How to Repaint the Outside of a Trailer

After some serious road tripping your trailer is starting to show its age. The paint job has lost its shine and is chipping off in some places. Looks like it's time to give your trailer home a makeover. A few basic tools and some creativity are all that is needed to make it look even better than before. You can choose to go with the factory stock paint job or get a few extra colors and let your imagination run wild.

Instructions

Select exterior paints for the job. Oil adheres to surfaces better than water-based paints, making it better at preventing rust. Rust preventive exterior paints such as Tremclad are best for this job. By choosing a rust preventive paint you don't need to apply a primer coat. Exterior paints can be purchased at hardware and painting stores or online (see Resource).

Lay drop cloths down around the trailer.

Put on a face mask. Scrape old paint that is flaking off trailer. Scrape in a back and forth motion, applying downward pressure on the tool.

Wash trailer with TSP (an all-purpose cleaner effective at removing caked-on grime and paint dust) making sure the paint has a solid surface to adhere to. If necessary, use a rust stain remover (oxalic acid) to get rid of any rust.

Apply painter's tape on the edges of the trailer that you don't want to get painted.

Stir the paint well.

Paint the edges around the trailer with a paint brush. This "edging" will allow you to paint faster with the rollers because you'll already have gotten to the places the rollers can't get at.

Roll paint on in a "W" motion. This up and down motion helps to prevent paint lines and drips.

Apply a second coat if the surface continues to show. Add stripes, designs and artwork to give the paint job a custom look.