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Aluminum and galvanized metal are the two most common "non-ferrous" metals that often require painting. To paint Aluminum one must first make sure the surface is clean and free of surface contaminants No dirt. No grease. No oils. There are lots of primers out there that are designed for tenacious gripping power on aluminum and once you have cleaned as above your are ready for your first step. Primer. Some coatings have the ability to adhere to aluminum without a primer, but for most purposes you will already have paint you wish to use as a topcoat so it will match your house, door, whatever it might be. Primer of this type is topcoatable with almost any type of paint, oil or latex, and so priming answers the problem. You can buy latex versions of these primers and these generally are recoatable in about an hour or so. Some oil based and epoxy based primers are also capable of adhering to aluminum but the water based products are "greener" and up for most any task. High moisture environments may be the acceptions. Call a good paint store for advice on this type of application. Once you prime and wait the recommended dry time to recoat go ahead and put a coat of your paint on and you are done. Check to see if you can have this primer tinted toward the finish color at the store you are buying from. There are tinting limitaions and not all colors may be matched closely. Ask about a neutral gray primer in some of these instances (eg. Deep reds). Make sure what you buy specifically says it will adhere to clean aluminum.

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16y ago

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