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Paint for shutters


lilly

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Hi All

I am having problems understanding which shutter paint to buy....we are only allowed 3 choices of colour in my village, so I am sticking to white...but when I go to the local bricomarche it is so expensive and as I have lots of new shutters to paint, I would like to buy a huge tub not the small ones on sale there...can anyone point me in the right direction for big tubs of paint, and does it need to have a special undercoat - if so what is that called? Thanks in advance for any help on this.

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We had a lot of shutters to paint on our house too. They had been painted white over 35 years ago and not touched since, (honestly). We painted two as a starter with the best French white gloss, recommended by experts. Within 6 months they had peeled in spite of stripping, sanding, undercoating with the recommended undercoat and then 2 top-coats. Very depressing. Following advice from a friend we used a well-known English gloss suitable for all weathers and guaranteed for 8 years. We used their primer and undercoat as well.

Result? 2 years on there isn't a sign of a crack in the surfaces painted, even on the sides of the house which get searing heat, (when this year?). The paint has been brought over in batches by any helpful Brit we can ask who goes back and forth by car. The hinges and metal fitments have been painted with white Hammerite. We are really pleased with the results. The marathon is almost finished with just 2 sets to go.

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I looked at this a few years ago and came to the conclusion that the French paint designed to do the job in the varied weather conditions their  shutters are subjected to was the one to choose ...Its guaranteed for 10 years and mine still looks good where the south facing window frames  of my house in Dorset painted with the stuff with the dog on it only two years ago does not look anywhere near as good ....I know the French stuff  is  very expensive... but ....I thought  painting shutters once every 10 years was worth paying out for .
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I am stunned by your success as my experience is the opposite.  I bought the most expensive and biggest can of French paint/laque (in a traditional brown colour and intended for volets) with all sorts of guarantees of extended lifetime on the tin and I have had to reapply every year for the last 3 years, simply because it was looking a bit washed out and thin. On top of that, when I came to paint the metal hinges black I used masking tape on the first volet and was dismayed when removing it that it also removed the brown laque.  It's back to Sadolin for me in future.

Dave

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Three years ago I painted two downstairs shutters using paint I brought from the UK, and the barn doors using French paint.

Both face the afternoon sun.

The shutters were stripped as far as possible, primed, undercoated and glossed.

The barn doors were "attacked" with a wire brush to remove flaking paint, undercoated with French VERY thin undercoat, (thin as it was diluted 4:1 paint:white spirit.)

To date, the barn doors look like new, and the shutters have flaked and pealed terribly[:(]

The shutters will be THOROUGHLY stripped with a blowtorch this summer, and redone with FRENCH paint!

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Good luck.  The volets I painted in brown laque that performed so badly were new and unpainted and perfectly clean.

It didn't crack or flake, it just washed away.  (And came off with masking tape).

Am back in the UK at the moment but seem to remember the brand was 3V3 or somesuch.

However, everyone has their own experiences and preferences with paint, so I guess it's best to keep with whatever works for you.

Dave 

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I'm glad I'm not the only one that has had disaster with French lasure. 3v3, Nuance, etc - catastrophe !

Several years ago I painted some panes on an outside half glazed door with an acrylic base coat which is supposed to be covered with a varnish. It's a two-tin kit produced by the Dog company. (I don't know if it still exists, it's for 'renovating' wood that's gone grey with age). The paint has not moved cracked or flaked so I would be interested to hear if anyone has used acrylic paint on their shutters with any degree of success.

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  • 2 years later...

I'm reviving this old thread because we are just about to replace our solid wooden volets. Opinion on this thread seems divided between English and French paint. The English paint we used last time has peeled but in fairness the shutters were very old and we did a lot of filling and so on before we painted and it was nine years ago. Any more opinions ?

Hoddy

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I have just painted all my shutters with Farrow and Ball paint.  It is more expensive than normal french or english paint but it is more environmentally friendly.  The additional bonus is that it is like painting with cream, doesn't smell and dries very quickly.    Too early to tell whether it's going to last ten years. They have fabulous colours, too if you feel like a little 'folie'.
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I've had good results with 2 different brands on shutters, V33 Peinture Bois and Syntilor Aquarethane. Both very expensive but 4 years on still looking good. As you say, opinion here is divided and I can only think that for the poor results the preparation must have been at fault.

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