Best paint colors when painting metal sided homes

I am looking to find the best paint colors for your average 80s and 90s metal sided homes. I want an attractive but neutral color. Also how to you treat the shutters when choosing colors? Thanks!

I generally chose colours similar to the vinyl siding used in subdivisions. Usually white, light yellow, light beige or light blue. Shutters would usually be white.
Stay away from dark and/or bright colours.

MobileHomePark, we have painted numerous metal-sided 1970 and 1980 Mobile Homes.

First make sure that each home gets a good power washing before painting.

As for paint colors we have used white, beige, and light blue.

For the shutters we use high gloss black. However, we did use high gloss hunter green for another Mobile Home that had a green metal roof.

After we paint the Mobile Homes we have new, wooden stairs professionally built on-site for all exterior doors.

In addition we have new, white, vinyl underskirting professionally installed.

The Mobile Homes that have a visible variation between the painted, metal exterior and the white, vinyl siding are my favorites (like the beige).

The white paint is nice but there is little to no variation (depends on the whites being used) between the painted, metal exterior and the white, vinyl siding.

We wish you the very best!

Greg,

Why should we stay away from dark colors? I’m new to this and in new homes, dark colors with stacked stone seem to be the trend.

Thanks
Tiffany

I have three that could use painted. I’m thinking I’ll select four colors that look nice together, and each home would get a different combination of three of those colors on paint, trim, and accents. Different but similar to minimize waste. I am committed to chocolate brown skirting so I’m stuck in the brown to beige family, which I think is appropriate… They should look nice but no “pop!”

@loricooper You could add green tones to the brown…

color combo with green

here is another link to color combos you might light to incorporate

color combos

Dark colors stick out like a sore thumb absorb heat and weather badly over time. Light colors will always be popular over the long term.
Bright colors and fake brick or stone are ghetto on a mobile (only in my opinion of course).

Color choices, in my opinion, depend somewhat on what part of the country the community is in. While hot pink might make sense in Naples, Florida it would stick out like a sore thumb in Chicagoland where I might use charcoal gray.

Fading is a major issue with vinyl siding as it too much heat. Steel siding, and to a lesser degree, aluminum can handle deeper colors if the paint has enough titanium dioxide in it to eliminate heavy fading. The same is true for hardboard (the cement stuff).

Regarding brick and stone - it depends on what is being discussed. The plastic and fiberglass stuff can look very fake and ghetto, the composite stone is very upscale. There is a 5 star community of multi sections with attached garages that orders new homes with no front facing material because they aftermarket all the front walls with either composite brick or stone and are selling for a higher variable gross profit and faster than their competitors.

A tenant of mine just painted one white with black trim and used silver metal for Skirting.

I tried to upload to show ex. but it didnt work.

I am like the proud parent, that this reisdent has taken pride of ownership even though he had little money to fix the home.

Brian_Z, that is awesome that you are “like the proud parent, that this resident has taken pride of ownership even though he had little money to fix the home”.

We had a young couple totally renovate a Mobile Home that they had purchased for $500. It is amazing what a lot of hard work and a fixed budget can do for a Mobile Home.

We just added ‘Thank You’ notes to our Monthly Bills thanking the Tenants for planting beautiful flowers and manicuring their lawns.

Our area City Code Enforcement Officer is actually giving one of our Tenants a ‘Most Improved Yard’ sign. The Code Enforcement Officer has picked this particular Mobile Home Lot over all the other Residential Yards in his assigned area (which is rather large).

It is so nice to see hard-working Individuals be praised for their good actions.

Best idea is to grab every color chip at the paint store, go to a dealership selling new homes, and copy those colors exactly. Most every manufacturer hires a decent designer to select the model colors, and painting a 70s or 80s home to modern colors makes them seem more updated. Copy the trim colors, shutter colors and skirting selection (if it has any on the sales lot) as well. There’s no need to be a pioneer here – be a copycat of what the professionals are doing.

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Community owners should include in their rules restrictions on siding, paint, trim, skirting etc. All exterior work should require pre approval by community owner. This will insure that there is consistency within the community and that residents lacking any amount of taste are regulated. Colour, material every thing needs to be controlled and pre approved by management.

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What kind of paint do you use? Brand and type? How many gallons do you need for single wide (14 by 70).

Power Wash. Is bleach and water sufficient or you use something else?

Attached should be a picture of how my recent painting turned out. I’m very happy with it. I would recommend the sky blue, with white trim for sure. I think it turned out great. With new skirting and a deck, this home is going to look great!

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You did a great job and that home looks first-rate.

@mobilehomepark
it looks amazing !!!

Brilliant! Great job.

Thanks guys. I was very happy with how it turned out. I’ve found that dark colors do not always turn out well. But “light happy” colors with white as the trim really looks sharp. Light yellow turns out nice also. I’m having more homes painted these days. I think it helps a lot of my 80’s and 90’s metal sided homes stay attractive. I am also putting 10x12 decks on the homes.

The paint, a deck, and fresh skirting seems like it can keep a home looking nice from the outside for a decade or 2. Well worth the 2 or 3 grand it cost. It also helps attract the right kind of tenant.

@mobilehomepark If you do not mind to share information, can you please answer my questions?
What paint brand and type you can recommend? How many gallons of blue and white paint did you use for the mobile home on the picture? How much do you pay your contractor to do the job?

I have used my painter for a while. I trust his judgement, so I do not even ask him what paint he uses each time. I’ve used him long enough to trust him. I can tell you that he power washed before hand. His total bill was somewhere in the $1,200-$1,400 range and that included materials. I would Google “paint metal sided mobile home” and read up on the forum archives to find the best types of paints. Best wishes