How do you paint Metal Cladding?

How do you Paint Metal Cladding?

Painting metal cladding is a perfect way to improve the exterior of your building. Cladding adds aesthetic value to the building that it is used for. Using cladding for walls and sides of buildings, is becoming increasingly popular among builders and homeowners.

What is Metal Cladding?

Metal cladding is a very common material used across the UK. While you may find some commercial areas with interior cladding, majority of metal cladding is exterior, on warehouses, barns & other industrial exterior structures.

Metal cladding is mostly made of sheets of tough galvanised steel, metal cladding is lightweight, durable, low maintenance & easy to install, making it a popular option of protective coating to offer a protective layer to buildings.

Painting Metal Cladding

Like most surfaces, metal cladding can be painted using a suitable metal paint. However, metal is a hard surface, making it more difficult to paint than more porous materials such as timber.

Painting metal cladding offers Protection and Practicality.

Protection - Painting external metal cladding can offer extra protection against corrosion, UV deterioration and weathering, helping to extend the lifespan of the metal.
Practicality - Instead of installing new cladding, the easier and cheaper way to change metal cladding is to give it a coat of paint.

How to Paint Metal Cladding

Preparation - Same as any other surface, Metal Cladding must be properly prepared before painting to ensure long-term results. Remove any dirt or grease from the metal cladding using a degreaser such as the Rust-Oleum ND14 Cleaner and Degreaser. This is an essential step to ensuring good adhesion for the coating to the cladding. If the surface is heavily rusted, ensure you remove this rust to ensure best results.
Priming - Delaminate, if the metal cladding is highly weathered, or the plastisol on the cladding behind to delaminate, you may decide to use a primer. Rust-Oleum Noxyde Metal Cladding Coating is a primer and topcoat in one, so this is not necessary if you are using that particular product on sound metal cladding.
Painting - The best way to apply metal cladding paints like Noxyde is to spray apply them, ensuring the best possible finish to the cladding. Noxyde can also be applied by roller, if you do not have access to an airless spray machine. High pressure fluid from spray can puncture the skin, so always use a tip safety guard for extra protection and set the trigger safety in a locked position when not using the machine. With Rust-Oleum Noxyde, when undiluted, use a 13-17 nozzle and a pressure of 170 bars. The nozzle and pressure could vary depending on the type of substrate and equipment. The paint should reman undiluted hen used as a rust preventive paint. Noxyde is recoatable after 24 hours, so ensure you leave sufficient time between coats.