We recently carried out a fun little project for Lisa, who owned an old garden chimenea which was going to be thrown away. In just two days and around 8 hours of work, we were able to completely transform her garden chimenea, which now looks as good as new! Find out how we completed this project in the guide below.
Tools & Materials Used:
To complete this excellent project, you will need the following:
- Dust sheets
- Screwdrivers & small adjustable spanner
- Sanding paper and sanding blocks (or a dual-action sander if you have one)
- Degreaser
- Rust remedy/repair
- Rubber gloves
- 3 cans of heat resistant black paint
How To Revamp A Garden Chimnea:
We start by sanding any loose surface material and rust, if you have a mouse/dual action sander, this will be a lot easier. As a lot of it was surface rust, it came away fairly easily. Where the rust was worst affected, we ended up taking it right back to metal, and we used smaller cuts of sandpaper to get in the smaller recesses. You must attempt to sand as flat and flush as you can as the heat resistant paint is quite thin and needs to be applied in layers. Any imperfections may show through the paint finish. We then used a fan and some cloth to remove the rust debris. Degreaser was also applied with a cloth in case there were any chemicals on the surface we couldn’t see.
Next job was to add the rust remedy, (with rubber gloves on and some cloth) we applied the rust treatment. We used a product that, once cured, is ok to paint straight over. There are a number of rust treatments you can purchase online which can chemically treat the rust. This will prevent the treated rust from rusting again. Sand as flat as you possibly can as there is no primer to add to this and as mentioned above, the heat resistant paint is quite thin.
Once the sanding was completed, we applied the black heat resistant paint. This paint doesn’t require you to prime it before painting. Apply the paint in thin coats. Ordinarily, the paint should be touch dry within 15-20 mins and suitable to paint over within half an hour.
To further maintain the final project, wash it regularly with warm water and a little washing-up liquid. Dirt and dust on the surface of iron can trap moisture against the paintwork, causing it to deteriorate and rust. To keep your iron furniture in good condition, always keep it clean. Considering this rusty old chimenea was heading to the scrapyard, with a little elbow grease and some paint and de-rusting agents, the end product looks better than new and will last another ten years if kept clean.
