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Mailbox Post is painted with Blue Spray paint. Need to see what it would take to make Post a more natural brown or red Color.

Jerry Sweeney
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  • two layer of paint – Traveler Sep 09 '22 at 01:23
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    remove all of the old paint first – jsotola Sep 09 '22 at 05:48
  • If by natural you mean "looks like wood", then you have to sand all the paint off and then stain it. But since it's just a post, I'd just replace it, rather than sand the old one. –  Sep 09 '22 at 13:39
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    @19565 I'm not sure "just replace it" is the easiest plan, if it's sunk into concrete. Sanding and staining is probably the best choice here. – Doktor J Sep 09 '22 at 20:54
  • @DoktorJ Even in concrete 2 ft deep (unlikely), it still seems easier and faster to dig it up and bury a new one than hunch on the ground with a sander for two hours. –  Sep 09 '22 at 20:58
  • Plus, dirt mess will wash back into the lawn naturally. Paint sand with be there forever until you vacuum it. –  Sep 09 '22 at 21:05
  • Is this a wooden post or a metal one? Why can't you just paint it red or brown (or whatever color you want)? – gnicko Sep 09 '22 at 21:55
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    Sanding with appropriate grit and an appropriate (e.g. orbital or belt) sander is unlikely to take 2 hours, but even if it did, that's a lot less time than breaking it out of concrete, buying a new post and concrete, mixing and pouring it, and disposing of the old. Probably by a whole order of magnitude. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 09 '22 at 22:14

3 Answers3

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The same thing you would do if it was a wall in a house:

Paint it white, or possibly gray, with primer to hide the old color, and then paint it whatever color you want.

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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    Red primer might be a good choice for either of those top colors, so long as it's a different shade than the red topcoat. – Ecnerwal Sep 09 '22 at 02:28
  • Paint it BLACK rather than white, unless you have some white lying around - you will get better coverage. – MikeB Sep 09 '22 at 10:30
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Paint it with enough coats to change the color.

All paint "prints through" when it only has 1 coat. So the blue will print through and affect the brown. That is normal.

If you want to pinch pennies, you can get some primer - its job is to put down a uniform surface. Primer has vital roles in surface prep, but it's also a cheap way to add more opaque material. You are better off tinting the primer to at least the lightness of your final coat, if not the hue and chroma (saturation).

However you can accomplish the same coverage benefit simply with more coats of topcoat, if you don't want to buy primer.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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a more natural brown or red

Causes me to believe the post is wood, not metal. In that case, you could, if you choose, sand, scrape, or plane the blue paint off, leaving bare, natural colored wood.

Once you're down to bare wood, you may consider sealing it with a waterproofing coat, depending on what type of wood it is. Some woods are naturally water & rot resistant and need very minimal protection from the elements to last a long time, so this step is optional.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to help you determine what type of wood you have from a picture on the internet. Wood identification (from an online picture) is difficult enough that it's actually off topic at the Woodworking sister site.

FreeMan
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