Exterior Mobile Home

Questions & AnswersExterior Mobile Home
Anonymous asked 10 years ago

I have 3-4 Exterior Mobile Homes, I am currently bidding on. They are 14×77 each has roughly 8-9 windows with 2 doors. They all have aluminum siding panels with screws. The Screws are rusty on the head surface only and you can see what appears to be rust running down some of the panels. I am wondering which type of paint to use for this project? I know there are paints for all surfaces, this is the first time I would be painting onto a aluminum surface it. Will I need to prime with a rust inhibitor? Or is there a paint product that will do it all. I would like to use a top quality paint so it will last for several years and the park owner wont have to worry about peeling. Any Suggestions would be greatly appreciated and welcomed.

5 Answers
Crowder Painting answered.

Hey Steve, I feel compelled to answer this one. Well everything depends on budget but this is how I would handle it;

I did this exact procedure to some storage units last year with no problems. They have aluminum siding and the condition mirrors your description.

A good washing with TSP will take care of most rust stains. Using a stiff broom or scrub brush attached to a roller pole will help. Note: TSP can be injecting into a pressure washer to speed up the washing.

Remaining rust and rust stains can be neutralized using Jasco Prep & Prime. Simply pour some into a spray bottle and apply to the rust. The rust will be turned black after a few hours indicating it is ready for primer. Now spot prime with Zinser Coverstain oil base primer. This will seal up the treated rust spots for application of acrylic paint.

If you use a really good 100% acrylic paint you won't need to prime the entire trailer. I'm thinking of Sherwin Williams Duration or a DTM (direct to metal acrylic). Both will be a bit expensive but you won't need to apply a prime coat. With a cheaper paint you will have the extra materials and labor for the prime coat.

Hello Karl,
Thanks for the great feedback. I will be sure to check SW out for pricing and availability. I am not sure if I can Find the Jasco prep & Prime but I will look around for it.. I had planned on using a primer for the rough areas, Hopefully I can find the Jasco product which would make it 100% reassuring that the rust wont come back.

I am planning on Spraying this and then back roll it. Would you have any suggestions on using this method and specifically the Paint? Is it pretty similar to spraying a regular paint project?

Thanks again,
Steve

PS: Side note. thanks for having this website. It is an wonderful tool for both the professional and the home owner. Always find great feedback here from the contractors.

Crowder Painting answered.

Jasco Prep & Prime is a water thin green liquid. It is an acid that reacts with the rust. If you can't find this particular product you should be able to find something similar.

The biggest thing is prime the areas that it is applied to with an oil based primer before applying any water based paint. Personal experience- water based paints will curdle when applied over this stuff without a primer.

Back-rolling depends on the siding you are dealing with. When we painted the self storage buildings the siding was smooth, lightly corrugated, factory painted panels (like Pro Panel). This is the same stuff used on roofs. If yours is a lap siding with embossing then back-rolling will help get the paint into the faux wood grain.

In this case you can quickly spray and back-roll a coat using a tight weave 1/2 inch roller, let it dry and spray a second coat (no back-rolling) for the final coat. If the weather is really good, warm with low humidity, you can do this on the same day.

Note: This is how I learned how to spray paint. The back rolling picks up the screw-ups. A good way to break in a helper and make them more useful for future projects.

Spraying SW Duration is different than other paints. It is fairly thick to begin with and wants to go on thick. To get better control use a 415 or 515 tip. This way you don't have to work too hard and still get a good coat. It sets up quickly but can sag if too thick. It will take a couple of hours to get used to it. Personally, I like Duration. It looks good and saves us money by going on thick to begin with and sticks to everything. The only bummer is the initial cost, but we don't have to prime everything and every job as with many cheaper paints. So in the end a job is finished faster with less overall labor and material costs. Plus, Sherwin Williams gives a lifetime warranty; great selling point!!!!

I checked out the large building supply store that begins with "L". They have the Jasco Prep and Primer there. It is much cheaper then I had imagined it was going to be.

I was planning on using the 515 tip as it will give a bit more coverage. I have not had a lot of spray time myself and was glad to see that you basically learned this way. So it will give me a chance to work on my technique, I am confident I will be able to pick it up again and leave a high quality look.

Would you recommend spraying the primer or using a roller/brush? I am also wondering if I should use a dry roller for when I back roll or would this pull to much paint off the Aluminum Siding and leave Holidays (Splotches.

I was also wondering where the paint tends to lay on a bit thicker does this stretch the coverage with regard to the quantity of paint?
My calculations so far are, 7309 Sq Ft. @400 Sq Ft per Gal = 18.3 Gal of Paint. Round up to 20 Gal for over spray and touch up.

I also used a Paint Calculator I had setup with excel. To show both walls and ceiling measurements. Shown in feet as well as yards which gives the total sq yard and total sq feet and also calculates how much paint based @400 Sq Ft per Gallon of Paint. I will be sure to send you a copy of it.

Thanks again for the help and replies to this point.

Steve

Crowder Painting answered.

Spray the primer. This way you can get all 4 mobile homes prepped at the same time. But it really doesn't matter since you are back-rolling.

AS for the back-rolling; Pre wet the roller cover and work it out on the building to give a good even stipple. If it is too wet then the rolling will look bad. You will know when the roller has enough paint on it to work.

Figure Duration at 300 sq/ft per gallon. It is thicker than most normal paints. That's about 25 gallons but I would go ahead and bid it at 30 to play it safe. At my cost that's $1350 ($45 per gallon last time I checked). I know that seems high but you will eliminate the primer, $20 per gallon x 25= $400, and the labor to apply it. You might get Zinsser Cover Stain by the 5 for $16 per gallon at Lowes or Home Depot, on sale.

I checked out the Excel paint calculator; That's neat. Now if only I could figure out how to allow others to download it. Still working on that idea. Remember at the end of the day I'm still a painter not a computer programmer. I'll keep working on it.

PS- Spraying is easy once you get the hang of it. Probably will take you 3-4 hours and you will spraying Duration like a pro!!