# Vinyl shutters



## Shakey0818 (Feb 1, 2012)

I'v been painting vinyl shutters for years without a problem.Today i go to lowes to special order shutters and the guy asked me if i wanted the paintable ones.Only once i had a problem with vinyl shutters and they kinda cracked a bit but that was due to too heavy of a coat.Have any of you heard that you have to prime new vinyl shutters before top coating them?


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## Gymschu (Mar 11, 2011)

I hate the new vinyl shutters. The old ones could be painted without any problems. Not so much with the way they manufacture them now. I bought some for my own house to test. A few I primed with 1-2-3 and painted. Some I just painted over. And, some I primed with CoverStain. The shutters with 1-2-3 and the shutters w/o primer failed in less than 6 months. I mean the paint came off in sheets. So far, the CoverStain version is holding up well.

Something in the manufacturing process causes this problem. Makes for a major pain when someone wants a custom color to match their home.


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## Shakey0818 (Feb 1, 2012)

Gymschu said:


> I hate the new vinyl shutters. The old ones could be painted without any problems. Not so much with the way they manufacture them now. I bought some for my own house to test. A few I primed with 1-2-3 and painted. Some I just painted over. And, some I primed with CoverStain. The shutters with 1-2-3 and the shutters w/o primer failed in less than 6 months. I mean the paint came off in sheets. So far, the CoverStain version is holding up well.
> 
> Something in the manufacturing process causes this problem. Makes for a major pain when someone wants a custom color to match their home.


Are you saying you used the iol based cover stain?
I painted 2 sets of them shutters this year and i hope i dont have a fail too.


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## Gymschu (Mar 11, 2011)

Shakey0818 said:


> Are you saying you used the iol based cover stain?
> I painted 2 sets of them shutters this year and i hope i dont have a fail too.


Shakey, I did use the oil-based CoverStain hoping for maximum adhesion. When the paint fails on these newer shutters, it starts out as bubbles, like moisture is underneath the coating trying to escape. The bubbles don't come off unless you scrape them off so, from a distance, the shutters look fine, but, up close……….not so much.

With older vinyl shutters, you could make a house look like a million bucks by painting them with two coats of latex. Now, the added primer step makes it more of a pain.


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## Shakey0818 (Feb 1, 2012)

Here's a good thread on shutters explaining why they peal and a few examples on how to prep them.

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/painting/393776-painted-new-plastic-shutters-what-went-wrong.html


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## mudbone (Dec 26, 2011)

Gymschu said:


> I hate the new vinyl shutters. The old ones could be painted without any problems. Not so much with the way they manufacture them now. I bought some for my own house to test. A few I primed with 1-2-3 and painted. Some I just painted over. And, some I primed with CoverStain. The shutters with 1-2-3 and the shutters w/o primer failed in less than 6 months. I mean the paint came off in sheets. So far, the CoverStain version is holding up well.
> 
> Something in the manufacturing process causes this problem. Makes for a major pain when someone wants a custom color to match their home.


wow the thought of that makes me shutter!:whistling2:


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## Gymschu (Mar 11, 2011)

Believe it or not, I also started a thread about this very topic:

http://www.painttalk.com/f2/vinyl-shutters-12962/


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## loaded brush (Dec 27, 2007)

Anything manufactured from vinyl or plastic will have some type of residue on it from the manufacturing process. Depending on the item, some get washed like food containers to remove the film and others don't like shutters for example. I'm sure we all remember building plastic model cars when we were youngsters. The directions always said to wash all parts before painting for adhesion.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

We just sprayed 12 vinyl shutters that were not painted before. I went with our go to paint and used Regal Select, we have used this many times on vinyl shutters with no problems.
I am actually starting to collect shutters the old wood ones to repair, repaint and resell, not sure how well the sales will be but what the heck it's getting cold outsside and I need some thing to keep me busy.


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## MKap (Sep 11, 2010)

SuperPaint...hasn't failed on one shutter out of the hundreds I've done


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

MKap said:


> SuperPaint...hasn't failed on one shutter out of the hundreds I've done


Yea....I'm kinda puzzled why these threads even exist. ...spray a half way decent exterior paint on Them and call it a day...


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## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Because some of them have a silicone-based plastic or something. And no acrylic paint will stick to them.


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## LIPainters (Oct 5, 2013)

Most of the time when you run into peeling on new surfaces plastic or metal it going to be about not having a clean surface. I have found that some contaminates will effect oil but not latex depending on the product. Been using denatured alcohol for years now on all new work without any adhesion problems anymore. I use it for latex too because even though it may not peel in 3 years I’d rather have it last 10.


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## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

It is like those plastic window frames on front doors. Some are paintable, some are only paintable with a special primer. It is about the kind of plastic eh are made from. I know a l of painters who paint new construction say there never is a problem. But, doing primarily repaints, I can say there is a problem. Easily more than half the doors with the plastic window trim are failing at first repaint due to poor adhesion.


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## Huntercoatings (Aug 16, 2013)

I agree with you dean, Ive seen those little plastic window frames fail all the time around here. Most painter's don't prep them and spray right over them. I think they should be scuff sanded, cleaned with alcohol and primed with a good bonding primer. I usually use Kelly moore kelbond adhesion primer. Stuff rally sticks, but others like UMA and stix would work as well.


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## Shaser (Mar 31, 2013)

*Painting Exterior Vinyl Shutters*

I found this great article on the subject on painting exterior vinyl shutters

"Most vinyl shutters, including those sold on the shelf and the big box retailers, are made from a vinyl material known as polypropylene that paint does not adhere well to. Instead most manufacturers will offer a paintable vinyl shutter which is made from a polystyrene that is much better for paint adhesion."


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## Gymschu (Mar 11, 2011)

richmondpainting said:


> Yea....I'm kinda puzzled why these threads even exist. ...spray a half way decent exterior paint on Them and call it a day...


Been doing that for 34 years Richmond. Didn't have any troubles until the last two years. These newer vinyl shutters come with a warning label that says, "Due to our manufacturing process, these shutters are not paintable." I used to take em down, pressure wash them, spray em and call it a day. Now, you have to be very careful as the manufacturers have changed the process like others have mentioned. I tried to "cheat" and ignored the warning labels only to have it bite me in the butt. The paint comes off in sheets and it's a terrible mess to try and correct so I believe these threads are rather important to those of us who do lots of shutters.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Gymschu said:


> Been doing that for 34 years Richmond. Didn't have any troubles until the last two years. These newer vinyl shutters come with a warning label that says, "Due to our manufacturing process, these shutters are not paintable." I used to take em down, pressure wash them, spray em and call it a day. Now, you have to be very careful as the manufacturers have changed the process like others have mentioned. I tried to "cheat" and ignored the warning labels only to have it bite me in the butt. The paint comes off in sheets and it's a terrible mess to try and correct so I believe these threads are rather important to those of us who do lots of shutters.


Well....I hope I don't come across these. .


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Gymschu said:


> I hate the new vinyl shutters. The old ones could be painted without any problems. Not so much with the way they manufacture them now. I bought some for my own house to test. A few I primed with 1-2-3 and painted. Some I just painted over. And, some I primed with CoverStain. The shutters with 1-2-3 and the shutters w/o primer failed in less than 6 months. I mean the paint came off in sheets. So far, the CoverStain version is holding up well.
> 
> Something in the manufacturing process causes this problem. Makes for a major pain when someone wants a custom color to match their home.


In the future wipe them down with zylol and prime inslx stix.


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## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Xim plastic and vinyl primer.


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## mudbone (Dec 26, 2011)

Vinyl is not final!:no:


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