Exterior Painting Step 5: Removing the Downspouts and Other Items 

Great ideas! You thought of everything.

John, I am sorry that I never thanked you for your reply. I plan to remove the downspouts and painting the stucco. I will be painting the down spouts on the saw horses you mention then re-attaching with screws. Thank you again sir!

thebrainsoftaint--RU-vid will not let me reply directly to your comment, so here is your answer and I hope you see it: You can paint the factory finished gutters, but it is likely you would need to prime them with oil primer first before painting with latex. A better option would be to tape them off with 12-inch masking paper (using a 3M hand masker). Wrap the paper around the top of the gutter and then use long strips of tape in a few places to hold the paper to the roof shingles. It's kind of a pain but it can be done. Good luck.

Hi John, Great video series!! I will be painting my home soon using your knowledge that you were nice enough to share. Question for you. The body of our home is stucco and the galvanized downspouts are painted. The downspouts are held in with brackets that are nailed into the house. I would like to pull the nails, stucco patch any holes and re-attach with screws (and silicone sealant). I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this plan. Thank you!!

Got another question. I had to remove and replace old gutters last year to remove and replace some rotting fascia boards. The new gutters are factory finished but they were such a pain to get up the first time I don't want to fool with taking them down and putting them back up again. Can I just leave them up and paint them the same color of the house and if so do I need to prime them before I do?

Removing downspouts is easy, but removing gutters is not recommended. If you are spraying, mask them off with tape and 12-inch paper. (Use a paint masker.) Then use long strips of tape attached to the roof to hold the paper around the gutter. If you are brushing/rolling, don't mask the gutters, just carefully cut-in the fascia below the gutters. I don't recommend painting new factory-finished gutters. I'll post a pic on my Facebook page this weekend on how to mask gutters.

If the nails are not getting the job done, by all means replace with screws and sealant before painting. Screws will hold better than nails anyway. Good luck!

Hi John, If we're planning to completely remove and replace the gutters and downspouts anyway is there any reason for us to not do that as step 1 and power wash as step 2? It seems like it would give us the opportunity to clean, scape, prime and paint the areas behind the gutters much more easily. And we could install the new gutters after the painting is complete.

why not just leave them and paint over them? won't painting being sprayed get in most areas anyways?

Do you do the job alone?

what is your fb page?