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How To Paint Roller Shutters

Michael is one of our professional decorators and in this article, he provides some guidance on how to paint roller shutters.
He will explain to you how to paint both plastic and aluminium roller shutters yourself.

Michael

Michael

Professional painter based in Manchester

Roller shutters: Can you paint your roller shutters?

It is possible to paint roller shutters, but how this should be done strongly depends on the material from which a roller shutter is made.
Painting roller shutters means that you have to paint two different elements: the casing of the roller shutters and the slats themselves.

What is important is to know what kind of material the shutters are made of. We will take a look at two materials commonly used for roller shutters: aluminium and plastic.

Painting Plastic Roller Shutters

Before you can start painting your plastic shutters, you will need to clean the shutter thoroughly. Once the shutters are clean you should apply a primer and an undercoat suitable for external use. In order to get the best results, it is important to sand both the undercoat and the topcoat lightly. 

privacy roller shutters

Painting aluminum roller shutters

When you have aluminium shutters, the painting process requires a different pre-treatment. The best way to clean and degrease your shutters is by using thinner. The next step is to rinse thoroughly with water. Once the surface is dry you can apply the undercoat. We recommend using a multi-surface primer/undercoat.  Before you start applying the topcoat, make sure you sand it with a fine grain to get the best finish.

roller shutter

Labour intensive paint job

Before you rush off to your local hardware store to buy all the painting materials. Know that painting your roller shutters is labour-intensive work and will take up a lot of your time. 
Before you start painting you will need to disassemble the roller shutter so that you can clean, sand, and paint the casing and all the slats optimally.
It is not possible to paint the roller shutters while they are hanging on the wall, because the slats are still partly in the casing. It is impossible to get a good result since you will have to paint transversely to paint in the length of the slats. By doing this you will likely get drips which you want to avoid. Therefore it is best to remove the slats one by one and paint them.

Do it yourself or outsource to a decorator?

If you add the costs of the material plus the time it takes to take the shutter apart, clean the slats, sand all elements paint it, and put the shutter back together you might want to consider hiring a professional painter or decorator.

A skilled decorator has likely dealt with roller shutters before and knows exactly what to do to get the best results. Especially if you have multiple shutters, it is recommended to outsource this paint job to a professional.

HIRE A PAINTER TO DO THE WORK
You can paint roller shutters yourself, but I strongly advice you to leave this technical job to a professional decorator in order to get the best results.
Michael
Michael Professional Painter

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