Painting Aluminum Facia?

[dirttracker18]

Has anyone tried it? I changed all the windows in this house when I bought it and went with the forest green capping. The facia on the house is a, well a faded to light pink, used to be some kind of beige colour.
The cost to put up new facia (an extensive facia design and catherdral ceiling) makes it not an option right now.
I am thinking of taking it down this summer and painting it forest green to match the capping on the house and the facia on the new garage. I know this defeats the purpose of the no maintenance aluminum facia but I intend on changing it in the future anyway (unless the paint option works well).

Has anyone ever tried this?
Any painters that can offer some advice on painting aluminum for exxterior use?
Any other thoughts or opinions?

 

[polo2k]

I would treat it like car panels. plenty of uv resistant urathane laquer over the top to stop it fading. For the prep I would just scuff up the existing paint to give a good key, then possibly acid etch primer depending on the condition of the existing finish.

if you can take them all down then this would be the proberbial piece of piss to do and really good spraying practice. if its your first time then you dont have to worry about runs so long as they are high up lol

now the question is are you going flat green, metal flake, metallic ... etc? lol

 

[KCarGuy]

My First House had that Old Original Aluminum siding that would "Powder up" and if you leaned on it, you'ld be wearing it.
It was White (might have been the only choice back then).

I powerwashed the entire house and scrubbed it down, let it dry and used a Paint that was made by a company called Empire. It was made for concrete and Aluminum.

Not cheap at the time, about $12 a gallon and I used 15 Gallons (about 22 years ago).
Sprayed it using a Wagner Airless Spraygun, found that every gallon deluted with 12 oz. of water gave me the perfect texture of paint.

I drove by there about 2 months ago and the house still looks great.
Went from basic white siding and Black trim and shutters, to a Tan House with Brown trim and shutters.
It can be done...Paint had a 25 year Warranty. Not sure if they are still around.

 

[Racer_X]

Do a Google search for "paint aluminum siding." There's a lot of information out there.

 

[dirttracker18]

Sounds promising so far. It would make a huge difference in the look of the house so I hope this works out well.

 

[dipper]

we painted ours a few years ago, went from green to red on all the window sills.
We used Behr exterior acrylic paint. We had primer tinted for the red color. I think we brushed on one coat of primer and two coats of paint. It has been holding up very well.

 

[Riverjet502]

My neighbor painted their aluminum sided house about 10yrs ago's... Everything you need to do it is at Sherwin-Williams..It still looks very good today.

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

I refabed my first house and the budget was tight when the roof was replaced. I took down the aluminum gutters, pressure washed them, TSP'd them, And used a rattle can paint made for Aluminum. Not sure of the make but it still looks good on the house and that was 15 years ago.

Do some looking and you will find an acceptable process that will save you big $ over replacing them.

 

[tcianci]

First of all, you're not painting aluminum, you're painting paint and as others have said, any good acrylic latex house paint will do just fine with the normal house-type prep...a good wash with detergent and bleach, let it dry and go to town. I wouldn't attempt to remove it, just paint it in place.

 

[danski0224]

If the finish is chalking, you need to remove the loose stuff by washing. Pressure washing is not necessary.

Zinsser makes a product called "Peel Stop", and one thing it does is it creates a binder coat on the aluminum. They claim it will work right over chalky finishes.

Then pick your paint.

I painted some aluminum gutters.

Surface prep was a hose/brush wash with a citrus based cleaner.

Peel Stop was applied.

Paint was the new Behr Ultra (2 coats). Work quickly- this stuff dries fast.

Both products were applied with a brush.

The only thing I removed for paint was the downspouts.

Only been a year, but it still looks great.

I would suggest that you leave your trimwork in place. Taking it down usually damages it.

 

[gatchel]

My First House had that Old Original Aluminum siding that would "Powder up" and if you leaned on it, you'ld be wearing it.
It was White (might have been the only choice back then).

I powerwashed the entire house and scrubbed it down, let it dry and used a Paint that was made by a company called Empire. It was made for concrete and Aluminum.

Not cheap at the time, about $12 a gallon and I used 15 Gallons (about 22 years ago).
Sprayed it using a Wagner Airless Spraygun, found that every gallon deluted with 12 oz. of water gave me the perfect texture of paint.

I drove by there about 2 months ago and the house still looks great.
Went from basic white siding and Black trim and shutters, to a Tan House with Brown trim and shutters.
It can be done...Paint had a 25 year Warranty. Not sure if they are still around.

I did the same thing. One day I decided to clean my siding and ...shiny aluminum can.

I purchased a pump sprayer from HD for $300 and a Behr primer and satin paint. Mixed in the appropriate amount of Flowtrol and sprayed away. Still looks good today. Painted in 2002. Make sure you practice if you use a sprayer because it is real easy to run the paint until you get the feel for it.

 

[dirttracker18]

I am taking down the facia for sure.
I have had a large section off already (while doing major repairs/renos when I purchased the house). Previously the soffit was thin plywood which was later covered by aluminum soffit. Unfortunately that means limited, if any, air movement. So part of this process will be taking the soffit down on the sides and pulling down that old plywood so that the attic can breath properly.
As well, the drip edge was hand made from a small piece of the facia. It is only about 3/4" X 3/4", not too mention that it will be the wrong colour. So that will be changed as well with really drip edge.
Thanks for all the ideas, sounds like it will not be a big deal just good prep like any other painting.