Painting a steel seawall outside in winter

sndkft

I have about 250 feet of rusty corrugated steel seawall to paint.
I'm located in Michigan and want to do this in the winter while the water level is lower and I can stand on the ice to paint.
I called a local paint supplier/manufacturer and they make an oil base for this application and told me to put it directly on the seawall with no primer.
The temps right now are well below freezing...which I need if I want to paint from the ice.
Is this okay to do when it's 25 degrees outside? any tips are appreciated.
Like any job I want to do it right the first time,
Thanks,
Mike

concretemasonry

Don't get fooled by the air temperature. Once a coating has been applied, the mass and temperature will control. You can easily apply a coating on a 50F day in the sun while standing on the ices, it may not last a long as something applied later when the seawall was warmer and allowed better adhesion and curing even though the air temperature was the same.

Dick

Gymschu

I can't even imagine applying any paint that would properly adhere in the conditions you describe. You need HEAT for this to work. Obviously having ice and heat mix is gonna be a problem. Plus, your comfort level (being bundled up) is gonna be so low that you won't be very productive.

Bondo

Ayuh,... I gotta think standing on a floating platform in Summer will yeild Better results...

spraygunn

Hey sndkft,

Who was the manufacturer and what was the product?

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Best of Luck
Steve

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sndkft

Thanks for the replies!

From what I've been told the coast guard and state DNR recommend painting
seawalls in the winter to reduce the risk contamination of the water, however I'm sure they don't have advise of how to do it.

The water level is now down 24" from it's high level in the summer and I can paint below this water line.
Good point about letting the sun warm the seawall and not paying too much attention to the air temp.
I'm not bothered by painting in the cold and just want to know the best way to do it under these conditions.
Thanks again,
Mike

sndkft

The company is called Kush paints in Roseville, MI
He said the paint was for use on seawalls.

spraygunn

Never heard of them, but that doesn't mean anything. With the weather we're having I wouldn't go out there now. There will be better days coming. The ice won't begin to melt until March. It can be done in this time of year, but you gotta love winter to do it.

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Steve

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spraygunn

I just did a little reading on Kush marine paint. They said it was a thick paint which would not serve you well at these temps. Wait till it's at least 50 degrees, and even then the paint will get thicker because of the cold temps. If you need to thin the paint don't use paint thinner, use Penetrol by Flood. It will thin the paint but not break down the chemistry.

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Best of Luck
Steve

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sndkft

Thanks Spraygunn for making another good point about the paint being thicker in the cold weather.
I think I will wait for some warmer temps before I tackle this job.
Thanks for the help and this is a great forum for getting info.