Repainting Rusted Steel Gutters

Do not paint the interior of vinyl gutters.

Repainting rusted steel gutters.

Sometimes rust corrosion can eat all the way through galvanized steel gutters. Make sure you spray at a downward angle and rinse thoroughly. Painting over powder coated steel. Scrape off all loose flaking and peeling paint.

Although they probably won t rust aluminum can be punctured more easily than steel gutters. Before you paint your steel gutters you want to repair any holes or cracks in them. Part of your responsibility as a home owner is to make sure that checking gutters for rust and damage is part of your annual routine. When you want to repaint your gutters you will need to do some extra preparatory work.

Then paint with a good quality exterior latex paint. After your done washing you need to rinse the soap off with your water hose. Once the area is clean and dry coat the affected spot with a metal primer designed to inhibit rust. Using the metal scraper scrape as much of the metal railings as possible to remove the rust and any peeling paint.

This primer will protect the bare metal almost as though you were replacing the zinc coating. Move the stepladder as necessary and continue scraping the old loose paint from the entire gutter system. Fixing cracks are the easiest. If you re dealing with a lightly rusted surface you may just need to give it a quick scrub with a brush.

The first step is to clean off loose rust and flaking paint and then apply a rust inhibitive primer. You are now ready to inspect and repair your steel gutter. Tips for repainting gutters. However badly rusted metal areas need more prep work and possibly a special primer.

For the best possible paint job it s wise to apply a corrosion resistant metal primer to galvanized gutters and downspouts but if no rust was found a primer isn t absolutely necessary if you are applying 100 acrylic latex paint. Scrape off peeling paint and powdery flaking rust until the surface is mostly smooth. Position a stepladder under the gutters. For non flat surfaces that the metal scraper can t reach switch to a wire brush to remove the rest of the rust.

First prepare the surface by rubbing the gutters down with denatured alcohol. Aluminum gutters can develop holes too. You don t need to get down to bare metal. Among home paint projects painting over powder coated steel may seem the most daunting for the do it yourselfer.

This job actually doesn t have to be so difficult. The plastic putty knife does not scratch aluminum like a metal putty knife or steel wire brush. You don t need to get down to bare shiny metal just clean off the flakes and powdery surface rust that prevent paint from adhering. Scrape off any flaking paint with a plastic putty knife.