Hi, I have some plastic shutters on which the paint is peeling. How should I prep to repaint? The paint is peeling on the sides and I was planning on scrapping it off lightly with a putty knife, but should I sand next? That is what I would do with wood, but am worried about marring the plastic…..
Any advice?
Thank you, Joe Joyce, Boston MA
Replies
Likely the shutters were painted with latex, without priming first with a good alkyd primer (or whatever they call it now). You might be better off cutting your losses and buying new shutters.
In any event, if you scrape down to bare plastic, be sure to prime before painting.
definitely sand
You need something for the paint to lock on to and the sanding scratches will do that since it can't get into the pores like on wood. Don't worry about the scratches showing ....who the heck gets that close to inspect shutters and if they do do you really care what someone so anal thinks?
Since the existing paint is peeling anything less than stripping it all off will leave you with more peeling paint. Plastic shutters are pretty cheap, probably cheaper than the time it will take you to stip them for painting.
Good advice from everyone. I think I will try to sand an repaint, although I go understand it might just be easier to buy new.
Thank you!
Good advice from everyone. I think I will try to sand an repaint, although I go understand it might just be easier to buy new.
Thank you!
You may find that soaking the shutters in a hot lye water mix will remove paint and not damage the shutters.
I have painted my plastic shutters with Krylon plastic spray paint with great success. I scuffed the shutters with a scotch-brite pad and laid them out horizontally on saw horses to paint. The paint has lasted about 15 years. Just do not paint on very humid days as the paint will blush then.
Don't paint the shutters in the nude either....the neighbors blush.....and call the cops