Painting on a Corrugated Wall
So if you’re reading this, you most likely have an upcoming painting project on a corrugated wall… exciting! Paint can REALLY elevate the plain metal corrugated walls you usually see on sheds or garage doors… but the texture can be intimidating at first! Here are my top 5 tips to painting on a corrugated wall.
In this post, I’ll be talking all about painting on a corrugated wall with a paintbrush, but if you’ll be using spray paint - here is a a great blog post by Leah Grant to help get you started.
#1 - Pick the Right Paint
Your corrugated wall is most likely some type of metal material, so I recommend a Rust-Oleum paint or something similar. You’ll definitely want a primer to help with rust appearing over time. I usually prefer paints with an eggshell finish, but a satin finish is similar and actually delivers a higher durability than an eggshell finish, which is great for those outdoor walls. I also recommend thinning out your paint - which I talk more about in Tip #4.
#2 - Project Your Design
If you’re painting a logo on a corrugated wall… use a projector. It’s too much of a mind f*ck not to. With this project however, I learned that not any projector will do! The picture on the left is actually my very expensive short-throw projector… which did not work for this wall! It make the lines super wonky. The picture on the right is my very tiny, reasonably priced, portable projector. The design came out perfectly! I was pretty far back for this projection, and I placed the projector on a tripod so I knew it was completely even. I recommend getting an extension cord with this projector because the battery life isn’t that great. I had my design on my iPad, and the projector hooks up to it via it’s own wifi.
I used chalk to outline the design. In the daylight, you’ll probably see that you missed a few spots - that’s okay! Just use chalk to fill in the parts you missed, taking a step back every so often to make sure it looks good from afar. Also, it’s worth noting that even though the design looks perfectly projected in the photo, when you get close to it in real life, that is not the case. It will be a bit pixelated, so just know where you want to draw your chalk lines (either on the very outside of the pixelation or inside) and keep in consistent throughout the whole time you are tracing.
#3 - Tape Off Straight Lines
In this post, you can see that I was painting a logo with a company name - so it needed to be pretty perfect. If your design is more organic and you’re using a brush, you probably won’t need to worry about this step. It takes longer to tape off letters on a corrugated wall than it would with something flat (duh) but I think it’s worth it when you actually start to paint. Your chalk lines won’t be perfect from tracing your projection, so taping them off allows you time to really make sure they look even before slapping paint on there that you can’t necessarily wipe off easily. I recommend the green Frog Tape - and tear it right down the middle to get double the amount!
#4 - Thin Your Paint with Mineral Spirits
Since the Rust-Oleum paint I recommend is an oil based finish, thin it out a bit with mineral spirits. Pour your paint into a dixie cup and add your mineral spirits (you don’t need much - the bottle should tell you the ratio). Because the wall will have so many curves and bumps, it’s nice to have a paint that isn’t too thick and will dry smoothly.
Don’t freak out after you see how the primer and first coat of paint goes on! You will see A LOT of the wall coming through after the first coat of primer. You’ll want to paint at least 2 coats of paint (again - this is with a paintbrush method - spray paint might be different!). You can see the difference between just one coat of primer and primer plus a coat of paint in the picture above.
I also recommend using a small paintbrush to do this. It may seem counterintuitive to paint with such a small brush on a big wall, but all of the hills of the corrugated wall just don’t allow long strokes with a larger brush. Bring multiple small brushes so you can have some soaking and don’t have to constantly be washing them. Using mineral spirits to wash your brushes after using an oil based paint is key - it won’t come off with just water. You can also use different types of oils if you want something more natural.
#5 - Celebrate After a Long Day Painting!
Your project will most likely take you at least a couple of days to finish completely - so leave some time to celebrate in the evening after a long day of painting - you just created something really beautiful! Whether it be an abstract mural, a business logo, a fun personal project, whatever! It always feels good to celebrate creating something with a friend, a cocktail, or a nice nap :)
I hope these tips help you during your next corrugated wall project! Leave any questions in the comments below!