Cold Weather Effects

Well, the weather is becoming quite cool here in Michigan, and I got to wondering what that will do to the finishes I have in my garage. I've always heard that you shouldn't freeze paints, etc, but I never got a difinitive answer as to what happens when you do. I have used paints that have wintered in my garage, and didn't notice any difference in application or results. I have just started into this woodworking and finishing thing, and I don't want to see all the money put into the finishes be lost through frost. What's the best way to store them, if you don't have a basement, and don't want to leave them out in the cold? Some of the solvents are not good to have in your home.

Thanks for the help.

Neal:?

Neal, I don' know about freezing cans of paint/varnish but a trick that I use when painting with oil based paints and I wish to do the job over a period of days or weeks -even months sometimes. When I have finished for the day I wrap my brush in plastic food wrap and stick it in the freezer. That way I don't have to clean the brush - I just bring it out of the freezer an hour before I need it, then just carry on painting as though I hadn't even stopped. Even after months in the freezer it has done no hrm to the pint on the brush so I can't see why it would harm paint in a can.

Check this out but I would imagine that if paint wont set in a cold climate they must have to use a different recipe to be sold in such places.

Denn

Depending on how much you have to store, you can get a one or two drawer metal filing cabinet and store it in a corner of your house.

MacS

Alkyd and Acrylic paints may go through a freeze cycle or two, but putting paint inside a freezer is not a very smart thing to do, you want to keep it from freezing.

you could try insulating your cans in tea chest or similar and packing round them with balls of news paper or old wadding as i assume you do with water pipes?

astrid

Paints are usually made to use when it would be comfortable for the painter to use them so its designed to be used when temperatures are normal as they generally require heat to dry them.

So that means not so cold or hot that you would be uncomfortable.
If its less than 55 F (15 C) and more than 95F (35 C) its not going to be easy to paint, you are going to have to do something extra, like turn on the heater or add something to alter the drying time of the paint( slow it down as its drying too fast) . Too cold and there is not enough heat to drive off the solvents so it stays wet thats why Dennford puts his brush in the freezer. Even paints with hardener in them to speed up the drying can be put in the fridge to stop the reaction. Too hot and it drys so fast you can't get it to flow out before it sets.

If the paint is sealed in its tin the paint solvent can't escape so it should stay the same. Most paints dry by evaporation so if the tin is sealed the solvent is kept in the paint.

The big exception is alkyd paints which also dry by mixing with the oxygen in the air so if you open the tin and use some of the paint leaving an air space the air in the tin can set the paint and you get a skin on the paint.

I would think that even in Michigan where the temperatures get to below freezing there would be thousands of tins left in freezing conditions in sheds and barns and storerooms which are then successfully used next summer without any problems. I'm sure you would have heard about it or the tin would have a warning if there was a problem.

So, store the tins in a safe spot sealed up and use them when there is some warmth in the air.

I would be more worried about my glue freezing than the paint. Many of the pva type glues don't like it at all. In 50 odd years of making joints the only 4 lots of joint failures I have ever had were from a single bottle of a well known Canadian glue which was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. I found out later that the glue had been in a storage shed and had frozen prior to being sold to me.

It was the rep from the glue company who pointed out the fact that it didn't like being frozen. Those4 failed joints caused me no end of trouble. One failure caused the 3 joints, the full length of a fully French polished, flame mahogany, 8 x 4 dining table top to open. Around $6000 worth of damage and restoration at todays rates.

Beware the frozen glue. :((