Are you ready to sell your home or just looking to freshen up the exterior a bit? Painting your rain gutters is one of the many ways you can spruce up the outside of a home. Re-painting is possible with a variety of gutter types including aluminum gutters. If you’re eager to paint, you’ll need to first thoroughly clean the gutters.
Preparing Your Gutters for Painting
The first thing you need to do before painting your gutters is prep them. Don’t jump to painting as painting on unclean gutters only leads to paint that will not stick. Follow the following steps to make painting cleaning gutters a breeze!
Cleaning Gutters
Let’s talk about tackling cleaning your gutters.
Simply pressure washing the gutters won’t work as surface dirt lingers and you need to clean out the debris. You’ll need soap, water, and a scrub brush to get out the grime. Take dishwashing soap and put in a garden sprayer and spray onto the entire surface. Keep the brush wet also with soap and start scrubbing away. Use circular motions when scrubbing the surface to wipe away any dirt or leaves that got stuck in between cracks.
If there’s rust be careful scrubbing as it can break down the gutter’s surface.
As soon as everything is scrubbed, rinse off the areas, so no dirt remains. If there’s any loose paint at this point, scrape it off. When you’re finished cleaning check the gutters for scratches. Use aluminum oxide or silicon carbide sandpaper to sand any unwanted scratches.
Lastly, if your gutters were infested by mold or mildew, you can put a mildew retardant on them.
Remove Gutters Before Painting
You’ll need to paint the entire gutter in order to get a uniformed look. Temporarily take out the gutter bracers so you can paint areas underneath the braces.
Add Primer
You can now add the first new layer to your gutters. A coat of primer improves the sticking of paint and prevents damage to gutters like rust and fading. Make sure you wait at least two hours after cleaning your gutters before applying primer.
Stick with ammonia free solutions as the chemical can react to any presence of aluminum including a gutter’s pin holes and downspouts. The chemical reaction creates rough, uneven looking paint jobs. Ammonia primer will only last a few months before they start bubbling up and you’ll have to repaint your gutters.
Consider oil or acrylic bonding primer instead. Acrylic bonding primer works great for faded aluminum and is a solid foundation for acrylic paint. With oil based solutions, add a thinner keeping in mind 16 ounces of thinner to a gallon of paint as a ratio.
Also, make sure to caulk up all of your gutter’s seams with a sealant that can be painted over. Then prime them.
Once you apply primer, don’t do any additional work on the gutters for 48 hours as it settles.
Apply An Oil Based Enamel Paint
Enamel paint is an optional layer of protection gutters you can add before applying the surface paint. Enamel paint is a hard paint that improves the gutter’s integrity before the painting the gutter. The big thing to know is enamel paint helps prevent rusting.
Paint the First Coat
When it comes to the color of your gutters, lighter colors will show dirt and discoloration more than darker ones. Choose a tone just slightly darker than what they are now in their oxidized state – these spots won’t stand out quite as much because there isn’t enough contrast between colors. A quick solution is to paint them the same color as your trim. As for downpipes, if the run along the trim then paint them the same color as the trim. If the downpipes run along the side then match them to the siding.
To minimize the risks of sun damage, you can choose a paint with UV protection.
The choice between using a sprayer and a brush is simply one of preference. When painting with a sprayer it can be difficult to protect other areas around your home if you’re not careful – but this problem becomes easier as soon as these gutters have been detached before starting any spraying or brushing process.
Add an even coat to the inside and outside of the gutters ensuring all areas are covered. Then let that first coat set for 24 hours. Try and paint when there is zero percent chance of rain. Also, the hot sun and high winds can dry out your gutters quickly, so make sure to paint over any portions in the shade.
Add a Second Coat
After a full day, the paint will even out and you can then add the next coat in a very similar way to the first. The second coat should also be even and fully painted.
Hiring Someone to Paint Gutters
If you’ve read through this and decided painting and cleaning just aren’t your thing, you can always hire gutter maintenance professionals to paint your gutter system. Experienced professionals can not only clean and repaint your gutters, but they can also work with you to select the proper paint tone if you’re looking to freshen or update the style of your home.
For homeowners living in Amarillo, we work with residents every day to repair and update their gutter systems. Contact us today if you need further assistance.