How To Spray Paint Your Mobile Home Siding

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Can you Really Spray Paint Your Mobile Home Siding? Yes!

Changing the color of your mobile home siding, either with new siding or paint, can instantly add curb appeal. It can also add value to the home. Siding is expensive, though. So what do you do if you want a quick update on your mobile homes metal siding that is easy and affordable?

Spray paint it!

This is what our home looked like when we bought it, minus the deck (we built that shortly after we bought it):

Our Home: Pre-Painted

Of course, the siding needed to be replaced but our lifestyle is one of frugality. We do not own a credit card and all purchases must be saved up for. Therefore, we decided to just spray paint it till the new siding was possible.

Painting metal is A LOT of work. Proper prep work is required before applying any paint at all. If you don’t do the proper prep work you might as well not even paint it because it won’t last long at all.

Here are the steps to spray paint your mobile home siding:

First, you must clean the white powdery stuff that old metal siding gets (oxidation is the scientific term). There are special products that will remove it. Just spray and hose off and allow to dry.

Second, you need to buy all the paint you will need at one time. Learn from my lesson and just trust me on this. Most stores won’t have 30 cans of one color so pre-order it. This removes the possibility of the color being discontinued or the store not carrying the color again. The Rustoleum paint (especially for metal and prevents rust) can run anywhere from $2.10 (sale at Kmart) to $5.50 (Lowe’s), it took 15 cans to paint the front and one side. So 30 cans total, with a total cost of approximately $70.00. Our home is 12’x58′.

Lastly, just start painting. Long strokes are best that are held at least 15-30 inches away. It was so easy we had our 8-year-old daughter helping! You will have to get a flow going to get the proper coverage and keep the paint from running, but you’ll figure it out. There is a special can trigger you can purchase that keeps your fingers from cramping so you may want to invest in a couple.

The only downside is the waste of the cans and the ozone issue. Rest assured, I did a little bit of homework on the potential dangers to the environment, and I concluded that it wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought. With proper disposal, your conscience will be clear as a June day.

Here’s what we ended up with:

In total, $70.00 has given this mobile home a whole new look. My neighbors certainly appreciated the update. 

I suggest that you purchase all of the paint you’ll need at one time for the mobile home siding. This reduces the chances of running out and not being able to find the color you used. It happens, trust me. Perhaps you can even order the paint from your favorite local hardware store. We used Rustoleum, but your favorite brand will probably work just fine. 

Granted, this is not the best way to handle painting your siding but it is the easiest for someone that doesn’t have the proper equipment like air compressors and paint guns which are what professionals use. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s cheap.

Update: It’s been 2 years since we sprayed the siding, and it has held up wonderfully. The only color that faded a bit was the red and I think that was a generic paint that I found at Big-Lots. I re-applied with a similar color in Rustoleum, and it’s held the color fine.

Thanks for reading Mobile and Manufactured Home Living!