fandom_joints | Watching paint dry

is my other option, so I thought I'd post about the paint I'm using instead.

I'm in the process of refinishing my kitchen cupboards, and I thought I'd talk about the paint because it's a new product, and in Canada and the US, there are new regulations about paint that might affect you in your next project.

Briefly, the regulations have been changed in the last few years following the normal pattern for this sort of thing--California tightens some rules, the EPA in the US follows along fairly closely and then Canada matches our regulations to the EPA rules.

In this case the regulations are about Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are often dangerous to health and they are released into the air when paint dries, which essentially means whenever you have an open can or a wet surface. Water-based paints produce a lot less VOCs, and the residue is less harmful environmentally and cheaper for your municipality to dispose of. The result has been to restrict the types of alkyd (oil-based to us old people) paints that can be sold. This has been introduced in a multi-step process and right now in Canada, we're in the paint stores can sell off the old stock, but not make any new stage.

The alkyd paints allowed here in Canada are for metal, gloss floor enamel for cement floors, stain covering primer and primer for covering that horrible water-based blown stucco that builders love to put on ceilings in new developments (the most evil building product ever designed--do not try to paint it with water-based paint). All that leaves a gaping hole in the product line of most paint companies--the alkyd paint sold for its hard-wearing properties as trim paint, furniture paint and for kitchen cupboards. This stuff is often marketed as "melamine" paint, and while it is not as hard as an actual melamine counter top, it's tougher than latex paint. It turns out, I could have bought some--my local paint store had about six cans left. But there's a new product everybody is selling to fill this gap and I decided after a lot of looking in to it to try it.

The stuff goes under all kinds of brand names, but it is a waterborne alkyd resin. Look for something called urethane enhanced or alkyd enhanced that is soap and water clean-up and you've found the product. It seems to be available as a primer and as a finish coat for trim or furniture in most stores. All the companies claim they invented it, they didn't, it's all the same idea from Reichhold coating.

Warning: it is stupidly expensive.

In the US, according to one site I found, so double check this, you are only allowed to buy it by the quart. Quart prices for paint are always considerably more than the gallon price divided by 4. I'm guessing this is why my Canadian 4L can was $53.

The product claims to do everything but apply itself, it is supposedly self-priming (over previously painted surfaces, not bare wood), excellent at levelling, dries to the touch in 2 hrs, recoat in 6 hrs, soap and water clean up. It does say up front that it takes 21 days to cure. This is the big drawback to even the best quality acrylic paint for furniture--it sticks to itself really easily for at least a month, and can be dinged or scratched by ordinary use. This product, unlike alkyd which is cured when it's dried, does not fix that problem. If they ever get hung, my cupboard doors will sit open for a while.

So here's what I think about those claims now that I've used it a lot.

• Dry time is not 2 hrs, even in optimum conditions. It's very dry here in the fall, and it's been warm enough I've done some painting outside. Dry time is at least 3 hrs, much more in humid weather. Recoat is always 24 hrs as far as I'm concerned, unless you have a pressing time constraint. I would say you could touch up after 6 hours, but not do a proper sand first and then paint recoat for at least 12hrs.

• Brushes clean up easily in soap and water. Skin, not so much. If you're used to acrylic paint that you can basically rub off your hands once it's dry, this stuff will surprise you, and you'll be getting out the scrub brush. I don't know if the paint can be used with latex gloves, because I hate gloves. (The mineral spirits in ordinary alkyd paints will melt latex gloves.)

• Levelling. This is the effect where paint forms up to a level skin as it dries and your brush marks disappear. In recent decades the durability and levelling of alkyd paints have been getting worse as the formulas have been changed to meet regulations on VOCs. This paint is the absolute best levelling paint I've seen since the eighties. I have never painted horizontal surfaces with a brush and had them look this good. Seriously, the reason to use this on furniture is this aspect of it. The levelling and the gloss level--a pearl finish--are giving me a result that is delightfully identical to the acrylic coated surface on my Ikea lower cupboards.

• Self Priming. Uh, huh. I think this is marketing language to replace the usual paint claim of one-coat coverage. This paint has extremely poor colour coverage and I wish I'd primed better. Two coats minimum on new primer--three on any unevenly coloured surface.

• I can't tell you for sure about durability once its cured, but the windowsill is standing up to cat abuse so far. I'm expecting, based on how it's holding up so far, that it will be hugely superior in durability to any acrylic product.

• If you've never used alkyd paint and are only familiar with modern ultra-thick gelled acrylics, you will find it drippy and hard to use at first. It's actually a little less drippy than traditional alkyd and seems very thick in the can, but you have to remind yourself you don't have half the day to fix your gloops. It starts to separate in the can faster than acrylic paint too--lots of stirring.

• It stinks. Not quite as bad as the old school stuff, but still. The old school alkyd always gave me gas (which is putting it very politely) and this doesn't.

• You can paint straight over any previous alkyd or varnish surface without special primer, so it's easier to use than standard acrylic.

Bottom line-if you can stomach the price, it's worth it.