Colors Available in Pre-painted Aluminum Gutter and Downspout Parts Page

How accurate are these paint samples?
If you need a color charts or some actual metal samples delivered to you for a more exact match-up e-mail me with your mailing address and phone #. These digital image of the color chart are just to give you a good idea of what colors are available. These colors shown here are a close approximation. Although, your monitor may show them differently than mine, and they are likely to print out quite different than what you see on your monitor. These colors shown here are not to be relied on for an exact match.

Are there any more colors than this?
I just have these color choices for gutter material with matching downspouts and elbows as shown above in these photo copy of their color charts those suppliers give us, but I have started to use Lansing Building Products that is located clear out on NE 190th, and they have a few other color options and some come in a thicker aluminum gutter coil. I know compared to house trim paints this is a very limited selection. We do not have access to a primer coat gutter metal, but these can be painted to match your house as long as they are very clean. Keep in mind house paint will not last as long, be as smooth as this paint, and add to the cost, so it is well advised to pick one of these that will compliment your house best.

What's your cost for these colors other than just white or dark brown, which most Gutter Contractors offer as their main color selection?
Unlike most other Gutter Contractors I feel it should be a matter of customer service and satisfaction to offer the right color of pre-painted gutters and downspouts to look best on their house at no added cost. I would rather you were happy with the final results, so the new gutters look like they were meant to go on your house. I do not charge extra for alternative colors, as you would have to pay with most Gutter Contractors. I will also allow for a differnt color for the downspouts than the gutter color at no extra charge.

How durable is this paint?

Frankly any product is only as good as it's weakest link, and in this case that would be the paint finish. Considering how long they have made aluminum ladders, which are not painted at all, the base metal will last a life-time if installed well, and can be repainted along with the rest of your house. The aluminum sheet metal I get comes pre-painted in a flat form rolled up in a compact coil, which can be as long as 1,000', which was slit 12" wide to run though my gutter machine. A rol foring gutter machin has dozens of rollers that has to carefully form the gutter coil into the gutter shape without cracking or scratching that paint surface. I have one of the few gutter machines that has been kept out of the elements since it was new, which does make a big difference.

These are coated with a baked on enamel finish that is better than what could be painted over this. This paint is noticeably better than the touch-up spray paint they sell for us to use. They came out with literature about the Teflon surface protector by DuPont that they claim is more scratch and stain resistant, but it does not seem noticeably better. I believe their main focus was to help it run through old rusty gutter machines better, but I'm imagine it would help it last a little longer, maybe. Time will tell, but I have yet to see any evidence of this in the last 3 decades.

Even though this manufacturer claims to offer a life-time warranty on their paint finish it is not nearly as durable as most any automotive paint, and you will be lucky to get 2 decades from it. It does scratch a lot easier than any automotive paint surface, so clearly their is not as many coats of paint and does not have a clear-coat over the color, like on most cars. Also, these gutters are not likely to ever get washed and waxed like car normally does, so I would not expect it to hold up nearly as well. Certainly not as long as they claim in this warranty word game. Realistically what car paint have you seen that lasts more than 2 decades? Some may argue that my comparison is not fair, since gutters are not pummeled with rocks and road grime, but the first part of the car paint to fail is up on the roof of the car that's only getting hit with the Sun's UV rays, so that does not ring true. Fortunately the outer surface of a gutter is leaning down towards the ground, so it does not get direct Sun light hitting that surface, which does make a big difference.

Concerns You may want to consider:
Most Gutter Contractors only stock gutter parts in gloss White on one side and a satin Musket Brown on the other side. This is mainly so they only have to stock 2 colors of downspout and elbows parts, and only the 1 coil they can flip around for the pre-painted side of choice to be on the outside of the gutter.

(a) They usually will not offer any other color options, or they will compel you to go with their slim selection by charging you a lot more for any alternative color. This is to save them the trouble of making a special trip to their supplier to get the right colored parts you want, and not have a piling stock of left over parts in all those other colors. Those parts in the other colors do not actually cost them any more. It is only a matter of convienence for them. I would rather you have what looks right on your house, so I do not charge extra for the other colors.

(b) For some odd reason most Gutter Contractors get the high gloss white. It is the only color tone that is made in high gloss, but they also carry a white in a satin as well. The other colors are all satin paint, as with most house body or trim paint, so this makes no sense to offer a high gloss option. Let along that being the most common parts pushed on homeowners.

(c) Many Homeowners have been well trained by now to choose that gloss white, suggesting it goes well with any house trim color you may have, I suppose like a white T-shirt goes perfectly well with any dress shirt? Although, light colors will also tend to show the build-up of dirt and mildew stains more readily than a darker color, so I advise my clients to choose a darker color if that would work for their color scheme.

(d) These can be painted over as long as they are new or have been carefully cleaned very well, but it would require a lot of added labor and cost to paint any new gutters and downspouts in the color you want. For touch-up it is recommended to use a light bodied spray paint, as opposed to a thick lumpy house paint. Years latter it is not going to leave such a thick ugly crusty peal, which may be more trouble and costly to scrape smooth than it would be to replace all the gutters. I can sell you cans of matching paint, but it will fade much faster than the original paint on the gutter parts:
http://dmr-gutters.com/del.htm

(e) Clearly any painted surface is going to be quite fragile, so it is best not to lean a ladder against your gutters when needing to access your roof or just clean out those gutters. There is a simple add-on tool piece that attaches to the top of a ladder called a ladder stabilizer. This not only protects your gutters, but also makes the ladder a lot safer to use, since is is not going to slip and slide on the edge of your gutter sideways when the feet of your ladder sinks a bit in the soft ground below.

Even if you do not own a ladder it is very important for you to get this add-on tool in order to insist any and all workers use it each time they use a ladder agaist your house. Even if they are not accessing the roof. Sure, they may wind up running off with your tool, and you will then have to get another one to replace it, but they most likely would have done more than $25 worth of damage to your house paint.