Can You Paint a Metal Barn With a Roller

Tips for painting a metal barn and roof without a paint sprayer and still achieve a smooth paint finish on a metal surface. Plus tips for painting a metal barn with oil-based paint.

When we decided to paint our metal barns I was told by several people to just use a paint sprayer.

Yes, it would be easier with a paint sprayer, but there are few problems with using a paint sprayer.

First, it gets super windy at our house. So just picture our whole yard dusted with red paint.

Second, we are using oil-based paint as our exterior paint on the metal buildings. This would involve a more extensive clean up process of the sprayer.

Lastly and the biggest problem, I need to be able to clean up quickly and paint in small intervals.

As a mom, I don't often get two to three days straight to work on painting. My time spent painting is often 15 minutes here 1 hour there.

I need to be able to also quickly clean up my mess and help the kids if they need it.

With those small intervals of time, I don't have the time to prep the sprayer then take the time to clean out the oil-based paint from the sprayer.

I chose to paint our barns, roof and all, with a roller and paintbrush…crazy, I know.

But I have some great tips for any DIYer looking to paint a metal building without a sprayer.

Pick the Right Quality Paint

One of the biggest factors that will make sure you have good results when painting a metal building is to pick quality paint.

We decided to go with oil-based paint on our metal grain bins for durability and ability to adhere well to metal.

You can see my post on other things to consider when choosing metal building paint for a metal barn, but you want to make sure you pick the right paint.

We chose Rust-oleum's Farm and Implement Paint in International Harvester Red for the metal grain bin walls and Rust-oleum's High Performance Paint in Aluminum for the roof.

Paint the Roof First

So this sounds obvious, but we weren't sure if we wanted to paint the roof so I painted the metal sides of one grain bin first.

I let the grain bin sit with red paint on the side for about a week, just looking at it. I would pull in the driveway and stop to see what I thought.

After looking at it for awhile we decided to go ahead and paint the roof.

So if you know you want to paint your barn roof.  Just do this first.

Otherwise the roof paint will drip all over the walls, no matter how careful you are. Then you will have to backtrack and repaint the sides.

Use a Small Roller for the Roof

Okay, this may sound counterintuitive, because a small roller covers less areas with the same stroke, but hear me out.

When you are extending a long pole, see the next tip, to reach the very top of the roof, the heavier the roller on the end, the harder to control.

I found using the small roller works so much better, I had more control and could actually coat the area faster than using a large roller.

Most barn metal roofs are corrugated metal roofs meaning they are not perfectly smooth and have lots of ridges.

The small roller can be easily turned on its side and rolled along the the ridges.

I use small rollers and this smaller roller handle that will screw onto the end of the pole.

I do use larger sized rollers attached to a larger sized roller handle on the walls that I can reach from the ground.

Use a Extending Pole

Nothing fancy about it, just a pole that extends super long, makes a world of a difference.

This extending pole is amazing. I was able to paint a majority of the barn roof from the ground because it extends to 23 feet.

For one, you can extend it and still keep you arms close to your body. Believe me, your shoulders will thank you the next day.

I was able to reach all the way to the top without having to climb up on the metal roof…in case you are not a fan of heights…guilty as charged.

This pole helped so much and made the job of painting our metal barn roof without a sprayer so much faster.

When I was up on the scaffolding using the long extending pole, I left my paint tray with the roof paint on the ground and would roll the small roller in the paint tray on the ground then lift it up and roll the roof.

This not only kept paint drips from getting all over the scaffolding, but when something is that long it is hard to turn it close to your body and roll the paint on right beside yourself.

It was much easier to keep the paint tray on the ground.

Reach Everywhere From Where You Are

Again, using an extending pole it is useful to reach all the spots you can from where you are at.

Let me tell you how much a flat metal roof would have been easier to paint, but we had the challenge of the cone shaped roof on our metal grain bins.

I found that moving my scaffolding then painting a fan like motion out in all directions with the extending pole helped me cover the most surface area with the minimal times moving the scaffolding.

Because scaffolding is HEAVY!

Use Cheap Brushes

I know it sounds like you are literally throwing away money.

But with oil-based paints I find it easier to buy cheap brushes and use them for a day or two (or however long they last before the paint hardens) and then throw them away.

I never know when the baby will wake from a nap or one of the kids will need a band-aid.

I cannot be the only one that has been called away from a paint job 4-5 times within an hour and gotten back a completely dried out brush.

I don't feel as guilty when I know I didn't spend a fortune on the brushes.

Now with latex paints I do attempt to clean my brushes, but with oil-based it is easier to just start over with a fresh one.

Also, I found the metal nuts and bolts on our grain bins tear up the brushes too much to worry about washing and saving.

So far I have went through about 5 paint brushes painting the metal barns.

Use Mineral Spirits

Oil-based paints DO NOT clean up with water.

So if you try to wash your hands with water to remove oil-based paint, it will not come off.

A little splash of mineral spirits on a rag take it right off.

The type of paint we bought states it cleans up with mineral spirits.

Simply read the instructions on the back of the paint you buy and it says what can be used to clean it up.

Wear Disposable Gloves

Here is another DIY mama trick for you.

Remember I said how you never know when the baby will wake from the nap or the kids will need something.

Well with oil-based paints having to be cleaned up with mineral spirits it takes longer to get cleaned up to help the kids.

I found that wearing a pair of disposable gloves makes the process a snap.

If I need to stop painting quickly, I just remove the gloves, throw them away and go help the kids.

Also the roller handle and paint brush handle seem to get messy when painting with oil-based paints because it becomes "tacky" feeling before it completely dries.

A pair of gloves keep your hands from looking like you completed a kindergarten finger painting.

Paint in Indirect Sunlight

When painting a metal barn, if at all possible try to paint on cloudy days or in the shade.

This is a good rule of thumb with any exterior paint.

But this is the real world and we can't sit around and wait three weeks for one cloudy day.

So there are a few things you can do if you do paint in the sun.

Try to keep a wet edge as painting, meaning work your way in a W pattern keeping the roller wet.

Paint thinner can be used to thin out the oil-based paint.

I would not get carried away with this, but sometimes as the paint dries to quickly it becomes too thick and tacky.

Using a little paint thinner can help smooth it out and reduce globs and drips.

These are all the little tips and tricks I have learned painting a metal barn without a paint sprayer.

I am happy with the results so far and loving the smooth finish.

Check out more of our grain bin gazebo transformation

HOW TO CUT WINDOWS IN AN OLD METAL GRAIN BIN TO CONVERT TO A GAZEBO

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING METAL BUILDING PAINT FOR A METAL BARN

PIN FOR LATER

Can You Paint a Metal Barn With a Roller

Source: https://thesimplesalvagedfarmhouse.com/tips-for-painting-a-metal-barn-and-barn-roof-without-a-paint-sprayer

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