RE-PAINTING HVAC Ductwork

tunabreath

Hey guys,

I have a finished basement with exposed ductwork that has been previously painted brown and is in bad shape, paintwise. The pain has flaked in some areas. I really don't know what type of paint it is, but sanding to bare metal is definitely out of the question. Last night I roughed up the good areas with sandpaper and then removed all the chipped and flaked paint. I am thinking of priming first (with a spraygun, Graco project painter) with Zinsser Bullseye water based primer, then just spraying with a Satin Latex. I figured the latex paint would be flexible and be able to stand the temperature changes of the ductwork.

Now my question is this - what do I use to seal the seams of the duct work that is paintable? Is aluminum foil tape paintable? Or should I paint the ductwork first, then just get a white DUCT tape (not the foil stuff)?

I found this foil tape that claims to be paintable (but it is the only one that says it is paintable):

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?...llow&cId=PDIO1

If you need pictures, let me know.

poppameth

The aluminum tape is just as paintable as the duct work is. I usually use and Acrylic DTM (direct to metal) paint for this but the Zinsser and latex topcoat will work. Make sure to use an acrylic primer. My main concern is the existing coating. Your new paint job is only as good as what is under it. If it continues to flake and peel it'll just take the new product with it.

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tunabreath

I'm a little confused. You said the Zinsser water based primer would be ok, but then you say to use an acrylic primer? Is acrylic ok to spray through my sprayer without requiring some sort of special cleaner?

The only areas where the paint was flaking/chipped was around the metal hangers. The paint seems to have good adhesion everywhere else.

Mr. Paint

Architectural-grade acrylic paints are all cleanable with soap and water. The Zinsser 1-2-3 primer is an adhesion promoting acrylic primer that is excellent for bare galvanized metal. But as Poppameth points out, no coating is better than what's underneath it. I am going to gurss that the brown paint was probably slopped on new galvanized with no preparation (Cleaning and rinsing) and no primer.

poppameth

Yep Zinsser water based products are acrylic. Duct material is generally either aluminum or galvanized steel, neither of which like oil products.

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Matthewt1970

I would use the DTM

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Latex Primer: Good for Drywall, that's about it.
Behr Paint: The plastic buckets are good, that's about it.