DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Hard Freeze...

1K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Will22 
#1 · (Edited)
I stored some gallons of paint in my shop (some full, some at varying levels). I'm in the deep south, so the winters are typically mild. This year was an untypically cold winter in which a night or two was a "hard freeze", which means that it stayed below freezing all night. My shop walls are 1/2 in. grooved panels with no insulation, so I'm sure the temps stayed below freezing for several hours. The paint is latex (some flat, some eggshell). So, the question: Usable or trash?
 
#2 ·
Unless it was already old, it should be fine. I've been down here since '05 and this is definitely the longest, coldest winter so far, but didn't affect any of the products stored in my uninsulated shop. I think it takes a good deal longer for paints to freeze than it does water...
Open the cans, give them a stir...if it looks good, use it. What they call a hard freeze down here is something like 6-8 hours below 32F....where I came from, that's T-shirt weather:whistling2:
 
#6 ·
As latex paints are about 50% water, and there is less protection against freezing in the product formulations, these products can be affected by a partial freeze. Paints with low VOC's do not have the feeze/thaw cycle tolerance that they had in the past.

Let the product warm up to room temperature, stir or shake, and evaluate. In most cases, the product is usable, but product with an adverse odor or excessive debris is not. Good luck.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top