After all of these processes are complete you can then apply primer and paint to your fence.