Painting the hangar??

[tkatc]

Hangar space is hard to come by in these parts but I was fortunate to land a 1/2 share of a hangar at my home airport. Bad part is the hangar is pretty dumpy. It is extremely dark inside but I just got new high output lights that I will install soon. I also want to paint the bare metal walls. I believe it is galvanized steel. Anybody have tips on this? Spraying is not an option because overspray will anger the neighbors. I was thinking a white primer would work and no paint would even be needed.


The floor is in bad shape and I suppose discarded carpet would be best there. What have you guys done?

[Bill.Peyton]

As I recall from years ago painting galvanized metal, there is a special primer you need to use prior to paint. That was a long long time ago, by now there may be a special paint that you can use. I am sure there will be a lot of cleaning and scruffing of the metal to help the adhesion. I would just purchase more lights, it would be less trouble and you could take the lights with you when you leave someday. I went to Lowes years ago and bought the high output 2 tube long tube fixtures and put 8 of these in my T hanger. It's like working in the bright sunlight!

[FresnoR]

You will have a very difficult time painting galvanized steel. It is by its nature resistant to paints and corrosion.

If you really want white walls, purchase plastic white corrugated plastic panels from home depot and mount them over the current walls, otherwise, leave them as is, and epoxy the floors white. The reflective nature will really brighten the room with the added lights.

[John Clark]

I will second Bill and Rick's comments. Galvanized steel is very difficult to paint successfully. The floor and lighting really makes a difference. Like Bill, I have 8 double fixtures in my hangar. The floor is concrete, painted with floor and deck paint from Home Depot. My "floor" is World War 2 era concrete ramp, not exactly pristine, but the paint really helped.



John Clark ATP, CFI
FAA FAAST Team Member
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

[brown bear]

I got some paint from the logal farm and ranch store that is made for painting Galvanized metal. Its not white but is a very bright silver, its made for barn roofs, but sure made the inside of my shop bright! Seams to stick to anything, even dirt!
Doug

[tkatc]

Silver sounds good.... Where can I find that paint? And how much would I need for good coverage?