For those of you who are handy around the house, I have a question or two about paint.
About three years ago, we bought several cans of expensive paint with the intention of painting several rooms in our home. Between work and a variety of other things, we weren’t able to get around to it. Now I’m retired and have plenty of time, so tackling this project is on the table again.
The paint is in the garage, unopened and firmly sealed. Will paint keep that long in liquid form? Is it still useable? Do I have to take it back to the paint store and have them shake it up again? (It’s heavy, so I’d like to avoid that if possible.) Or can I just pop it open, give it a stir, and start painting?
If this makes a difference, the temperature in the garage never goes below 50 in the winter or above 80 or so in the summer, though it’s gone a little higher lately during the heatwave we’ve been having.
If it is “premium” paint I would give it a try. If it was me I would flip the paint cans upside down for a week to let the solids loosen up from the bottom before you try stirring it. As soon as you open it you will know if it is bad ‘cause bad paint smells like sewer water and is chunky like spoiled milk.
The paint should still be good, but it must be mixed again. You can do it yourself, but it would be better to take it back to the store and ask them to mix the cans for you. I don’t think they’ll charge you, and it will evenly distribute the coloring throughout so you have uniform color for each can. Don’t cut corners. Shake those cans.
No firm answer, but in my experience it lasts much longer than you would think. I live where its very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, and have opened cans from the garage after years and they were ‘ok’ (mind you, painting things like watering troughs and garage floors, good enough for that).
I have paint that’s 15 years old and recently used it to patch some spots and it was perfect. Two different cans, in fact. I didn’t even have it shaken, I shook it myself and stirred it. Granted, this was super premium Sherwin-Williams paint that was stored in my basement, not my garage.
I also had some outdoor S-W premium paint that I took to have matched at S-W. The paint is about 12 years old. The guy at the S-W store said it’s still perfectly good, use it. He was right. This was also stored in my basement.
If you are going to use more than one can for the project, it is best to get a larger container (like a new 5-gallon bucket from the big box store) and dump in both cans and mix them together, to make sure the color is uniform. With old paint, this is probably an even better idea, and it will help you to make sure you get to the bottom of both cans and mix everything that needs mixing.
Chances are no one will shake it for you. Stores are, rightly, leery of shaking cans that have left the store. A can losing it’s top makes quite the mess.
But it is probably fine if it hasn’t frozen. It’ll just take some effort to mix it up again.
And I agree with Roderick about “boxing” the paint. In fact that should be done with new paint too, if you’ve got multiple gallons.
I have paint shaken a couple of times a year, both at Home Depot in the local Sherwin-Williams specialty store…as long as you bought it there, they’ll clamp the lid down and shake it up. I’ve even had them do a little can of primer.
I’ve brought a few old cans of paint back to Menards (kind of like a Home Depot) and they have always happily put it in their shaker. We keep our leftover paint in the basement. We recently used 10-year-old paint to paint over a wall patch my husband had to make because of a plumbing issue. It was fine.
I have used leftover paint that was more than 10 years old. OTOH, I’ve had some paint that needed sieving to get the lumps out after just a few months. Part of the issue is how good the seal is on the paint can and whether or not there is a lot of air in the can.
I hesitate to question someone with this username, but the mixer machine clamps the top down. Unless its so old that the structural integrity of the tin is in question, they will have no issue with doing this for you. I’d buy a brush or some sandpaper or something if youre asking them to do multiple cans that you didnt buy there.
And I agree with others that it definitely needs to be done after several years.
I’m genuinely surprised that y’all have been getting your paint shaken. At all the stores I’ve gotten paint from (mostly in the NY, but also NC and San Diego) there are signs saying they will not shake paint that has left the store. Maybe with an obviously unopened can?
I’ve never asked with an opened & partially used can, only in the situation OP is in where I’ve bought paint and not got around to doing the job for ages.
FWIW the Sherwin Williams store where I bought my last batch of paint would not shake the old paint I brought in to match. I am pretty sure they had done it for me in the past but now wouldn’t do it. Can’t speak for other stores, though.
My local Lowes shook a couple cans of paint for me. I had bought the paint there a few years earlier. The paint department was busy at the time, the clerk said she would shake the paint with the crowd dies down a bit. Came back a few hours later the paint was ready to go along with a couple stir sticks and a paint can opener.