# Painting azek BLACK



## Pelican (Mar 4, 2011)

Does anyone have any long term experience painting azeck dark colors with the vinyl safe paints from SW or BM. Does it work well and last or is it a bad idea? thanks


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

can you even get a black vinyl safe?:blink:


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

Dont do it imo. Did a job dark brown with the safe paint at the homeowners request. Sunny side of the house, 75 degree day. Probably 28' run of 1x10 as a watertable board. Next morning it was 40 out board shrunk a solid 3/4". By midsummer it finally had enough and blew up in the middle. 

Now by no means am i an azek expert like some on here but dark colors on vinyl are bad.


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## Pelican (Mar 4, 2011)

BM has Universal black Not a jet black color but its black enough for my needs. I just don't want to put it on and have it fall off a year later or make the shutters warp or some unforseen tragedy.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

I'd worry about the black fading and also getting very hot in the summer.


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## loneframer (Feb 13, 2009)

IMO, anything darker than a shade of white is going to cause more thermal expansion than leaving it white, regardless of Light Reflective Value of the paint. Azek recommends a LRV of 55 or higher. Keep in mind, you will want to step up to a more aggressive fastening detail when using darker colors. Lots of good information right on their site. If you are going with black, regardless of whether it's vinyl safe, I would speak directly to a representative and request written specs for fastening details. Do your homework now, not when you're holding the bag of s#!t.

http://www.azek.com/azek-trim/installation/


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

Pelican said:


> Does anyone have any long term experience painting azeck dark colors with the vinyl safe paints from SW or BM. Does it work well and last or is it a bad idea? thanks


I would ask your paint rep. Get specific instructions on how to put it on, when to put it on, temp etc. If you can get the rep to come out and see you putting it on even better. Find out exactly what their warranty is. After all that if it seems worth it then do it.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

i think it's more a matter of the azek pushing itself off rather then the paint:blink:


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

loneframer said:


> IMO, anything darker than a shade of white is going to cause more thermal expansion than leaving it white, regardless of Light Reflective Value of the paint. Azek recommends a LRV of 55 or higher. Keep in mind, you will want to step up to a more aggressive fastening detail when using darker colors. Lots of good information right on their site. If you are going with black, regardless of whether it's vinyl safe, I would speak directly to a representative and request written specs for fastening details. Do your homework now, not when you're holding the bag of s#!t.
> 
> http://www.azek.com/azek-trim/installation/


Yeah we had 3 nails every 16, nails held just bowed out and blew to hell inbetween them. In the long run we just tore it off and ran 1x wrapped in brown aluminum. Looked a hell of alot better for this situation anyhow. Yes tom i wrapped wood with aluminum dont yell at me. :laughing:


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

:laughing:..what?..:jester::thumbup:


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## jhark123 (Aug 26, 2008)

There are times where you should tell the HO "NO". This is one of those times


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

Tom Struble said:


> :laughing:..what?..:jester::thumbup:


http://www.contractortalk.com/f33/aluminum-wrap-nothing-wrap-101788/

i sometimes will put wood around first but i don't let the corners meet,that way i can let the wrap run full width and length

but unless your doing some really large trim i feel it's best to keep wood out :whistling


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

ok yea thats me


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## jkfox624 (Jun 20, 2009)

Tom Struble said:


> ok yea thats me


Haha just busting your balls. For some reason the feeling of getting done with the job im on has me in a feisty mood tonight. :laughing:


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

i knew you were :jester:


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## Pelican (Mar 4, 2011)

The whole story is that my friend is a carpenter building a bunch of custom sized shutters for a house in Scituate, MA on the beach and he wants to build them out of azek so they can last without rotting. He didn't think you could paint them black I agreed but I read on Azek's site that you can paint azek dark with vinyl safe paints. I put a call into my SW rep and my BM rep for more specific details, application instructions etc. I haven't heard back from them yet but I tend to trust other people's experiences more than a reps opinion. Another option we are considering is just making them out of wood and Oil priming and painting with acrylic.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

for shutters you may be ok as long as it's fairly free to expand


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## loneframer (Feb 13, 2009)

The problem I see with shutters is that they will tend to curl from intense heat on one side and not the other. Might want to do a test before committing to the entire house.


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## Pelican (Mar 4, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your input. The carpenter decided painted cedar would be a better option.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

some guys put a small copper ushape to cap the top of wood shutters,may help


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