Re: Painting a PVC front door

Well your pvc must have been different to mine! Brian

Downpipes can be painted with solvent based paint but in my experience stay very tacky for a considerable period. They appear to touch dry in the period stated on the tin but even weeks afterwards if handled the dry bit will only be (thin) skin deep. Not ideal for a door that has to be used.

There are two types of cleaning products for UPVC doors and double glazing. Soapy water based cleaner will remove most stains otherwise use a solvent based cleaner (mainly acetone). A quick wipe over with the latter will remove marks/stains that soapy water will not shift.

Solvent based cleaner

I accidentally got Lidl woodstain on the new black rain water downpipe of my old wooden workshop. It covered the black PVC perfectly and was still there 10 years later when we sold the place.

Mike

PVC waste pipes etc have been around longer than PVC doors.

I painted a new soil stack in grey Terrain black to match the other downpipes. Using shed own brand oil paint. It dried pretty well the same as on anything.

Possibly after painting you didn't handle/touch the downpipe for some time afterwards.

While painting the front of my house (stone paint) I decided to re-arrange the guttering and required another downpipe. I wanted white and could only get black so I painted it with a oil based paint, but before I erected it. This was in the hot summer months. It was around two weeks later that I fitted it and during all that time it had been sitting in the sun for most of the days. This is when I found out that although the surface was dry and not tacky the layer of paint beneath the skin was still wet and if the skin was broken my hands became covered in paint.

Before painting the pipes had been given a quick rub down with wet and dry to key the surface but possibly the pipe surface still had some release agent on it.

After 15+ years, last year I repainted the downpipes and again rubbed down the surface with a fine wet and dry. The original paint was still firmly affixed to the pipe and nothing flaked off.

That is the problem with oil based paint.

Better to use a car spray paint designed for PVC plastic.

It's very close to the back door and goes to the ground. I'd be most surprised if nothing touched it for ages.

Even better use the correct 2-pack spray paint intended for this purpose.

According to estate agents, 'buyers prefer white doors'.

Odd that so many folk near me have painteed their white uPVC garage doors, and the mosr recent craze seems to be replacing white uPVC front doors with entirely new uPVC front doors that are some sort of semi-matt blue- grey colour that Biggles would be proud of.

I just painted the turned-to-grey downpipes with an old tin of Dulux egg shell oil-based black. It did stay tacky for 4-5 days but has now set pretty hard, and does look quite good. I put it down to the colder weather - about 10C when I did it. I didn't do any prep other than wipe them down with a damp cloth.

Well worth a try IMHO.

`We have uPVC composite doors that are blue on the outside and white inside. Before we got them I always assumed the outer layer was self coloured but turns out they are painted. I suspect they use some sort of acrylic formulation similar to painting plastic bumpers on cars.

Richard