One of the commonest concerns homeowners have regarding getting their UPVC painted is whether the paint itself is scratch resistant.
This is a normal concern to have. Between cats jumping up on the window ledge and people catching windows as they walk by, there are all sorts of things that could potentially damage the paint. The simple fact is a painted surface never stays unaffected from the world around it, so it has to be as durable as possible.
Scratch resistance
We can’t speak for all paints, but we can speak for our own.
The paint we use is solvent-based and it dries hard. Very hard. The majority of damage to a painted surface is caused on impact with another surface, such as a stone being thrown and hitting it. The harder a surface is the less it is affected. Our paint has a special hardener in it, allowing it to dry quickly and cure solid.
So long as your UPVC paint isn’t hit by anything harder than it, it’ll be fine. You can expect it to be damaged if you throw a rock at it or smack it with a metal spade, just as you would expect the UPVC to be damaged if it wasn’t painted.
Another common type of damage to a painted surface is swirl or surface marks. These are caused by dirt being scraped against the paint by a rag or cloth. This is why your car has swirl marks. All glossy paints are susceptible to swirl marks, but satin and matte paints are less so. The good news is even if you do get swirl marks, these can be polished out, so long as the thickness of the paint allows for it.
The bottom line
The bottom line is no paint is scratch resistant. Such a thing does not exist. But some paints are harder than others.
The paint we use dries very hard and we are yet to be called out to repair a surface in all our years of business. So long as you treat your painted windows with care, just as you would treat your unpainted windows, you’ll be golden. We’re so confident of this we provide a 10-year guarantee on all work. Contact us for a quote.
