How To Paint Black Window Frames

Everything you need to know near how to pigment windows black! Paint your vinyl or wood window frames with this tutorial and helpful tips!

This summer we gave our whole exterior a makeover, and one of the things on our exterior makeover wish listing was new window frames black. Quotes for a house of our size, with 11 window frames came dorsum over $20,000, which just wasn't in the cards for us, and so we decided to paint windows black ourselves!

Risks of Painting Vinyl Blackness

Whether you are painting vinyl siding or windows, there are risks associated with painting them a darker colour. Whatever colour that is darker than the orignal colour of the manufactured vinyl and absorb and trap heat from the dominicus between the coating and the vinyl, which can cause the vinyl to warp beyond repair.

Fortunately, paint has come up a long fashion, and there are companies similar Sherwin-Williams who have created Vinyl Rubber Color Palettes with darker colours to choose from that won't absorb the oestrus and ruin your vinyl siding or window frames. You tin utilise the vinyl rubber colours in many of the popular outside paints, including SuperPaint, Elapsing, Resilience, and Emerald.

Other Things to Consider BEFORE Painting Your Window Frames

Before y'all paint your window frames, there are a few other things you might desire to consider.

WARRANTY – If you have a warranty on your windows, painting them will void your warranty and then exist sure to check your warranty first! We no longer had whatever warranty on our windows, and so we weren't as well concerned well-nigh this.
SUN EXPOSURE – Homes where we live get the most sun on the due south side, and the 2d most sunday on the west side. While we were pretty confident that our black window paint would piece of work, we still took into consideration where about of the lord's day would hitting. For the states, the due south side just had one vinyl window, and the west side only has forest window frames, so we were pretty assured that worst instance nosotros would only be replacing one vinyl window considering of oestrus.
CLIMATE – The amount of sunshine and straight heat you receive should influence this conclusion every bit well. We typically get our hottest temperatures around 35C, although this twelvemonth nosotros had a heat wave in the 40s later we tested a window, and didn't come across any side effects!
TESTIMONY – This was probably the biggest factor in our decision to go forward. We spoke on Instagram about painting our outside vinyl windows, and got several letters like the one beneath, that made us experience pretty confident nigh moving forward.

first hand stories of vinyl safe window paint

We besides pulled from our own experience with a black painted vinyl window. Last summertime, we built a playhouse for our kids and added real vinyl windows that we picked up at our local Habitat ReStore. Those windows were spray painted blackness (non even vinyl condom), and lasted through a twelvemonth and two heat waves, without whatsoever warping or any issues at all. So we felt pretty confident moving forward in our climate.

modern kids DIY playhouse with sandbox underneath

What materials do you demand?

Hither'south a rundown of the paint and materials that we needed to paint our windows:

Materials

Extreme Bail Primer
Vinyl Safe Paint
FrogTape
Plastic Flick
Brushes or paint sprayer

How to paint windows black

What Vinyl Rubber Pigment tin yous use for black windows?

There is a whole host of vinyl paint options, but there isn't an option for black paint.

When it came to choosing pigment, we tried calling and due east-mailing Sherwin-Williams, which was no help at all. Nosotros did find, however, that our local pigment experts were very helpful! They had great recommendations for us all along the painting process, for both our house and our windows.

Hither'southward the verbal mixture that nosotros used. Every bit y'all tin see from the label, it doesn't accept any black colorant, so it doesn't react the same mode to oestrus and reduces any take chances of painting your windows.

Information technology definitely looks blue when you open the can, and when y'all put the starting time coat of pigment on (which you will see below), merely it dries black subsequently layering the coats.

Practice a Test Paint

I would highly recommend doing a test of your window paint before you paint all of the windows.

Nosotros tested the side of one of our windows that definitely needed replacing presently (so that if it was ruined, we would've had to supersede it anyway!). We primed and painted the window, let it set, and let information technology alive in the elements for a while. It went through a heat wave (literally the hottest month nosotros e'er had hither!) and survived pressure washing. After that we were confident moving forward and painting the other window frames.

answering should you prime vinyl window frames

Prep Your Windows

We prepped all of our windows before painting them by pressure washing them, and then wiping them downward with TSP (heavy duty cleaner) to remove any debris or grease.

When everything was clean, we taped off the windows and primed all of the frames with Extreme Bond Primer.

We wanted all of the exterior frames painted, but non the interior of the frame, or the track that the window slides on, and so we removed the interior sliding window, and taped off the window from the within, protecting the track.

showing how to protect window tract when painting

Exercise you demand to prime vinyl window frames earlier painting?

Ane of the questions we received the near was whether or non we actually had to prime all of the frames earlier painting them. As I mentioned, we primed all of our vinyl window frames using extreme bail primer. This primer is formulated to adhere very well to it's surface. Regular paint, including the vinyl safe formula, volition not adhere to your vinyl windows also without the primer on first.

When we were done painting, we pressure done and tried to scratch our newly painted windows, without seeing whatsoever wear or tear, and I definitely call back that'south because the primer did it's chore and so well!

So with the interior windows removed, nosotros primed those as well. We wanted to lay them flat to prime number them so that the pigment didn't dip down into the track, or baste into the "fluffy" sliding function of the window. Nosotros primed and painted every bit close as we could to that, so that you couldn't run into whatsoever white when we put the windows back in.

Castor vs. Paint Sprayer for Painting Windows Blackness

We painted all of our windows with brushes, and then rolled any of the flat parts with a dollar store foam roller. We honey using a paint sprayer, and definitely would've used one if we could have considering the sprayer is much faster.

We had painted our window frames during the aforementioned time frame that we painted our entire outside siding. Since our siding was freshly painted, we didn't want to adhere tape to the side of the business firm, and decided to brush everything on instead. If you apply a sprayer, you can tape off the glass in the same style we did, and then record off the business firm effectually the window also, you would also accept to go on the interior windows in place to protect your interior.

Paint sprayers e'er have overspray, so brand certain that you lot tape off everything well.

Nosotros used a straight border to protect the siding whenever we were brushing paint on the window frames. Nosotros too used a small razor to remove whatsoever runs or bumps of paint left by the paint brush.

Painting Vinyl Window Frames Black with Multiple Coats

Since we were using the vinyl safe pigment that doesn't take any blackness tint, we needed to do multiple coats before we got a expert black finish. You can come across in the windows in a higher place how the first glaze, when dry however looks very blue. The second coat is much better, merely you can still meet blueish through at various spots, and then we found it best to exercise a third coat on every window.

If you watch the video tutorial linked beneath, yous'll see examples of the windows at each stage of the painting process.

Painting Wood Window Frames Blackness

Our bay windows and one of our outside windows had wooden frames. In general you can utilize the exact same process for window prep, priming, and painting.

If you are painting wooden window frames, you don't demand to use the specialized vinyl safe paint considering the wooden frames don't have the same risk of warping, but yous can use it if you choose to. Nosotros still did cull to use the aforementioned vinyl safety formula considering we wanted all of our frames to match and have the aforementioned colour tone.

Finishing Your Newly Painted Windows

As I mentioned earlier, to get the all-time finish with a brush, nosotros recommend using a small cream roller as well. When we were washed all three coats, we walked around and plant a few small spots on the window frames to touch up, but that'due south it.

If you remove your tape and detect that you have whatsoever paint on the inside of your windows, if should be easy to remove with a pocket-size razor and an SOS pad. The paint inside the frame is likely just from seeping behind the tape, and won't take any primer backside it, so it'south nonetheless fairly easy to remove.

If I can requite one other slice of advice: utilise the expensive painters tape! It makes such a difference and is definitely worth the extra money to not have paint that needs to be scrapped on the within later.