How Do I Paint Downpipes and Gutters?
Gutters and downpipes are a significant fixed feature on your house and are also one of the most difficult to paint.
To make matters worse, if you don’t do the job right, you will probably find that you need to re-paint your gutters and downpipes long before you have to paint your house again.
The two common things some people get wrong when painting gutters is choosing the wrong type of paint and not preparing the surface properly before painting.
The two most common materials gutters are made from are cast iron and UPC. Both of these require different preparation treatment and different types of paint.
Tips for Repainting
When you want to repaint your gutters, you will need to do some extra preparatory work:
• Scrape off all loose, flaking and peeling paint.
• Using a foam wet-dry sanding block, sand the sheen off of the remaining paint.
• Thoroughly wash the guttering. Soap it down with Tikkurila's Cleaning Agent using a sponge and then rinse completely. If possible, get up on a ladder and rinse from the top down. This way, you will be sure to remove all the debris and soap residue.
• When repainting gutters, give them a coat of primer first, as you do with new gutters.
Unless you’re repainting in the same colour, it’s best to remove the down pipes so you can repaint them thoroughly. It’s almost impossible to paint the backs of down pipes when they’re attached to the house.
Priming
- Rostex Super Metal Primer or Temaprime EE (cast iron)
- Otex Adhesion Primer (UPVC)
Topcoat
- Temalac FD20, Temalac FD50, Temalac FD80 or Panssarimaali (cast iron)
- Panssari Akva (UPVC)
