How To Paint & Maintain Your Vinyl Siding

Can You Paint Vinyl Siding? A Q&A with Coatings Expert Dan Haer

Let's tackle the main question: Can vinyl siding be painted?

There are many articles that can be found online about the viability of painting vinyl siding. Most are written by remodeling companies or siding manufacturers with obvious motives and bias.

Some are valid and intelligently presented, but as a whole they have a heavily slanted bias toward replacing your siding VS painting.

I am here to shed some pure unbiased light on the subject matter.

Can Vinyl Siding Be Painted?

YES, we do it all the time and have hundreds of successful painting projects painting vinyl siding. Not once in over 30 years have we ever had a job peel off!

Will it ever peel off and fail?

No, not if it has been washed and cleaned properly to remove the oxidation. This is one of the false narratives that are being pushed by installers that really chaps my a**. Vinyl siding just like any other material will oxidize in the sun's UV rays, changing the color slightly, but more importantly to this conversation, creating a chalky film that prevents paint from bonding causing it to peel and fail. So, to be clear, as the vinyl siding is exposed to the sun's UV rays it will oxidize and break down ever so slightly leaving a chalky residue. This chalky residue must be washed off completely to ensure a good bond between the vinyl siding and the paint. Once the residue has been washed off completely either by high pressure wash hitting 100% of areas to be painted or a good antioxidant soft washing it can be painted using a 100% acrylic paint (flat, satin or semi-gloss).

Can vinyl siding be painted a dark color?

It Depends how dark. The Light Reflective Value (LRV) needs to be above 55% to ensure that in direct sunlight it will remain cool. Dark colors absorb light which makes them get hot, the darker your color the more light it absorbs making it hotter. If the thin vinyl siding material gets too hot it will warp and look like it's melted.

Over the years many people have been told to pick light colors when painting vinyl siding and try to stay below 55% LRV, however in recent years the paint manufactures have dumbed this down for all of us by creating very handy Vinyl Safe Color Charts. These have colors that have been proven to be within range with no risk of warping. We'll link our favorites on this page.

Once vinyl siding is painted will it need to be repainted?

Absolutely - the 100% acrylic paint used to paint vinyl siding will last anywhere from 5-15 years before we recommend repainting it.

Why the 10 year range...? Well if the coating is a brighter more vibrant color such as yellow, red or blue these colorants (tints) tend to fade faster than say a light grey or white. So a light brown will last 5-7 years where a white will last 10. Even brand new Vinyl siding fades over time and needs to be addressed which is why 50% of you are reading this article... The other half just want a change of color.

Can paint expand and contract as much as vinyl siding does?

I say yes 100%, otherwise I would have hundreds of unhappy customers complaining about their paint failing. As of May 26, 2024 I have none, zero, not a single peeling or flaking vinyl paint job over the last 37 years.

I have tried my absolute best to share this info with no bias. I have 37 years experience in the painting industry & painting vinyl siding makes up about 10% of the substrates that I have been involved with painting during that time.

The one and only project failure that I have had regarding painting vinyl siding was a home I painted in 1999 which we painted dark brown. 2 sides of the house got too hot and warped. This was my sister's house so as you can imagine I learned this LRV lesson in about the worst manner possible!

The question often comes up about painting shutters, and why can we paint shutters black with no problem or regard to LRV. The fact is shutter material is thicker and sometimes even a different molecular makeup than most vinyl siding material therefore much more able to hold up to the higher temperatures.

Vinyl Safe Paint Colors

Click the logos to visit the brands' resources for vinyl safe color choices.

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Reviews

DJ's Painting

4.8

Based on 119 reviews

13:32 16 Feb 24

22:03 15 Dec 23

04:43 22 Oct 23

amazing!

Samantha Taylor

19:22 11 Oct 23

What a fast and clean service!! My doctor was very pleased with our newly painted parking lot. Highly recommend.

Erin Maurer

18:23 26 Sep 23

Who paints curbs without scraping the old paint and prepping the concrete first? DJs PAINTING does! What a horrible job done by this crew in Penns Grove, NJ. The curbs look like we let the preschool kids water paint throughout town. None of the curbs were scraped or prepped and more than half look like the sprayer was running out of paint.. let's not talk about the overspray all over the road and sidewalks. Absolute trash job performed by this company. Makes you wonder who they know...

Gene Mills

13:58 28 Aug 23

Great experience! Showed up on time, did a great job were very neat. Move furniture without any damage and all rooms that were painted look great. Moved everything back in place, cleaned up and left our home looking great. I would certainly give D&J Painting 5 stars and recommend them for a truly professional job. Certainly the crew that painted our home!!

Nikki Hand

20:10 16 Jun 23

Our experience from start finish was great! Quick responses from quoting, to scheduling, and getting the job done. Staff was punctual and professional. Our house was not easy to paint with 2 large pergolas outback against 2 sides of the house but they manged to do an amazing job around all the difficult structure being in their way. The price was very reasonable. Already looking forward to working with this company again.

Jay Arbuckel

23:03 24 Jan 23

The experience of working with Daniel and Lalo at the Millville Church of the Nazarene was exceptional. They were both knowledgeable and professional. When I was told a crew would be reporting in the morning, I expected 4 - 6 professionals coming in to work, to my surprise, the crew consisted of 2 men. This would be my only issue with my complete experience. They worked great together when they were both there. At times there was only one worker on site, for safety and efficiency I wasn't comfortable with this practice. Overall, there isn't anything negative I can think of concerning their work ethics or performance. I would recommend DJ'S PAINTING to any business or private individual. Jay Arbuckel, Millville Church of the Nazarene Millville, NJ 08332.

Lee Jackson

16:39 22 Jun 22

They did a wonderful job restaining.my log home plus new caulking it looks great, the workers were on time, professional, and know just what they are doing,plus cleanup was great. Hard to find a good crew these days. Would highly recommend 👌 Thanks DJ.

Patti DeStefano

17:32 22 Apr 22

We had our steps sanded and painted by DJs. I paid them, then sent the owner pictures because I was not happy with the outcome. He literally did not hesitate and sent a new crew back out to redo them. They look awesome! Thanks!First 3 photos is the final product. Last 2, you can see how patchy these were.

Ted Lieb

16:57 10 Apr 22

Reliable, affordable and efficient. I would recommend 👌

Sue Cameron

17:33 28 Mar 22

We would highly recommend DJ's! Dan was quick to come out to the house for the estimate and had helpful suggestions. Daniel and Lalo were very informative about the process and completed the job on time. The finished rooms look amazing!! Daniel and Lalo were true professionals and we would request them in the future. Thank you for a great experience!

BETH BERGAMO

16:02 14 Feb 22

We recently used DJ's to paint the interior of our condominium. We were very pleased with the job that Dan and Lalo completed. They were quick, neat and professional. They walked us through the whole process and best of all, finished on time! We would definitely request them for future jobs.

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