How to refinish park benches?
by
Kathy Hayes
Our park benches are weathered. They are traditional with wooden slates and metal frames. I’d like to paint them without taking them apart. We done this before. A real pain!. Worried I might loose the look. Any idea?
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My husband has redone ours twice but he’s always taken it apart. He has cleaned the metal parts to remove any rust and spray painted with outdoor spray paint. He has restrained the wood and, in fact, he even replaced a couple of pieces of the wood last year.
My son redid his benches much like yours by roughing up the wooden slats in the seating area and back and painting a beige-brown (similar to color of original wood). He painted the metal framework and metal back trim in a rust-color enamel to coordinate with some tile work done in their outdoor area that had royal blue, rust and yellow. It looks really great and he gets lots of compliments on them. He did two. He did a couple of coats of clear outdoor sealer over it all. Hope this helps inspire you.
You don't have to take them apart to paint. Tape over the wood slats and spray paint the metal sides. Once completely dry, tape over the metal sides and spray paint the wood. Once the tape is removed you can easy touch up the metal, if needed, with a small jar of exterior paint & a small paint brush. Again, when completely dry, spray all of it with a couple coats of clear acrylic or polyurethane spray.