Restoring Paint - Make Powder Coating Like New Again!

Our bronze-colored powder-coated porch railing was looking REALLY bad. The dust, grime, and calcium stains looked awful! Washing helped very little. Everbrite™ coatings to the rescue!

#powdercoating #metalpolish #protectpowdercoating

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Powder coating is actually a specialized type of paint, applied thicker, more durable than typical paint - but it’s still paint. A coating. That means that it can become damaged, degraded, stained, or discolored over time.

That certainly was the case with our front porch railing. Constructed as both a functional and artistic element of our house, it’s made of steel square and rectangular tubes, rebar, and metal leaves to resemble flowing vines. It gets compliments all the time - we love it!

Here’s what we don’t love. How it became discolored, along with areas that are severely chalky-looking, due to extreme calcium deposits. Add wind-blown dust (we get a lot of “breezes” where we live), and we can use all the help we can get to keep the railing looking fresh, clean, and glossy.

Our railing was challenged because lots of dust gets deposited on the railing and when we wiped it down, there were still lots of discoloration.

This is mainly because sprinkler water lands on portions of the railing. Our water has a VERY high calcium content. We’ve been able to manage it INSIDE by using water softening and calcium cleaners when needed on glass and restroom surfaces. OUTSIDE is another story. Even a few weeks of water landing on the powder-coated railing and then evaporating off leaves ugly calcium deposits.

Fortunately, we found a product kit that allows us to both clean the railing as well as coat it to give it protection, long-term washability, and a very nice sheen (almost like when it was new!).

The product is EverBrite™. The company offers several products for metal and paint protection, as well as home products that keep stainless steel products (think sinks, appliances) from getting stained or “fingerprinted up”, as well as antimicrobial coatings.

We used their flagship product, Everbrite™ on our railing. It is a clear, protective coating that restores the color and luster of chalky, dull, or faded siding as well as painted (remember, powder coating is a type of paint) or anodized metals (think of many types of aluminum shapes and extrusions). Everbrite is also a metal protectant and will stop copper, brass, or bronze from tarnishing or oxidizing. For those that live by the ocean or salt-water inlets, this is fantastic news!

https://www.everbritecoatings.com/

Or -

https://renewmetal.com

First, you need to remove the calcium and other impurities using either provided product (“EZ Prep™ in the Everbrite™ kit we purchased, or the cleaning product CLR (which stands for calcium, lime, and rust). Its main active ingredients are lactic and gluconic acids. Using rubber gloves, we applied the CLR first, working a manageable area at a time. We used it on all rail portions, doing all processes in a workable section at a time. After the CLR had done its work, we rinsed it off with lots of water. This removed most of the CLR while diluting the mixture to a point that it didn’t harm any plants in our flower bed that borders our front porch.

Next, the surface needs to be absolutely neutralized. A WATER RINSE WILL NOT SUFFICE. We brushed down the section with baking soda water (about a 1/4 cup in a 1-gallon pail of water). The fizzing told us that there was indeed acid still on the surface. Once the reaction subsided, we rinsed it all again with clear water.

While the surface is still wet, you can see what it will look like when you put on the Everbrite™ sealant. If it looks good, you’re ready to go. If not, do the cleaning steps again to see if you can improve the results. In our case, it looked great.

Once the railing section was dry, we applied the Everbrite™ product with the supplied application pad, let it dry, and lightly buffed it with a dry cloth. It looks fabulous.

We still get dust and calcium on the railings (it’s outside after all!), but it is easy to wipe off with a bit of moisture and touch-up. This has been a near miracle after so many attempts to get this to look good.

The EverBrite Company offers Everbrite™ kits to make the job easy and so you have all the supplies on hand to get to work. The kit contains Everbrite™ protective coating, EZ Prep cleaning concentrate and neutralizer, 2 prep pads, 2 microfiber towels, 2 applicators, and nitrile gloves.

Based on our positive experience, we’ll obtain and report on other Everbrite™ products.

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