How to weather-proof my painted street pantry?

PatchH

Hi, I am upcycling this thrifted solid wood cupboard into a community street pantry. I’m guessing the existing paint is interior paint. I’m working on painting a logo and decorating it with acrylic paint. Can you suggest my best option for weather proofing my paint job? Such as a clear sealant that would protect from UV damage? I am also looking for advice on creating a run off roof to protect it from rain, and potentially even cover the back and sides leaving only the front open. I wouldn’t know where to start. For instance, is it possible to get corrugated roofing cut to size in store? Thank you for any advice!

JacobZ

Hi @PatchH,

Thank you for reaching out for assistance with your community street pantry.

Your best option would be to use exterior paints such as Wattyl Solagard, as they are designed for the purpose. In saying this, if you are looking to decorate it with multiple colours, it could get expensive quite quickly, but you could use these 100ml Wattyl Solagard Colour Samplers to get a variety of paints to decorate your street pantry with. You could always just paint over what is already there with 2-3 coats of exterior paint to give it some really good protection.

Alternatively, you could use this White Knight Clear Gloss Crystal Clear Acrylic Spray Paint to help protect it, although it is a relatively soft coating that is more designed for smaller craft projects.

I think repainting with exterior paint would be the better option, but it is up to you.

To create a roof, you would need to create a slope with some framing. You can use 70 x 35mm Outdoor Framing H3 Treated Pine to create a very basic sloped frame and then attach some polycarbonate roofing to your frame.

Unfortunately, we cannot cut corrugated roofing in-store for you, but you'll just need a pair of straight-cut aviation snips to cut it yourself. It is honestly very easy to cut.

Once cut to size, you would fix the roofing to the frame using some Polycarbonate Roofing Screws.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob