All the steel straps that secure my deck and stair 6x6 posts to the concrete piers have some rust on them. Had bought a rust reducer to spray on them and repaint. As I went to do this I found that one of them is on its last legs, with the steel rusted through and bubbling up all up the sides of the straps. Since this is the end post on a row of 3 deck support posts, I was thinking of removing as much rust as possible, then paint with Rustoleum and cover lower post with something to keep water away from post and pier in the future? Was thinking of something removeable so I could check on it for further rusting. What do you folks with building experience think of this? Thanks.
If these steel straps are rusting through and on their last legs, a coat of paint is going to be cosmetic at best. Replace these straps with new ones. The originals were either very poorly galvanized, or you live someplace with a very corrosive environment. In any event, paint can't save this sort of thing. Steel brackets serve a real purpose, and after they're weakened, they can't do that anymore. How would your home hold up in an earthquake, for example? What you're proposing doesn't sound safe.
Sorry troll, doctors don't give a tetanus shot just because you came into contact with rusty metal. The belief that you need a tetanus shot for stepping on a rusty nail is not quite accurate -- it's not the rust that prompts the shot, it's the fact that the nail was on the ground and dirty.
