About six years ago, we decorated our hall and stairs. We had some left-over eggshell (Johnstone's brand) paint that we used on the handrail on the stairs and on Saturday afternoon I touched it up as it had started wearing away. It is meant to dry in 16-24 hours, yet it is still tacky today. Will it ever dry? Is there anything I can to to speed it up?
Too cold in the house? That would have an impact on drying time.
Have you tried watching it?
Johnstone's paint is absolutely crap.
Too cold in the house? That would have an impact on drying time.
It is quite cold (we have heating set to 18deg), but I wouldn't thought that would make such a difference?
It can but 18 degrees is plenty warm enough I'd have thought.
Some paint seems to have a pretty limited shelf life. I bought some eggshell (leyland I think - basically Johnson) about 3 years ago then didn't use it - not even opened. Came to use if for something last month opened the tin and the pigment and carrier had separated a fair bit, as you'd expect - but stirring it turned it to the consistency of Philadelphia cheese - you could pick up the whole pot with the stirring stick. So your paint my have just chemically degraded - either in a way that it dries lower or in a way that it doesn't set at all
Where you've stored it might be a issue too - as paint is quite vulnerable low temperatures if you've had it in a shed or garage
Yeah ^^^ could be the reason. I have some exterior paint (Falu rödfärg, the proper stuff) that got ruined because I let it get too cold and it just went weird. I tried to paint a wall with it and I had to effectively trowel it on instead of painting.
Yeah, it did require quite a lot of mixing, but it did have a typical consistency once it had been mixed.
Is it water based or solvent/oil based? In either case you need it to be warm enough but 18C should be fine. Often 10C Is the point where things stop working. However, if it is water based then you need to consider humidity. It's been very damp recently so that will slow things down. In both cases you would just need to wait.
But as the paint was old you might have other issues. I don't know enough about the formulation to be certain. There are two ways that paint dries (normally). One is water/solvent evaporation. In this case the age doesn't really matter if you can mix it to look like paint. Paint can also cure, even 1 packs. In this case the chemicals can cure in the tin and you wouldnt notice as there is still loads of solvent to thin it. It would not dry when used. The other thing to note is how well you mixed it. Normally you would need a lot of energy. Those shakers they use to mix tints or an high speed mixer. A stick won't often cut it. You still get separation that is hard to see. Normally I would look for flow off a pallet knife as it shows change in viscosity through depth. The other thing to do is to really scrape the bottom to make sure something has t crashed out permanently.
Don't use old paint. Now you've done it I would suggest giving it longer to dry. If it needs to come off clean it well and then recoat.dont just go over it!
Have you tried blowing on it?
Don't use old paint. Now you've done it I would suggest giving it longer to dry. If it needs to come off clean it well and then recoat.dont just go over it!
Yeah, I guessed that just going over it again would be a silly plan. I think I may have to resort to cleaning it off with white spirit - fortunately I hadn't completely re-coated, I had just touched up areas where it had worn through.
Some paint seems to have a pretty limited shelf life. I bought some eggshell (leyland I think - basically Johnson) about 3 years ago then didn't use it - not even opened. Came to use if for something last month opened the tin and the pigment and carrier had separated a fair bit, as you'd expect - but stirring it turned it to the consistency of Philadelphia cheese - you could pick up the whole pot with the stirring stick. So your paint my have just chemically degraded - either in a way that it dries lower or in a way that it doesn't set at all
Where you've stored it might be a issue too - as paint is quite vulnerable low temperatures if you've had it in a shed or garage
This happened a lot with Johnstones acrylic eggshell when I was the decorator at Woburn Center Parcs. Paint would go off in the tin within weeks of purchase. Usually the darker more heavily tinted colours
About six years ago, we decorated our hall and stairs. We had some left-over eggshell (Johnstone's brand) paint that we used on the handrail on the stairs and on Saturday afternoon I touched it up as it had started wearing away. It is meant to dry in 16-24 hours, yet it is still tacky today. Will it ever dry? Is there anything I can to to speed it up?
It will dry eventually. I’ve had this if any white spirit is added. Can even be if there is any WS in the brush bristles.
Have you tried running a dehumidifier for a bit? Might just help it along.
Can even be if there is any WS in the brush bristles.
Ahh - that may well be the issue then – I had already touched up some other woodwork and cleaned the brush with white spirit (although I subsequently rinsed the brush with hot soapy water and dried it).
Modern water based and low VOC paints go off really quickly as ma cruise keen says. Sometimes they seem ok but then smell like rotten veg even when dry
I've had some that have basically turned into coloured water with no evidence of solids whatsoever
Where you store them can make a difference. If it has frozen in your shed that can finish them.
Oil based in my experience are less bad but still go off. It's possible the brush contained contaminants IE white spirit, or that it simply wasn't stirred sufficiently. The bottom of the tin may be coated in part of the mix and you simply aren't picking it up during the stirring.
Lastly humidity will also effect drying speed.
If it doesn't dry I would remove. Thoroughly remix the tin, and reapply and see if it cures. One way or another you'll find out
Update – it has all pretty much dried, apart from the first bit that I did, so I have wiped it down with a cloth and a little white spirit. With it being the first bit that didn't dry, I assume it was the residual white spirit on the brush that was the cause. The next time I get the enthusiasm (probably in about three years), I will have another go.
Could be worse
Brilliant.
Got any video footage?
I did, but I deleted it because it was a bit like watching pai…