# Gutters - prep to paint?



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

Looking for opinions...

I need to paint gutters and downspouts. Is any special prep (or primer) necessary for painting, other than pressure washing? 

They are in good condition, maybe a few years old. I have pressure washed and cleaned them, and need to paint them to match new color soffits and fascia. 

Will be using P & L PHGold Exterior (100% Acrylic) Paint.


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## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

Holland said:


> Looking for opinions...
> 
> I need to paint gutters and downspouts. Is any special prep (or primer) necessary for painting, other than pressure washing?
> 
> ...



I match downspouts all the time, power wash and throw a coat of mooreguard on them.


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

Probably aluminum, but if galvanized it should be primed inside and out with a primer designed specifically for galvanized metal and then top coated with a good latex HP. 

And don't forget to do the top edge,especially on galvanized gutters. Otherwise rust stains may cascade down over the gutter in short order.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Lightningboy65 said:


> Probably aluminum, but if galvanized it should be primed inside and out with a primer designed specifically for galvanized metal and then top coated with a good latex HP.
> 
> And don't forget to do the top edge,especially on galvanized gutters. Otherwise rust stains may cascade down over the gutter in short order.



If you decide to coat the inside of a gutter, which I don't believe is often recommended, make sure the coating you use is immersion rated. Most single component acrylics and latex paints aren't designed to perform under standing water.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

They've already got a finish coat on them as it was mentioned they're only a few years old and in good condition. In my entire painting life I've never, ever painted the inside of gutters. Top edge? Maybe, but never been asked to do the insides.


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

The newer the gutters are, the more you need to worry about adhesion. If they still have a good looking factory finish, at the least, you need to scuff them really good with a maroon pad, possibly even a bond prime. As long as your using a good quality paint, a scuff should be fine, if they are newer, though. 

If they are old, and the factory finish is faded, I say its degraded enough to have a bit of teeth for new paint to stick to.


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

Wildbill7145 said:


> They've already got a finish coat on them as it was mentioned they're only a few years old and in good condition. In my entire painting life I've never, ever painted the inside of gutters. Top edge? Maybe, but never been asked to do the insides.


You must be too young, or maybe they do things different in Canada. In the NE US, when I first started, a good number of houses still had galvanized gutters. SOP was to always prime inside and out with either D-Rusto zinc oxide or Galva-grip primer. It wasn't emersion rated. Didn't need to be. Properly functioning gutters do not hold standing water.

And as for the top rim , that too was SOP. We would get severely reprimanded if we got caught not doing them, and over the years I have learned why. It does prevent rust from bleeding over the face of galvanized gutter. Very rarely see galvanized gutters these days. Some existing stuff remains, and once and a great while you will see it new on resto work.

As for painting the top edge on aluminum, I still do it. You never know what somebody flying over the place might think if they see the top edge unpainted.:biggrin:


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Bare galvanized by the sheer nature of its sacrificial zinc coating, does not require a thermo plastic, or thermoset coating.


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

Ahh, but eventually galvanized metal does begin to rust. The zinc coating is mitigation, not remediation. Eventually enough zinc is sacrificed to no longer offer sufficient protection. I have seen plenty of rusted galvanized metal over the years.


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## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

CApainter said:


> Bare galvanized by the sheer nature of its sacrificial zinc coating, does not require a thermo plastic, or thermoset coating.


I worked for a builder who always had me paint the interiors of bare galvanized gutters whenever WRC shakes were used as a roofing material.

The house I’m currently working on has bare galvanized gutters and leaders which are 5 years old and had starting rusting after the second year. The house has a Western Red Cedar roof. I’m just wondering if the tannic acid causes premature corrosion on the galvanized steel. 

I’ve included a photo of one of the gutter brackets taken in 2016 illustrating the rust. The house was only 2 years old and so was the failing paint...I didn’t paint the exterior, just fixing up someone else’s mess. 

Do you think that the tannic acid could be causing the rust? Just curious...


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

As stated earlier in this thread, and all the more applicable to galvanized, brand new stuff is the worst for adhesion. We always wiped with mineral spirits followed by wiping with vinegar (to etch). I really prefer to let it weather for a year before painting, but many times that is not possible.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Although bare galvanized gutters have gone the way of the mullet, if I were to encounter one, I would only paint the exterior. Especially if it were pitched correctly. But often they are not. And the last thing I would do would be to coat the inside of a level gutter with a single component latex or acrylic house paint that would eventually bubble, crack, and begin undercutting the substrate, there by entrapping moisture and eventually breaking down the zinc coating. Not a best practice in my professional opinion.


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## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

I should have worded my original post a little different. The inside of the gutters were not finish coated - just primed with an oil based galvanized primer. I agree that latex of any type inside a gutter isn't a great idea. 

Galvanized gutters that are not coated on the inside are likely to develop pinhole leaks over time. I've never seen old galvanized gutters that were not coated on the inside...because they rusted out before they could turn old.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Lightningboy65 said:


> You must be too young, or maybe they do things different in Canada.



Yeah, must be a regional thing because there's no way I'm too young. lol.


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## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

The gutters from OP are Aluminum, and maybe 4-5 years old (if I had to guess). 
Can I just prime and paint, or will I likely run into adhesion issues down the road? (Priming would be less laborious if I can skip the "scuffing" step).

I have never heard of anyone painting the inside of gutters, with the exception of spot-repairing leaks once in a great while (I have been painting for about 20 years). As a company, the official position is that we rarely recommend painting gutters (unless they are really in bad shape, or the color clashes dramatically with new color scheme). 

my reasons for "not" recommending painting gutters/downspouts: 
1. I dislike painting gutters/downspouts.
2. Creates future maintenance once painted (ie., not as durable as factory finish- while in good condition).


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

Lightningboy65 said:


> You must be too young, or maybe they do things different in Canada. In the NE US, when I first started, a good number of houses still had galvanized gutters. SOP was to always prime inside and out with either D-Rusto zinc oxide or Galva-grip primer. It wasn't emersion rated. Didn't need to be. Properly functioning gutters do not hold standing water.
> 
> And as for the top rim , that too was SOP. We would get severely reprimanded if we got caught not doing them, and over the years I have learned why. It does prevent rust from bleeding over the face of galvanized gutter. Very rarely see galvanized gutters these days. Some existing stuff remains, and once and a great while you will see it new on resto work.
> 
> As for painting the top edge on aluminum, I still do it. You never know what somebody flying over the place might think if they see the top edge unpainted.:biggrin:


When galvanized gutters ruled the world we not only painted the outside but cleaned and coated the insides with a black tar(asphalt) BM product whose name escapes me.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Lightningboy65 said:


> Probably aluminum, but if galvanized it should be primed inside and out with a primer designed specifically for galvanized metal and then top coated with a good latex HP.
> 
> And don't forget to do the top edge,especially on galvanized gutters. Otherwise rust stains may cascade down over the gutter in short order.


Inside? Seriously, has anyone _*ever*_ done that? :vs_worry:


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

RH said:


> Inside? Seriously, has anyone _*ever*_ done that? :vs_worry:


Yes, indeed many of us did!


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

Make sure they are clean, paint with a quality 100% acrylic...


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## jr.sr. painting (Dec 6, 2013)

There are many things that's make us cringe as painters. One of my ultimate is when someone somewhere along the line decides painting copper gutters would look best. The the op we always clean good with a spray bottle degreaser and just use whatever we are using on the rest of the place. Usually Resilience gloss super white.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Brushman4 said:


> Yes, indeed many of us did!


That is truly weird, at least to me. In all the years I did exteriors I have to say it never ever occurred to me, or any of the HOs I worked for, to paint the inside of the gutters. Maybe it’s because around here they still had water in them for most of the year.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

RH said:


> That is truly weird, at least to me. In all the years I did exteriors I have to say it never ever occurred to me, or any of the HOs I worked for, to paint the inside of the gutters. Maybe it’s because around here they still had water in them for most of the year.


My career would have ended 32 years ago if anyone told me to paint the inside of a gutter. And I've been asked to paint a lot of crazy things.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Next we'll be arguing about what brushes to use to paint the insides of the downspouts. lol.


I'm a little concerned that someone's gonna say this was a standard operating procedure years ago.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

CApainter said:


> My career would have ended 32 years ago if anyone told me to paint the inside of a gutter. And I've been asked to paint a lot of crazy things.


But apparently it was a thing. Just never encountered it myself, or ever had it requested, in many years of doing exterior work.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

RH said:


> But apparently it was a thing. Just never encountered it myself, or ever had it requested, in many years of doing exterior work.


We don't get as much rain in the San Francisco Bay Area as you do in Oregon. But just about every structure has a gutter. And never has there been a request to paint the inside of one. Even when I've come across wooden ones.

Now as far as lining them with a bitumastic coating, epoxy, or flexible sealer, I have done that to repair gutters that were leaking at the seams as a last resort before replacement.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

CApainter said:


> My career would have ended 32 years ago if anyone told me to paint the inside of a gutter. And I've been asked to paint a lot of crazy things.


Would that have been a bad thing?


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

CApainter said:


> We don't get as much rain in the San Francisco Bay Area as you do in Oregon. But just about every structure has a gutter. And never has there been a request to paint the inside of one. Even when I've come across wooden ones.
> 
> Now as far as lining them with a bitumastic coating, epoxy, or flexible sealer, I have done that to repair gutters that were leaking at the seams as a last resort before replacement.


As I said yesterday it was standard practice to coat the inside of galvanized gutters with a product that I could not remember the name of that was made by BM. Well, do to my superior recollection and sheer brain power it came to me tonight, the product was called "Asphaltum" and here is an article from Popular Science in May of 1952, which you should note is a year before I was put on this sphere. Scroll down to the bottom of page 164 for the details. https://books.google.com/books?id=m...AQ#v=onepage&q=asphaltum gutter paint&f=false

So to all of you galvanized and wooden gutter neophytes, eat some crow!


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## cardgunner (Feb 29, 2016)

Holland said:


> The gutters from OP are Aluminum, and maybe 4-5 years old (if I had to guess).
> Can I just prime and paint, or will I likely run into adhesion issues down the road? (Priming would be less laborious if I can skip the "scuffing" step).
> 
> my reasons for "not" recommending painting gutters/downspouts:
> ...


I would love to hear the answer or opinions on this "Can I just prime and paint, or will I likely run into adhesion issues down the road?". 

I have been asked in the past for the same and was fortunate enough to be able to refuse the work, on the premise I didn't want the headache. 

Scuff and prime?

Just Scuff?

Wipe with mineral spirits followed by vinegar? I like this one becasue I never heard it before.


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## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

Brushman4 said:


> As I said yesterday it was standard practice to coat the inside of galvanized gutters with a product that I could not remember the name of that was made by BM. Well, do to my superior recollection and sheer brain power it came to me tonight, the product was called "Asphaltum" and here is an article from Popular Science in May of 1952, which you should note is a year before I was put on this sphere. Scroll down to the bottom of page 164 for the details. https://books.google.com/books?id=m...AQ#v=onepage&q=asphaltum gutter paint&f=false
> 
> So to all of you galvanized and wooden gutter neophytes, eat some crow!



lol! It was also standard practice to clobber your evening meal over the head with a femur bone. Helloo...It's 2019!


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

CApainter said:


> lol! It was also standard practice to clobber your evening meal over the head with a femur bone. Helloo...It's 2019!


What, you don't still do that? A wooly mammoth or saber-toothed tiger femur?


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

cardgunner said:


> I would love to hear the answer or opinions on this "Can I just prime and paint, or will I likely run into adhesion issues down the road?".
> 
> I have been asked in the past for the same and was fortunate enough to be able to refuse the work, on the premise I didn't want the headache.
> 
> ...


I painted (outside only :devil3 my previously white aluminum gutters about five years back. Just made sure they were really clean then did a light scuff sand and painted. First coat (darker sage green) didn’t cover too well due to the still fairly smooth existing finish but second one did. Have had no issues with adhesion.


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