Alumawood For Patio Cover Paint
Hi All. We are in the process of re-doing our 30 year old 18'x36' wood patio cover. The wood has lots of dry rot and needs replacing. One of the options we are looking at is Alumawood (Alumimum) products. Lots of benefits (no cracking, etc), however, I was told that you cannot re-paint Alumawood. The original paint is baked on and you cannot re-paint it as it will not adhere. Before someone says you don't need to even paint Alumawood, any and I mean ANY painted producted that is exposed to the outside WILL loos it's sheen and luster with time. It may be 2, 4 or 8 years, but paint will not look like it did the first day. So the question is, for those of you who have Alumawood patios (or similar type of patios), have you had any sucess re-painting your patio? Well, to answer my own question. You cannot re-paint Alumawood. I called the manufacture of Alumawood and they said that if you re-paint Alumawood, you will VOID the warranty. This is a major flaw with this product! No paint will keep it's sheen and luster after a few years being out in the elements. It will look great and shinny first time installed, but then it will it fade and loose it's shine. Imagine when you re-paint your house with brand new paint and have a 5 year old attached Alumawood patio cover attached to the brand new paint. The house paint will look new and great and the Alumawood weather beaten - no shine. A new painted surface next to a 5 year old painted surface will stand out like a sour thumb. You will not be able to re-paint Alumawood. I'm not familiar with Alumawood but I've painted quite a few aluminum sided houses. It's true the finish warranty is voided when you paint the aluminum but normally by that time the house has changed hands or the company that made and warranted the siding is out of business. The biggest issue with painting aluminum is removing the chalk. As the factory finish deteriorates it leaves behind a chalky film. When it isn't feasible to remove all the chalk, you need to add Flood's Emulsa Bond to the 1st coat of latex paint [or primer] Washing the factory finish every year should keep it looking nice for quite some time. Once the factory finish is toast, I don't know what there policy on fixing it would be. Possibly just a paint job like I would do although I've never been paid by a manufacture to paint aluminum. If you can afford the extra cost for Alumawood, I believe you'd be better off long term than you would with painted douglas fir. joe1234, You CAN repaint Alumawood. You are correct in that doing so will void the warranty on the factory applied finish. I have installed literally hundreds of their (and other brands) covers. With the range of colors available (8 to 10, depending on the mfgr.), I've only had 2 customers who have choosen to have theirs painted some custom color (usually to match their house exactly). The parts for those 2 covers were taken directly to an autobody shop and painted before I delivered and installed them. Age and chalking weren't a factor. It voided Alumawood's warranty, but the shop that did the painting offered their own warranty. True, less than the factory warranty, but the shops were both willing to stand behind their work. Originally Posted by lefty joe1234, You CAN repaint Alumawood. You are correct in that doing so will void the warranty on the factory applied finish. I have installed literally hundreds of their (and other brands) covers. With the range of colors available (8 to 10, depending on the mfgr.), I've only had 2 customers who have choosen to have theirs painted some custom color (usually to match their house exactly). No, the warranty in VOIDED 100% on the entire Alumawood structure and not just on the applied factory finish. I talked to the manufacture and they are very clear about this. The risk to the home owner is that if you paint Alumawood and something goes wrong with your $15,000.00 Alumawood investment (like a bad batch, etc), the home owner has no recourse. Also you cannot simply re-paint Alumawood without major and I mean MAJOR labor in stripping the original baked on finish. The main point here is that when (not if but when) you repaint your home, your home will look nice and fresh with a brand new coat of paint while the Alumawood patio paint will still have an old coat of paint that will have lost it's original shine and luster. Yes Alumawood does look great the first few years, but I find it having a MAJOR flaw that you will NOT be able to re-paint Alumawood. Have you ever seen a ~5 year old Alumawood Patio where the homeowners added another Alumawood extension to the original Alumawood structure? I saw one today and it looks terrible. You can see the difference and it's huge. Same thing holds true when the house get's a brand new paint job. Nice house, dead looking Alumawood patio. Also you cannot simply re-paint Alumawood without major and I mean MAJOR labor in stripping the original baked on finish I highly doubt that. With the right prep and paint, there is no reason it can't be painted without stripping the factory finish. I doubt the finish on the Alumawood is any different that the finishes on any other aluminum used in the building trade. I've painted aluminum siding, trim pieces, columns, porch roofs, carports and such both new and well weathered and have always gotten good looking long lasting paint jobs on them. Originally Posted by marksr [I] I highly doubt that. With the right prep and paint, there is no reason it can't be painted without stripping the factory finish. I doubt the finish on the Alumawood is any different that the finishes on any other aluminum used in the building trade. This is what the manufacture told me. The paint is baked on and then it is sealed with a polyurethane top coat. According to the Alumawood manufacture, in order for new paint to stick, you would have to use come pretty harsh acids to remove the top coat and enough to rough up the old paint coat for a new paint to stick. This abrasive process is what voids the warranty. The process is similar to painting a car - you cannot paint a car after running it through a car wash. The car paint is also baked on and it has a top coat and it takes a lot of elbow work to prep a car for a new paint. You don't have to take my word for it, just call Alumawood manufacture and ask them. Re-painting Alumawood WILL void the entire Alumawood structure. I understand them voiding the warranty, I'm just saying that it can be painted successfully without removing the factory finish. BS....poly is painted all the time. As are cars with clear coats. The surface has to be roughed up and cleaned so new paint will stick, but it doesn't have to be completely removed using acids or similar. Of course they will say it voids any warranty including structural defects or manufacturing errors...it cuts their possible losses. Is it legal...probably not..unless they can prove that painting the surface caused their product to fail. If I call the manufacturer of a car..of course they will tell me I have to use their filters, fluids, and parts..but thats BS also. Originally Posted by marksr I'm just saying that it can be painted successfully without removing the factory finish. I do agree that anything can be successfully painted with proper prep-work, but it is feasible for a complex Alumawood structure having hundreds of 2x2's, beams, headers ,etc? You also need to do all 4 sides on each piece. The Alumawood manufacture will tell you that you need to remove the factory finish if you want new paint to stick. Again, you can ask them directly. So what prep work and what specific paint are you saying that can be used on Alumawood that will stick and stay on? On a personal note, I want Alumawood - I hate wood, but I need to be able to paint Alumawood with a reasonable (and the key word here is reasonable) amount of prep work. It would be unrealistic for example if I had to hand sand 130 pieces of 22x16' on all four sides and a bunch of headers and rafters. That would be cost prohibited and unrealistic. Assuming you can get the color you want, I'd let it weather until it no longer suits you. Then I'd wash it down with a TSP solution [add bleach if there is mildew], rinse well and then coat it with a quality latex house paint with emulsa bond added. If you want to paint immediately, you could wipe the surface down with liquid deglosser and then paint. Originally Posted by marksr Assuming you can get the color you want, I'd let it weather until it no longer suits you. Then I'd wash it down with a TSP solution [add bleach if there is mildew], rinse well and then coat it with a quality latex house paint with emulsa bond added. If you want to paint immediately, you could wipe the surface down with liquid deglosser and then paint. Ok thanks, this helps. What Latex brand would you use? Do you recommend using primer first? Whether to use a primer depends a lot on how you apply the paint. Since I've sprayed most of the aluminum I've painted, I was able to skip the primer by adding Flood's Emulsa Bond to the paint and would cover the aluminum in 1 coat. If you were to brush/roll the paint and not be able to cover with 1 coat, it would be best to use a latex primer with EB added and then top coat with a quality latex house paint with no additive. I mostly use SWP, mainly because of the store locations and hours of operation. With SWP I use their Super Paint, Duration would also be good. Since the paint job should last for 10 yrs or so it pays to use good paint. I'm sure Benjamin Moore, Pittsburg Paints and others would also have paints that would give similar results. IMO satin or semi-gloss looks better than flat house paint. The sheen also makes it easier to clean and keep clean A follow up that after extensive talks with reps from Alumawood, it is not easy to re-paint alumawood. Sure it can be done, but it is somewhat cost prohibited with the labor involved. With time Alumawood will look faded and old, specially when the house get's a new fresh coat of paint. I also learned that you really cannot walk on Alumawood. So all those Alumawood patio covers attached to a second story home, you cannot get up there in order to paint your home or clean your windows or do any type of maintenace to that section of the house. Defenitely no Alumawood for me. I know this is a little off topic here, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with installing Alumawood in an A-Frame? One Alumawood rep said it would look great over my large patio doors, and another said it would look terrible because you would see the gel seams coming down from the outside of the structure. I can't picture what an Alumawood A-frame would look like, and I haven't been able to locate any pictures on the Net. Thanks for any help. mzmarymac, Welcome to the forums. First, you can get very creative with Alumawood (or what is virtually the same product from any of Amerimax's competitors), and I have. Certainly an A-frame is possible. I agree with the second rep that the seam would show, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it would look terrible. Hey, the installers do as much as possible to hide the seams, but it's not possible to make them ALL disappear!! The steepest I have ever installed the 2X6 rafters has been about 45 degrees or so, and that worked out well. To go much steeper than that and close the ends of the rafters at the peak, you would probably have to stack two 3X8 beams for the ridge, and fill the lower one with a steel insert for strength. Most certainly doable.
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