Old Paint - use or lose?

[Jon_E]

Have 4 gallons of Benjamin Moore exterior flat paint that I used to paint my house, was left over. Never been opened since the tint was put in the paint and the can was re-sealed. It's been eight years and it's been sitting in a dry warm basement, never frozen and never moved.

I would like to consider using this paint on my garage and shed and I am having some hesitation due to the age of the paint. Would you use it or lose it?

 

[tinmanwpk]

If the paint is still good in the can I would use it. I have no scientific evidence to support my statement, but, yeah, use it!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Use it. Pop it open and stir it up. If there's no obvious mildew formed on the surface (scoop it off) and it WILL mix to an even consistency it'll be fine.

I once took every half assed full can of latex I had and mixed them to get enough to paint my then-garage cabinets. They came out fine - though ultimately I decided a light yellow was too susceptible to dirt and repainted gray. Pics:

My discard pile a few years ago from which I mixed a hodge podge of latex paint.


The yellow I mixed up and later repainted in gray. (Now that I'm looking at it again I like it...again! Lol)

 

[Cyberbear]

Check with a local paint supplier or the original manufacturer. With the high cost of today's paint products, it might be worth a try.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

My wife took an old unopened can of paint back to Sherwin Williams and they tried to talk her out of using it. It was at least 8 years old.

She stuck to her guns and they agreed to reshake it for her on their machine and then pop it open and look at it. After it cycled through the shaker the sales guy handed her the can and said, "There's not a thing wrong with that paint".

That being said...if it does have chunks or rust in it? Then I wouldn't use it.

Phil

 

[four.cycle]

I once took every half assed full can of latex I had and mixed them to get enough to paint my then-garage cabinets.

I've done that on three different garages, including my own. All turned out great. TIP: avoid mixing in greens or purples if you can - makes the end result a bit muddy - my mother's garage turned out a light mustard yellow.

If it's latex (acrylic) based and the cans have not been opened, haul them up to Ace or Home Depot and ask them to put them on a shaker. Generally they'll be happy to (especially if you pick up a brush or a few roller refills.)
Latex (unopened) should be fine - four years isn't old at all - as long as it hasn't frozen, which will ruin the product generally.

Oil based paint (Alkyd), on the other hand, goes wonky after several years - the drying agents go screwy. I used a 13-year-old can of Dutch Boy exterior alkyd primer on a project years ago and it took two weeks for it to dry.

But latex - you'd be surprised. I painted the exterior of an old gas station about 8 years ago with fivers of a dove gray the owner had laying around for several years. A few of them just had Saran Wrap for lids, but they were all okay - just mix it all together first so you don't end up with a different shade on half a wall.

 

[four.cycle]

That being said...if it does have chunks or rust in it? Then I wouldn't use it.

^ oh.. yeah... duh... if it's got rust in it, that's a deal-breaker.

you'll have to dump it into a larger container, dump in some kitty litter (or dirt) and mix it in and let it dry out and then send it to a landfill. (at least that's the policy here.)

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I sold paint for Sears for 6-1/2 years in high school and college. Old latex is subject to getting eaten up by microorganisms, at least it once was. MAybe they put something in it these days to combat that.

If it's not exposed to oxygen it usually stays fine in the can so long as it doesn't freeze.

 

[firecracker]

I've always used old paint, however old it was. It's better than throwing it in away. Never had any problems with the end product.

 

[chops101]

On the fence on this one, it depends on how big an area you want to paint.
Small stuff go ahead and use it, but if you're talking about much labor to apply it, I would buy new. The prep work is sometimes more effort than the actual painting.

 

[pmiranda]

Pop the cans and see if there's any rust or blobby junk on top. If it's still clean, mix the hell out of it and you're good to go. If you don't already have one, get a small paddle mixer you can chuck in a strong drill. Totally worth the few bucks I spent on one many years ago. Clean it before the paint dries and it's a snap.

 

[rlitman]

On the fence on this one, it depends on how big an area you want to paint.
Small stuff go ahead and use it, but if you're talking about much labor to apply it, I would buy new. The prep work is sometimes more effort than the actual painting.

For me, the prep work is about 1/3 of the effort. Cutting in edges is about half. The remainder (the smallest fraction) is the main painting.

I will say that color matching by computer today is much better than guessing at a color match in years past. Years ago, I used to insist when I bought more than one gallon tinted to have them mixed all together before putting back in the gallon cans. Nowadays, you can break a chip off the middle of the wall and use that to buy new paint, then paint in a patch of newly tinted matching paint, and watch the border between the new and old paint disappear to invisibility as it dries.

Pop the cans and see if there's any rust or blobby junk on top. If it's still clean, mix the hell out of it and you're good to go. If you don't already have one, get a small paddle mixer you can chuck in a strong drill. Totally worth the few bucks I spent on one many years ago. Clean it before the paint dries and it's a snap.

That's one nice thing about the plastic cans. No rust.
Definitely though, I prefer shaking the paint to stirring. Stirring doesn't re-integrate much of the pigment and deglosser that settles out to the bottom over time. Shaking does. Stirring is fine for a few weeks' of settling, but not years if you expect consistent results.

I happen to own a pneumatic shaker, but before that I've brought cans back to the store for re-shaking.

 

[bwringer]

The previous owner of our house had it painted before selling it to us in 2005. A few months ago I had to patch a small section of wall. After some digging around, I found about 1/3 of a can of the original paint used in that room, stirred and shook it up, and used it on the patched area. Once it dried, the result was absolutely perfect -- there was no humanly detectable difference in the paint shade, even under direct light.

High quality latex paint in an intact container stays usable a LONG time. That said, I also found and got rid of several containers that had dried out or corroded.

And I'll agree that today's paint matching technology is pretty amazing.

 

[pcmeiners]

It is a throw away world, mostly driven by greed. Even if paint has lumps, bits of rust, or a skin i would use it, after running it through a paint strainer. This brave new world wants everything thrown away after 6 months, don't fall for it.

 

[jives]

Shake it and open it and find out. If it is a bit bad, mix it with other paint and paint old stuff outside. I've painted my garden trailer and old shed with old paint. Worked great.

 

[Rocky98Formula]

I once had 1.5 gallons of Benjamin Moore interior flat latex that had sat for 5 years in my dark storage room. I opened the half gallon and gave it a really good stir. It went on fine and as far as my eye could tell, it was a perfect colour match with the full gallon I also opened and stirred. The colour was a beige. Paints been on the wall for a good 3 years and no issues with anything. I think you will be fine.

 

[MarkG]

Did anyone say mix it thoroughly and paint a small 'test section' on your garage/shed yet? If not, I'll be the first! Try it. If it dries fine, I'd probably use it, assuming it looks good in the can---not clumpy, unmixable, partially hardened, etc. I'm not a 'professional painter', but I've done a lot of good, professional-looking jobs for paying customers and have never had a call-back or complaint.

 

[PelicanPines]

When the earth was still flat, I bought a few dozen old paint cans from a Ben Moore going out of business... they were error mixes... he was storing them... some were 10 + years old... mixed em all together and made a mud grey/brown and painted my garage interior and attic walk up in the house.

As long as it mixes... I would paint with it.

 

[ford33]

I used 8 year old Ben Moore to repaint some basement walls. Worked fine and color matched perfectly. While looking for the basement wall paint I found an unopened gallon of 18 year old kitchen wall paint. Stirred it for about 30 minutes. Looked good. Tested it on a hidden corner and then used it to repaint the kitchen wall. Matched the other walls fine.

The paints were stored in the cool basement and sealed tight and that prolonged the life of the paint.

 

[InPrimer]

Bought a 100+ yr old house had about 15 -20 partial gals of various colors in the basement etc, started to throw some out, but realized the best way of ridding this paint was to mix it all up in 5 gal containers, roll them on the walls of my 1 car concrete block garage(interior) and ended up with the best '57 Chevy turquoise color I have ever seen.

 

[Jon_E]

Alright you guys have convinced me, I guess I'm gonna use it up. I'll bring the paint back to the local Benjamin Moore place and have them shake it back up.

 

[rattlesnake436]

I used paint that sat for 16 years plus after my family moved to Arizona it sat in the garage three months ago had to repaint a trailer it worked out

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[rattlesnake436]

great and it was free also it was also Benjamin Moore but interior

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[rattlesnake436]

I would suggest you use it take a drill and a special paint mixer bit and mix it yourself

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