Things You Should Know When It Comes To Painting Your Pool Fence

After a good old hot summer and constantly using your swimming pool, you think it’s time to give it a little bit of love, tender and care. Of course you’d like your pool fence to look beautiful and as good as new till the next time the hot weather comes around. So you’ve considered panting your swimming pool fence. You don’t want to replace it as it’s still serving its purpose, but just to make it look a bit nicer. What should you know?

Firstly you should start with the fencing type that has been installed around your swimming pool.

Is it? :
1. Metal pool fencing
2. Semi-frameless glass fencing with stainless steel posts 
3. Frameless fencing (glass)
4. Aluminium fencing

When it comes to frameless glass fencing then obviously this post is of no use for you. Semi-frameless glass fencing, well maybe a little if you would like to paint the steel posts, then keep on reading.

We are going to focus on metal pool fencing and aluminium pool fencing.

As the swimming pool area, regardless if it’s domestic or commercial swimming pool, it’s the area with a high corrosion risk. Therefore any fencing type you install, even if it’s a frameless glass as the attachments or any smaller screws and bolts should be made out of the material that can fight the corrosion effectively (e.g stainless steel).

The two most used ways to fight the corrosion is galvanizing and powder coating, and very often both of them at the same time. For example applying galvanized primer and then powder coat it into the colour of your choice. That should give your pool fence a longer lasting life. Of course you don’t do that at home as the pool fencing material installed initially should have it already done by your fence installer.

Okay, so you want to paint it right?

Firstly take a look and see if your pool fence has any rust on it? If the only reason you want to paint your pool fence is that you got sick of the colour and need a change, then it should be an easier task to do. But when it comes to a rusty metal fence, it’s a bit more complicated.

1. PAINTING YOUR RUSTY METAL POOL FENCE

So you’ve discovered rusty patches on your swimming pool fence and you want to address this issue ASAP. Wise choice! As when you find some rust on your swimming pool fence, then getting rid of it should be on top of your to-do list as rust can continue to spread if untreated. And you wouldn’t want that to happen as your swimming pool fence is there for security reasons foremost and rust can only damage and make your pool fence much weaker, making an exposure to danger, especially if you have little kids around.

First things first!

When your pool fencing is still in a good condition, meaning just a few rusty patches here or there, then yes, painting is a good idea, and a fast fix. But if your pool fencing has been damaged by the rust so badly then you might be better off considering installing a new fence, for example tubular steel fence that has been powder coated to give it a longer lasting lifespan. Because if you decide to give your very-very rusty old pool fence a quick fix by painting it, then this quick fix will not be the needed long lasting solution and in some cases just a waste of time and money because your rusty pool fence is not strong enough anymore as the damage by the rust is so deep that it’s just a matter of time till your pool fence might just break.

Oh, okay, again off topic here! Sorry! So what to do before you can paint your swimming pool fence that has a little bit of rusty spots on it.

1. Firstly you should get rid off the flaking paint and the rust  and you can do that by using the wire brush. Don’t go all crazy on that and try to rub it till it’s down to shiny metal. It’s enough to brush with a wire brush till you get rid of the flakes and a powdery surface rust.

2. Then apply rust-inhibitive primer. Why? Well, like the name says it, it’s to prevent the rust.

If your pool fence looks good overall, but has just some heavy rusty spots, then using wire brush might not solve the case. You would need a bit of heavier machinery.  Apply a primer that adheres to rusted surfaces, and you can use a drill with a wire wheel, or an angle drill to get the job done faster.

What to do with the spots that are very hard to reach? For that there are special primers that soak into the rust and change it into a non-rusting surface that you’d then be able to paint. You can go to your hardware store and ask the sales person and they should be able to advise which one to use.

But you know, sometimes giving your swimming pool fence just a quick wash or a rinse is all it needs. Don’t mistaken just a little bit of dirt for rust!

2. PAINTING AN ALUMINIUM POOL FENCE

When it comes to painting an aluminium swimming pool fence, there are things to remember. First is that it’s much less of a hustle to paint the aluminium fence rather than the metal fence. Why? Well, let me tell you! Because aluminium pool fences are rust free! So the only reason you’d want to paint your aluminium swimming pool fence is that you just got sick of the colour and you needed a change.

When it comes to painting an aluminium pool fence, you should do the following:

1. Make sure you clean your fence from dust, dirt, grease or any other oils that may appear on your aluminium pool fence. Who knows, kids might touch the swimming pool fence constantly with their suncream covered hands.

2. Apply a special primer that suits the aluminium pool fence as it will help the colour to stick onto it. That will also increase the durability of the paint.

3. Apply the new colour, but make sure that the paint you’ve bought is specifically made for metal and not timber.

And there you have it. This post was not in a typical Q&A form, but hopefully answered some of your questions.

If you are planning to install a new swimming pool fence as the old one is done and dusted, or you need to install a pool fence for the first time, then contact us. Diamond Fence is an experienced pool fencing specialists. Together we’ll find a solution to make your summer days nice and cool by your beautiful swimming pool!

Give us a call on (03) 9753 4566 , shoot us an email on info@diamondfence.com.au , or just get a FREE online quote.