painting plastic shutters

[nbpt100]

I am changing the outside color of my house and want to paint the window shutters. They are plastic and the current color is in the plastic. Can I use laytex paint/ primer house paint? Should I paint with a spray primer 1st that says it will adhere to plastic. Looking for most practical way that will last. New shutters are about $50 per window.

 

[CraigStu]

I needed to add a drain pipe for the heat pump in the attic. Long story why but I ran 1" pvc down the outside of the house. Sprayed it w/ Rustoleum plastic primer. Brushed on solid color stain I had on hand from enclosing under our deck w/ T1-11. The stain had been color matched to the vinyl siding color. It's been 4 years and the pvc still looks like day one. I have also used the plastic primer and then rattle can paint on a plastic pistol frame. This was long enough ago that plastic paints were not as plentiful as they are now so I used a standard paint that was in a color I liked.

 

[619DioFan]

Should use a bonding primer first. Rustoleum universal bonding primer seems to stick to just about anything but only comes in spray cans. zinsser bullseye 123 primer is rated for most anything including plastic and vynil siding. the bullseye comes in gallons and can be sprayed. I have used both on galvanized metal ( which can be a pain to get good adhesion ) with good results.

 

[ctandc72]

Depending on how old the shutters are and how much sunlight they get - you might want to check the actual condition of them. That's one of the reasons I built custom cedar shutters on our house. The plastic shutters literally were crumbling when I took them down to prep / paint them.

FYI - use cedar fence pickets to make the shutters. Make a jig (if all your windows are the same size). Stain your choice of color. Bonus, they won't rot and insects don't like them for the most part.

Cedar fence pickets are $3-4 each. Figure roughly 4 pickets per window + screws. Seriously I'm no carpenter and we've gotten more compliments on these shutters and they cost LESS than replacement plastic shutters and look a lot better.



The aforementioned shutters.

 

[zak77]

I painted mine with spray paint for plastic, cant recall the brand, but it's held up very well.

 

[The Cobbler]

I bet that regular latex paint will bond well to them .

 

[ctandc72]

Regular spray paint works just fine with the plastic shutters - I've done previous houses without any issues. Depending on the color, and the sun exposure, you will get fading fairly quickly without a clear coat that protects against UV exposure. The shutters are usually molded in whatever color they are.

The paint designed for plastic might hold up better to sun exposure.

Watch out for living things behind those plastic shutters. Ask me how I know.

 

[jack stand]

We used to install probably 25 -30 pairs a week on new homes. These were primarily "Mid America" brand widely available at all of the leading siding and manufacturer's distributors. Now and then a builder wanted a custom color and we ordered "paintable" shutters, light blocks and decorative gable louvers.
Some other brands (Cellwood?) were paintable right over the factory color so a blanket statement that you can paint "vinly" shutters..... ymmv due to the actual formula or makeup of your shutters.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I would also recommend bonding primer. I painted melamine covered particle board cabinets which I'd heard could NOT be painted without peeling. I use Behr Bonding primer, then rolled Behr paint in a gray and the cabinets get used every day, no peeling whatsoever.

I also primered a Harbor Freight plastic creeper then sprayed it with Rustoleum Regal Red before applying an oversized CRAFTSMAN decal to it. It has held up equally well.

These cheap cabinets:

 

[larry4406]

Around 9 years ago I bought Krylon Fusion paint from ACE hardware and sprayed our plastic shutters. I bought a quart and sprayed it with a HF cheap spray gun. Held up very well with afternoon southwest exposure.

https://www.krylon.com/en/products/all-purpose-spray-paint/fusion-all-in-one

 

[Steve_P]

I have 30 year old plastic shutters and paint them with basic exterior latex paint. The last time I painted them I removed them, washed them, let them dry, and sprayed them with a gun. No special prep. They need to be done again, but the current paint is 10+ years old and is still adhering just fine; the only issue is sun fade at one window.

Saying that, I know that some plastics have issues with paint adhering due to things like injection mold release agents.... so YMMV.

 

[619DioFan]

Depending on how old the shutters are and how much sunlight they get - you might want to check the actual condition of them. That's one of the reasons I built custom cedar shutters on our house. The plastic shutters literally were crumbling when I took them down to prep / paint them.

FYI - use cedar fence pickets to make the shutters. Make a jig (if all your windows are the same size). Stain your choice of color. Bonus, they won't rot and insects don't like them for the most part.

Cedar fence pickets are $3-4 each. Figure roughly 4 pickets per window + screws. Seriously I'm no carpenter and we've gotten more compliments on these shutters and they cost LESS than replacement plastic shutters and look a lot better.



The aforementioned shutters.

What a great idea. They look very nice and seem easy to build. Will keep that idea in my back pocket for down the road. My house is 123 years old so a slight design change might look better on it.

 

[check251]

I painted my mother in laws shutters a couple of years ago with Krylon Colormaxx spray
paint. "Paint and primer" indoor +outdoor.
Put 2 coats on although one covered well. I was at her house this morning they still look
great.

 

[Shiftless]

I would not feel confident in slapping on another coat of latex paint over plastic. When I needed to paint melamine coated particle board, I roughed up the surface and put a coat of this on before painting the final color coat. (Acrylic latex paint)

 

[NUTTSGT]

The wife has been talking about doing this as our 20 year old shutters are fading.

So to go along with painting them, did you guys remove them ?

If you did remove them, did you break or replace the plastic pins that hold them on ?

Replacements ?

 

[larry4406]

The ones I painted I removed. Mine had a clip that when the shutter was lifted up, it released from the clips, one each corner. Hidden fastener.

I then scrubbed them with Dawn and let dry in sun after fully rinsing off. Then wife painted with HF gun using the Krylon Fusion paint.

Reengaging all 4 corner clips was a PIA.

 

[Steve_P]

The wife has been talking about doing this as our 20 year old shutters are fading.

So to go along with painting them, did you guys remove them ?

If you did remove them, did you break or replace the plastic pins that hold them on ?

Replacements ?

I remove mine. Mine are screwed on, and I replaced all of the screws with stainless 20? years ago. The screws heads are blasted and painted for when the green painted plastic caps fall off.

 

[wolfhawk73]

Another vote for Zinsser's Bulls Eye 1-2-3. Clean the shutters well with a plastic scrub brush and give them a light sanding, especially if the exposed plastic has begun to chalk. Usually a stiff, plastic-bristled scrub brush with water is enough. Prime and lightly sand, then put two coats of a GOOD (read: from a paint store) exterior gloss or semi-gloss. I've always done this with shutters and exterior doors and always with just a good paint brush.

If they're attached with shutter plugs, go ahead and buy new ones. They're going to break when you remove them. Also, make sure you don't mix up the shutters when you reinstall them. Carpenters often drill random holes in the shutters before installing them, making sure that at least one shutter won't even be CLOSE to where it should be if you put it in another location.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Solid colored deck stain. Goes on easy and makes them look new, not like they are painted. Neighbor discovered it accidentally when staining a deck, and finished the shutter she stained since it wasn’t coming off. They did their whole house 10 years ago and they still look good. We did ours a couple of years later with great results.

 

[oldmxracer]

The wife has been talking about doing this as our 20 year old shutters are fading.

So to go along with painting them, did you guys remove them ?

If you did remove them, did you break or replace the plastic pins that hold them on ?

Replacements ?

You might try running a torch on them, made mine look like new. Google restore plastic outdoor furniture.

 

[gearhead1]

I don’t know about the latex, but what I did that I know for 100% sure that works is use rustoleum. They’ve been 3 different colors at this point - same shutters on a house built in 1993. I pressure washed them, scuffed them with a scotch brite pad and used rustoleum.

I bet it would have worked with Krylon just the same. I suspect the modern spray paint is formulated to stick to plastic. It probably wasn’t 50 years ago, then with all of the goods made of plastic on the market was a regular can of spray paint and one for use with plastic. Now the can of spray paint says use with metal or plastic. I bet the paint manufacturers have it formulated to adhere to plastic, not just a marketing gimmick, but actual chemistry.