Moreno Valley shutters painted to match the trim around them
On the newer elevations here, board-and-batten shutters are screwed straight into the stucco beside each window, and the sun-side ones lose their color first. We take them down when it pays to, paint them flat, patch the wall and hang them back level. Look over our finished exteriors, then have us walk it with you.
☎ (951) 685-1595Down off the stucco, or painted where they hang
Most decorative shutters on the newer Moreno Valley elevations are board-and-batten panels fastened directly to the stucco on either side of a window. They do not close and were never built to. Their whole job is color and shadow, which is why they are so often the first thing on the front of a house to look tired.
On plenty of these houses the shutters went up as a builder detail and may never have been repainted. That can make them the oldest coat of paint facing the street, and it shows: faces gone chalky, battens bleached on top where the sun lands first, bottoms darkened where the sprinklers reach.
Painting them in place is quicker, and on some houses it is perfectly fine. The catch is the strip of stucco hiding behind each one. It has been in shade since the house was built, so it is often still close to the original body color while the open wall around it has faded. Brush a shutter while it hangs and that strip never gets touched. Take the shutter down and you find a crisp rectangle of older color, plus a row of screw holes.
Down on sawhorses, a shutter lies flat and every edge, groove and batten takes a full, even coat. Against the wall a brush only reaches the faces it can get to without smearing the stucco. If the wall behind needs attention too, that is stucco painting, and it makes sense to do both in one visit. Everything here sits inside our wider shutter painting service.
What the shutter is made of changes the paint
Before anybody picks a color, we find out what the shutter actually is. Tap it, look at the back edge, check the end of a board. Two shutters that look identical from the sidewalk can need completely different products.
Wood
Wood shutters take paint well once the loose paint is scraped off, gaps are caulked and bare spots are primed. The weak points are the bottom ends and the joints where battens cross the boards. Those spots hold water from sprinklers, swell, and open up first, so they get the closest look and the most primer.
Vinyl and composite
Vinyl moves a lot with heat. Paint it much darker than the color it came in and it can soak up enough sun to warp, especially on the walls that bake all afternoon. On vinyl we use a paint made for it and stay inside the color range that product allows, even when a deep shade would look great on the card. Composite is more forgiving, though it still wants a primer that bonds to plastic.
If you have your heart set on a dark color and the shutters are vinyl, we will tell you so before the order goes in. Sometimes the answer is a slightly lighter version of the color, and sometimes it is replacing the shutters with wood that can carry it.
The screws holding them up
Plain steel screws rust, and a rusting screw head bleeds an orange streak down the stucco underneath it. When we rehang, those get swapped for exterior-rated fasteners. Any old streak on the wall gets cleaned and sealed with a stain-blocking primer, so it does not ghost back through the new paint once the wall gets wet again.
Shutters, trim and fascia read as one color story
Stand across the street from a stucco front and you never see shutters by themselves. You see them against the window trim, the fascia running under the roof edge, and the body color, all at once. The house at the top of this page is a good example: sage green shutters, brown window trim and fascia, cream stucco.
Change only the shutters to a color that argues with the brown and the whole front starts to look patched.
So when we look at shutters, we look at window frames and fascia in the same pass. Sometimes they are sound and simply need to be matched. Sometimes the fascia is peeling worse than any shutter on the house, and you would want to hear that before the ladders go back on the truck.
Choosing the shutter color works the same way. We hold samples on the wall beside a window on the sunniest side, late in the day, right next to the trim that is staying. A chip under store lighting tells you very little about how a green will sit between brown trim and cream stucco in full sun.
Shutters are small enough that a painter can make one gallon look like it covered the whole front. John left the company he used to work for because it kept putting on about half the paint each job called for, and he would not do that to a customer. Ours get the amount the manufacturer specifies on every face and edge. Ask us what a job like yours involves.
Patching the wall and hanging them straight
Caulk and fastener holes
Old screw holes in the stucco get filled and textured so they disappear under the finish. Gaps between a shutter and the wall, where water could collect behind it, get fresh exterior caulk. Holes and dings in the shutters themselves are filled and sanded before any paint goes on.
Primer and a full coat, laid flat
With each shutter on sawhorses, bare wood gets primer, then the finish goes on across the faces, the edges and the gaps between battens. On wood shutters the back gets sealed as well, since that side sits tight against the stucco where moisture lingers after the sprinklers run.
Sun-side sets first in line
Shutters on the south and west walls fade first, and on a house with shutters on several elevations those are the ones that set the schedule. If a full repaint is more than you want to take on this year, the sun-side set is where the work goes furthest.
Rehung level, on sound anchors
Going back up, each shutter is set with a level and lined up with its window, using fresh fasteners in solid anchor points. A shutter hanging slightly off square looks wrong from the street even with perfect paint on it, so the last few minutes of the job get the same care as the first coat.
Trim work that sits right next to the shutters
Each of these touches the same window and the same wall:
Elsewhere in Moreno Valley
Other jobs our crews take on in the same neighborhoods:
What Moreno Valley homeowners ask about shutters
Do you take shutters down to paint them?
Usually. Down and laid flat, every groove and edge gets a full, even coat, and we can see the stucco behind them. If the wall is not being painted and the shaded strip behind each shutter has held its color, painting in place can make sense. We check one before deciding.
Why is the wall behind my shutter a different color?
It has been shaded since the house was built, so it kept more of its original color while the open wall around it faded in the sun. Take the shutter down and you see a clean rectangle of the old shade. If the stucco is being repainted at the same time, it simply disappears.
Can vinyl shutters be painted a dark color?
Carefully, and sometimes not at all. Vinyl absorbs heat, and a color much darker than the original can make it warp on a hot wall. We use paint made for vinyl and stay within the color range that product allows. Wood and composite shutters give you more freedom with deep colors.
Should my shutters match my trim?
They should belong with it. Shutters, window trim and fascia read as one group from the street, set against the body color. Some houses match two of the three and contrast the third. We put samples up on the actual wall so you can see the combination before anything gets painted.
Which shutters fade first?
The ones on the south and west sides of the house, because they take the most direct sun every afternoon. On a front with shutters on several walls you can often see the difference side by side. Those sets are the ones that tell you it is time to repaint.
Will the screw holes show after you rehang them?
Old holes in the stucco get filled and textured to blend in, and new fasteners go into sound spots so the shutter sits tight. Holes in the shutter itself are filled before the paint goes on. Each one goes back up checked with a level and lined up with its window.
Show us the shutters and the trim around them
We will figure out what the shutters are made of, pull one to see the wall behind it, and tell you honestly whether the trim and fascia should come along. You get a price at that visit, and setting it up takes one phone call.
Have us walk it