Restoring a Red phonebox

[Seb101]

I've volunteered to help restore a red phonebox in our village that was bought by the Parish and now houses a defibrillator. It's actually in pretty good condition but needs all new glass and paint.

We've got a source for the glass and the paint but my question is on the prep work. Would you bother trying to strip this down to the bare metal? Or would you just give it a thorough going over with a wire-brush and paint over it?

Anyone tackled one of these before?

 

[Mottie]

Do it properly like the car restorers do. Get it acid dipped.

 

[Seb101]

Removing it from the site is not an option due to the defibrillator already installed.

 

[Mottie]

Sandblasting?

 

[Burnerman]

Mobile wet grit blasting is the way to go.
John

 

[RandomGrinch]

A couple of interesting notes from Shropshire council, about 'Caring for your kiosk'...

https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/12288/bt-payphones-kiosk-maintenance-faqs-march-2019.pdf

Personally, for an authentic look, if it's in a relatively good condition, I would simply prep and over paint. It's what the GPO would have done

There are also several YouTube vids that may be of interest. I.e.

Restoring the village phone box

Share your videos with friends, family and the world

youtube.com

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

The paint will have instructions to follow .....

 

[Seb101]

A couple of interesting notes from Shropshire council, about 'Caring for your kiosk'...

https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/12288/bt-payphones-kiosk-maintenance-faqs-march-2019.pdf

Personally, for an authentic look, if it's in a relatively good condition, I would simply prep and over paint. It's what the GPO would have done

There are also several YouTube vids that may be of interest. I.e.

Restoring the village phone box

Share your videos with friends, family and the world

youtube.com

Very helpful, thank you.

Good to know about the possibility of Lead Paint too.

 

[foxhole]

It’s probably already has 20 coats of paint on it, just add another.