Can You Paint Vinyl Siding? A Guide to Giving Your House a Makeover

Can you paint vinyl siding?

If you’ve been asking yourself this question, the short answer is yes.

As long as you have the right type of paint, you can give your vinyl a complete makeover. This allows you to change the appearance of your home without breaking the bank.

Painting vinyl can actually be easier than painting wood. The job doesn’t take as much work, and because the vinyl doesn’t retain moisture, the paint dries quickly.

But painting vinyl does come with several limitations.

Keep reading below to learn everything you need to know about painting vinyl siding.

Benefits of Painting Your Vinyl Siding

Before we look at the limitations of painting vinyl, let’s take a look at a few of the benefits.

Here are a few things you should consider if you’re not happy with the current color of your vinyl siding.

Cost

Painting your vinyl siding is a lot cheaper than installing brand new siding.

Most people spend an average of $2,800 to paint the exterior of their home. That may sound like a lot of money, but when you compare it to the cost of installing vinyl siding, it’ll sound much more affordable.

Here’s why.

The average amount of money homeowners spend on vinyl siding is close to $10,000.

If the only thing you don’t like about your vinyl siding is the way it looks, it’s a better idea to paint them instead of installing new vinyl.

Curb Appeal

A fresh coat of paint can give your vinyl a factory-grade appearance. The paint will cover any fading, weathering, or other damage and make your exterior look like new.

By updating the color scheme of your home, you’re also improving your curb appeal. This can add thousands of dollars of value to your home.

Protection

Painting your vinyl can improve its overall durability.

How?

Many types of paint provide weather protection that will help your vinyl withstand the elements. This can make your vinyl last longer than it would have otherwise.

How to Paint Your Vinyl Siding

Now that you know why you should paint your vinyl siding, let’s turn out attention back to some of those painting limitations.

When you’re painting vinyl, you have to use specific types of paint and choose specific colors. If you don’t, your paint might not stick to the vinyl, and, in some cases, it can even damage the vinyl.

That’s why you need to know what you’re doing before you start painting.

Here’s a list of steps you should follow when painting your vinyl siding.

Check Your Warranty

If your vinyl siding still has an active warranty, you need to check it before you do anything else.

Some warranties don’t allow painting the vinyl a different color. Warranties that do allow painting may have other regulations you have to follow. For example, you might have to use the paint type and color the warranty stipulates.

If you don’t have a warranty on your vinyl siding, you can skip this step and head right to choosing the best time of year to paint.

Choose the Best Time of Year to Paint

You can’t paint your house-vinyl or not-if it’s too cold outside. Anything temperature 40 degrees or lower is too cold. Paint also doesn’t like large temperature fluctuations.

Here’s what we mean by that.

If you start painting your home when it’s 90 degrees outside, your paint won’t do well if the temperature drops to 40 degrees that night.

Because of this, you should wait to paint your vinyl until the temperature during the day is similar to the temperature at night. For many people, this will be early fall.

There’s an added bonus of waiting until fall to paint your home when you’re working with vinyl siding.

Vinyl siding expands and contracts with the temperature. If you paint your vinyl in the summer, you’ll end up with small seems of unpainted material when they vinyl expands in the colder months.

Consider Primer

You might not need a primer for your vinyl. It depends on the type of paint you pick and the condition of your vinyl siding.

Remember, paint will stick to whatever is directly beneath it. Some types of paint might not be able to stick to vinyl. If that’s the case, you’ll need to prime the vinyl first.

Primer might also be necessary if your vinyl has deteriorated, pitted, or shows signs of weather damage.

Pick the Paint

Make sure the paint you choose is designed for vinyl siding. Many manufacturers offer this type of paint, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding multiple options.

Don’t ignore this step.

Other types of paint might not stick to your vinyl, or the wrong paint could end up damaging the vinyl instead.

Pick the Color

You vinyl siding is designed to absorb a certain amount of heat. Absorbing more than this amount can cause problems, such as warping or buckling.

That’s why you have to be careful with the color of your paint.

Darker colors absorb more heat than lighter colors, so they might not be a good choice for your vinyl. Never pick anything darker than the original shade of vinyl you’re painting over.

Wash the Vinyl

Once the temperature outside is right and you have the all paint and primer you need, you can start the process of painting your vinyl.

This process begins with a thorough wash.

Mix some soap with warm water and give the exterior of your home a good scrub. This will remove any grime, grease, and other debris from the vinyl. After you’ve finished washing the vinyl, rinse it down with clean water.

If you have a pressure washer, you can use it to speed up the cleaning process. But don’t use a pressure washer if you haven’t done it before.

You might get water behind the vinyl, which can cause the extra moisture to mold and damage the rest of your home.

Applying the Paint to Your Vinyl Siding

There’s no lifesaving trick to painting vinyl siding. You can apply the paint like normal.

If you want to paint like the pros (learn more here), you bust out the spray equipment. Just make sure you remove extra drips-especially if you’re using a roller – and paint an even coat over every surface.