Gutter Paint – How to paint Gutters
Painting Gutters – DIY Guide
Gutters are practical and functional in the very first place. They have to drain rain away from the roof and walls and straight into the ground or sewer system. Mostly, the typical gutter is made from galvanized steel, or aluminium or even solid zinc that are grey or silver. But colorful gutters and drain pipes are achievable, too, gutters can be painted in lively colors to make your home pop and accompany the style you intend to create.
Have you asked yourself if it is a good idea to paint the gutter of your home? You feel they need a fresh look because the gutter got dents or wear and tear from the weather. Sun radiation and percipitation let colors simply fade after several years of time; ther is no remedy for that. What you can do to fresehen up gutters is painting the gutters with gutter paint.
In this article we show you how to paint gutters as simple as possible and enable you to answer the question for yourself: “Can you paint gutters?”. So, read on to experience the best way to paint gutters.
The best way to paint gutters
No matter the color, your house will pop with gutter paint, and faded drain pipes can be brought back to shine like on day one. In order to be able to carry out a succesful paint job for the gutters of your home, preparations of the gutters are the key to succes. Also you need to know what paint and primer you must paint your gutters with. To find out everything you need to know about DIY painting gutters, simply follow our guide on how to paint gutters.
Buy paint for the gutters
We recommend you to read this guide, so that you know the steps involved into gutter painting. To give you some examples of bonding primers suitable for gutters, and gutter paint beforehand, feel free to browse through the buying options below. What is important is, that the paints you choose must have good elasticity which makes them ideal for metal that expand and contract with temperature changes.
Valspar Gutter Primer
- oil-based
alkyd
INSL-X Stix Bonding Primer
- water-based acrylics
Flex Seal Liquid Rubber
- solvent-based rubber
Rust-Oleum Rubber Coating
- solvent-based rubber
Crown Zinc Rich Coating
- solvent-based zinc
How to paint Gutters – Step-by-Step Guide
We divided this guide into three sections: Preparation of the gutters, priming the gutters and painting the gutters. Read them all and choose your favorite paint color and matching primer for the best looking drain pipes in the whole quarter of your town.
Prepare the gutters by cleaning
Neither paint nor primer adheres on unpreapared and uncleaned surfaces. Even though we would love to avoid it, you have to thouroughly clean the gutter first with water and soap.
- Remove leafs, debris, and any clutter from the gutter.
- Use soap and water together with a scrub brush to clean off dirt, soot, and alike from the surface of the gutter. Alternatively use a power washer that eases the laborious work.
- Remove the braces from the gutter, if you want to paint them all over. Remember to paint the brace itself later as well.
Prime the gutters before painting
Because paint does not stick to bare metal gutters in most of the cases, you must lay a base by brushing on a suitable bonding primer on the gutter first. After the layers of bonding primer have dried, the actual paint follows.
Priming gutters is very important because only the primer creates a paintable surfaces.
A primer functions in two ways:
- it sticks to the metal, and
- it makes the paint stick on itself.
Primers are the base of a durable finish.
Primers and paint are best bought from within one paint system to make sure they are compatible with one another. But if you now the basic rules about paint, you can mix and match. Naturally, the primer must fit the substrate, which is the material of the drain pipe/gutter. Keep in mind the following:
Primer and gutter paint should be made from the same base → oil-based matches oil-based; → acrylics match acrylics; → water-based matches water-based; solvent-based matches solvent-based.
- Before you start painting, make sure the weather report forcasts dry weather, as you need 2 to 3 days of time for the whole painting job to apply and dry.
- After the gutter is clean and dry from the washing, brush on the primer as described on the tin.
- According to the gutters’ material, you have to brush on several layers of the primer and let them dry accordingly.
Painting the gutters
- After the primer has fully dried to create the ideal painting canvas, grab the brush and stir the paint.
- Apply gutter paint as an even layer of paint on the primed gutter.
- Work in sections, painting the inside of the gutter as well as the outside.
- If braces were removed, paint the braces as well.
- Let paint dry in between layers.
- Apply as many layers as recommended by the manufacturer. Trust your eyes, you will see if the paint opacity is to your liking.
