If you’ve recently spent the time during lockdown to paint your exteriors, you might’ve noticed something.

Whilst most of your house looks shiny and brand new, the gutters are looking unclean and dull. It’s quite obvious that you need to do something about this but what? Instead of paying lots of money on completely replacing them, you do have another option: painting them.

Painting your gutters and eaves gives you a huge degree of freedom – you can make them look brand new but most importantly you can choose a colour that fits in with your existing decor. With that in mind, we’ve created a handy little guide on how to paint gutters and eaves to give you the best chance of success.

How to paint gutters and eaves

Contrary to popular belief, painting your gutters and eaves needn’t be too much hassle. Especially if you have the know-how.

Many people who attempt to paint their gutters go to the local B&Q, pick up a tin of paint and slap it on. This is where we come in. Using the guidance from the guys over at My Paint Guide, we’ve put together some handy tips and advice which will not only ensure you get a smooth finish but that it lasts more than a winter too.

Step 1: Clean and prepare the surface

Regardless of the materials your gutters are made of, the first thing you must do is make sure they’re spotless. Use a uPVC cleaner for plastic gutters or use some sugar soap for metal gutters. Either way – washing your gutters and eaves is an important job. If you paint over a dirty surface, that paint is going to flake straight away and in some cases won’t even stick to the substrate in the first place.

Step 2: Prepare the surface

Non-porous surfaces like plastic or aluminium aren’t fantastic when it comes to paint adherence so preparing the surface first will help a lot. To give something for the paint to key to, we’d recommend using a super fine sanding paper. Once you’ve sanded the substrates, make sure you wash away any excess dust.

Step 3: Use a suitable primer

Once your gutters are cleaned, sanded down and dry, you can apply a suitable oil-based primer. The chaps from My Paint Guide prefer to use oil-based primers for this job as it is better at repelling water and ultimately will last longer.

Step 4: Apply the topcoat

Once your primer has dried, it’s time to apply the topcoat. We’d recommend using something like Zinsser Exterior Allcoat for the topcoat as it is a universal paint that will stick to any primed surfaces. Once cured, it’s said to be virtually bomb proof so you know it will last a long time without fading too.