Should You Paint Your Railings? The Pros and Cons
When you order a set of gates or railings, an important decision to make is whether you should paint them yourself or instead have them come with a custom powder coat.  As with ordering any set of made-to-order railings and gates, it depends on the situation. There are positives and negatives to painting your new railings once they’ve arrived and it’s important to weigh up a few of the most common ones before you make your mind up:  Positives Quicker Lead Times - As we won’t be coating your product, this means that you’ll receive it quicker. If you need your gates and railings installed ASAP, ordering them without a powder-coated finish gives you the quickest the lead times available. You Can Choose Colours Straight From The Shelf - A second positive is that, at a time that suits you, you can head to your local hardware/decorator store and choose whichever colours you prefer to paint your gates/railings with straight off the shelf. You Can Use a Variety of Products - As your product will come without a coating, that gives you options when deciding what to paint it with. If a suitable undercoat is used, you can choose from a variety of popular paints, such as Hammerite, Farrow and Ball, all of which are commonly available from hardware/decorator stores. Negatives   Painting Can be Laborious - Though you save time in the short term by having your gates/railings delivered without a coating, finding the right paints as well as painting your product can take up a lot of your time in the long term. Depending on the quantity and proportions of your order, the task of choosing the right paints and fully painting your product can take a lot of time and effort.   Vertical Bars Can Cause Problems - Painting vertical bars can be an extremely fiddly task, making it difficult to create a uniform and long-lasting coat of paint. If your order is especially bespoke, this can mean that it’s potentially even trickier to paint yourself.  Painting Can Cost More in The Long-Term - The time and money you’d save initially by ordering your product without coating can be offset by how much paint you’d use to evenly coat your product. This can become costlier in the long run as paint is usually less durable and more likely to chip than a powder coating, meaning you should expect repainting multiple times in the future.  There are some pros and cons of painting your railings - we’d say though in the short term it can make sense time-wise and financially, you’ll be spending lots more time, effort and money researching which paints to use, buying them and painting your gates/railings.  With Gates Railings Direct, you’ll receive a custom, made to order product that can come with a high-quality powder coating that is available in 95% of all RAL colours.  An alternative standalone option we also offer is hot dip galvanising. This finish gives you 70 years’ worth of protection plus rust-proofing over your railings/gates. This finish can also be painted over.  For more information or any questions, email us at info@gatesrailingdirect.co.uk or call us at either 01384 392300. We look forward to hearing from you!