Can you use masonry paint on plastic?
If you are painting the exterior of your house with masonry paint you may well be tempted to paint your uPVC facias to match, or maybe you have another reason for wanting to use masonry paint on plastic. Either way, you are probably asking the question, can you use masonry paint on plastic? After all, you did end up here! Well ponder no longer, I have done the testing to find out once and for all if you can use masonry paint on plastic.
The Test
I happened to have a scrap piece of uPVC facia board lying around, so this seemed like the perfect piece to test with. I would paint have the plastic with masonry paint and the other half with allcoat (a really good multi-surface paint, including plastics). I would then attempt to scuff up the board with rough-cut timber, as a way of checking if the paint has properly stuck. Then for the final part of the test the painted uPVC would be moved outdoors into the elements for at least 6 months, this is to test the durability and suitability of the paint being used on plastic outdoors, so let’s get into it.
Painting
The paint applied to the plastic really easily. I have always found masonry paint really easy to work with. I was using the smooth range of masonry paints from SandTex. If you like the colour I am using it is mid stone and I will include a link just below. This SandTex stuff is water-based, which means it is easy to apply, but more importantly, really easy to clean off your equipment and brushes (also easy to clean up any unintended spills!).
uk/dp/B00CITKE66?tag=blokecave0e-21
Painted
So here we have the painted plastic. The paint has applied really well, both the masonry paint and allcoat, the finish looks good and it appears to have stuck to the surface quite well, we will test that soon. There are a few visible lines in both paints but this could be solved by using another coat of paint, a better brush, more patience, a roller or even a combination of all. I was just painting quite quickly just to get it tested.
Scratch Test
So now comes the time to scratch the finish up and see just how well the masonry paint has stuck. I will also be scratching up the allcoat so we can get a comparison from a paint that is intended for use on plastic.
As you can see the paint has stuck really well to the plastic facia board. Even with a rough piece of timber and scratching quite aggressively it really didn’t do too much damage, apart from one small chip. This is obviously not real-world use, I don’t know any reason why you would be scratching your facia with timber! But it survived that so you can imagine it would easily survive any real-world usage.
The allcoat did fare a little better, but as I stated in the video this is a specialist multi-surface paint that is designed to go on plastic as well as many other surfaces. whereas masonry is designed for well, masonry.
Final Test
So for the final test of this plastic, I will be leaving it outdoors exposed to the elements for a long time (many months!). I will then have a good close look at the piece to see what, if anything, has happened to it. This test is intended to test real-world usage, after all if you are painting plastic with masonry paint you probably intend for it to be outside.
Learn More About Masonry Paint
This article is part of our masonry paint section, learn more about masonry paint with the following articles:
