Galvanised Railings?

alexonhisown

Is there an easy way to tell if my garden railings are galvanised or not. they are about 4 years old and the paint is peeling off and need to be repainted. No sign of any rust on them.

nophd08

alexonhisown wrote: »

Is there an easy way to tell if my garden railings are galvanised or not. they are about 4 years old and the paint is peeling off and need to be repainted. No sign of any rust on them.

You should see a silver colour where paint is chipping off, and if there is no sign of rust after 4 years then I'd guess they are galvanised. Also if railings are made with hollow section steel (box) you should see vent holes at either end, about 8 or 10mm dia.

alexonhisown

thanks nophd08, i will look for holes at the bottom, last year i scraped some paint off with a wire brush to see how easy it would come off and no sign of rustsince then, so it must be galvanised. Any advice on good primer for galvanised

nophd08

Most guys I know dont bother with primer once gates are dipped, its actually better to let galvanised items to weather for about 1 year before painting but in your case a bit of sandpaper on the flaky bits will help new paint stick.

BoardsMember

Can I hijack this thread if nobody minds, seeing as posters seem to be knowledgable re railings. I have an old house, the gate for the driveway is rusted right through on the bottom just above where it would meet the ground. Can this be repaired, the rest of the gates are in good enough condition, I'd be loathe to throw them away if they could be re-conditioned at all. Thanks.

nophd08

BoardsMember wrote: »

Can I hijack this thread if nobody minds, seeing as posters seem to be knowledgable re railings. I have an old house, the gate for the driveway is rusted right through on the bottom just above where it would meet the ground. Can this be repaired, the rest of the gates are in good enough condition, I'd be loathe to throw them away if they could be re-conditioned at all. Thanks.

No problem fixing them. Either take them off and bring them to a local fab shop or maybe someone will fix them in position. Old piece will be cut off and new will be welded on. Hinges could be permanently fixed so might need to be cut off.
Where are you based?

BoardsMember

Thanks fir the reply. I'm based near KCR in dublin

nophd08

BoardsMember wrote: »

Thanks fir the reply. I'm based near KCR in dublin

I could take on to repair them but I live in meath so you might be better sourcing a local welder/fabricator.

BoardsMember

Thanks. I'll ask around, if no luck I'll revert