Restoring an old metal gate: is it worth doing yourself

How to tell whether it's just surface rust

Surface rust looks rough and flaky but sits only on top of the metal. Scrape it with a flat screwdriver or a wire brush and if solid metal appears underneath within a millimetre or two, that's cosmetic damage you can sand and paint over. This is the most common state for gates that have simply been outdoors too long without maintenance.

Deeper rust is a different matter. Press a screwdriver against a rusty area and if it sinks in, or a scale of metal flakes away leaving a pit or a hole, the rust has eaten through the section. This happens most often at the bottom of uprights, where they meet the ground or sit in a damp socket, and at welded joints where old welds have started to fail.

Check the whole gate before deciding anything, not just the parts that look worst. A gate can have heavy surface rust on the decorative scrollwork, which looks alarming but is easy to fix, while a structurally thin spot lower down goes unnoticed until the gate sags.

Tools and materials for the job

For a gate with surface rust and old paint, the job is mostly abrasion and two or three coats of product, spread over a weekend because of drying times. None of the tools are specialist and most are worth owning if you have an older house with more metalwork to maintain.

Rust converter reacts with rust and turns it into a stable, paintable surface, which saves you sanding every last trace back to bare metal. It only works properly on rust that's already been brushed free of loose scale and dust, and it needs to be left the full time stated on the tin before painting over it.

• Wire brush (hand or drill-mounted) and 80–120 grit sandpaper
• Angle grinder with a flap disc, for heavier rust or old thick paint
• Rust converter (phosphoric-acid based)
• Metal primer suited to exterior use
• Exterior metal paint or enamel, oil-based or acrylic
• Masking tape, dust sheet or cardboard to protect the ground and any brickwork
• Rag and white spirit or degreaser, for a final wipe before priming

The order of work that actually holds up

Start by removing loose and flaking paint with the wire brush, working the whole gate rather than just the obviously bad patches. An angle grinder with a flap disc speeds this up considerably on thick old paint layers or heavier rust, but keep it moving so you don't gouge the metal or burn through thin scrollwork.

Once the surface is down to sound paint or bare metal, treat any remaining rust with converter and leave it the full drying time on the tin, usually overnight. Wipe the whole gate down with a rag and white spirit to remove dust and any grease from handling, since paint over a dusty or oily surface peels within a season.

Apply a metal primer first, then two thin coats of exterior metal paint rather than one thick one, letting each coat dry fully. Paint in dry, mild weather, out of direct sun, and lift the gate off its hinges if you can, so you can reach the edges and the underside of hinge lugs, which is where new rust starts fastest.

The mistake most people make

The most common error is painting over rust that hasn't been treated properly, either skipping the converter altogether or not brushing off loose scale first so the converter never reaches the metal underneath. The paint looks fine for a season, then blisters and lifts as rust keeps working underneath it, and by then you're stripping fresh paint as well as old.

The second is treating everything as surface rust because that's the easier answer. If a gate has been sagging or dragging on the ground for years, it is worth checking the lower hinges and frame properly before spending a weekend on paint that a structural problem will undo anyway.

When to stop and call someone in

If the screwdriver test shows metal has actually rusted through, if a hinge lug has broken off, or if the decorative scrollwork has snapped rather than just lost paint, that's a repair, not a restoration, and needs welding. Welding thin or ornate ironwork without the right equipment and filler rod tends to warp or burn through it, which is worse than leaving it rusty.

It's also worth calling in a metal fitter if the whole gate has racked out of square, if the frame needs new hinge pins or a hinge post reset in concrete, or if you want new decorative elements matched to the old pattern rather than a straight repair. We do metal fitting from 45 € per hour and welding from 55 € per hour, with a fixed quote given once we've seen photos or looked at the gate in person.

As a rule: if a wire brush and paint can put it right, it's a reasonable weekend job for most people. If metal needs to be added back, cut out, or rejoined, that calls for a welder, and getting a quote first is cheaper than an attempted DIY weld that has to be redone properly.