When you want to repaint your gutters you will need to do some extra preparatory work.
Repainting rusted steel gutters.
Once the bulk of the rust and peeling paint have been removed clean up the surfaces with a dry scrubbing pad.
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.
This became less commonplace however as steel gutters are far more likely to develop problems with rust.
After your done washing you need to rinse the soap off with your water hose.
In either case rub the rust back until you see only clean bare metal.
After the patch is situated cover it completely with another coat of roofing cement.
The plastic putty knife does not scratch aluminum like a metal putty knife or steel wire brush.
Tips for repainting gutters.
Sometimes rust corrosion can eat all the way through galvanized steel gutters.
Do not paint the interior of vinyl gutters.
Scrape off any flaking paint with a plastic putty knife.
Position a stepladder under the gutters.
Using the metal scraper scrape as much of the metal railings as possible to remove the rust and any peeling paint.
Gutters often used to be made of galvanized steel as it was a very strong and hardy material.
The first step is to clean off loose rust and flaking paint and then apply a rust inhibitive primer.
This primer will protect the bare metal almost as though you were replacing the zinc coating.
Once the hole is clean and dry spread roofing cement 1 around the edges of the hole and apply a patch of appropriately sized metal flashing.
Scrape off all loose flaking and peeling paint.
First prepare the surface by rubbing the gutters down with denatured alcohol.
Rusted gutters mean trouble and some gutters seem to rust more readily than others.
Then paint with a good quality exterior latex paint.
If the surface has peeling or soft paint it scratches with a fingernail remove it with a putty knife or a.
You are now ready to inspect and repair your steel gutter.
However badly rusted metal areas need more prep work and possibly a special primer.
Make sure you spray at a downward angle and rinse thoroughly.
When treating rusted gutters small patches of rust can be rubbed down with an emery cloth or some fine sandpaper whilst larger patches should be cleaned up with a stiff wire brush or a wire brush wheel fitted in a drill.
Aluminum gutters can develop holes too.
You can use the same process for repairing holes in both steel and aluminum gutters.
If grime or grease remains use mineral spirits and medium steel wool to remove it.
Once the area is clean and dry coat the affected spot with a metal primer designed to inhibit rust.
For non flat surfaces that the metal scraper can t reach switch to a wire brush to remove the rest of the rust.
Fixing cracks are the easiest.
