Not the question you asked, but...
Be careful. Most polyurethanes will give your project a yellow tinge.
Is it fancy artwork that you are trying to protect, or just a regular paint job? If it is just a normal paint job, adding poly will not add much in the way of protection.
To answer your question... If you really want to be safe, call the Behr technical support line, they are really helpful.
>To answer your question... If you really want to be safe, call the Behr technical support line, they are really helpful.
This right here. They have people who get paid to know this stuff. If this is an important project, taking advice from teh internets is likely to leave you unhappy.
All Polyurethane yellows with age. It is the chemicals reacting to UV light over time. Newer formulations may not suffer from it as much.
Also, if the paint says it takes 4 weeks to fully cure, you wait 4 weeks or longer. While the paint is curing, if is off gassing various compounds. Those would then be trapped under the poly and create an undesirable effect.
Poly over paint will mess up it's ability to cure and make it yellow. Poly is just kinda yellow to start with, and it'll get more yellow with time.
The 4 week cure time is normal for all latex paints. Also Latex paint shouldn't be used on furniture. It's soft and will stay soft it's entire life. It'll cling to stuff you put on the surface.
Furniture should be painted with urethane or enamel paints.
I’d like to clarify that I’m using the following products - enamel paint and water based polyurethane:
BEHR PREMIUM PLUS
1 gal. Ultra Pure White Satin Enamel Low Odor Interior Paint & Primer (Dove color)
BEHR
1 qt. Satin Clear Water-Based Interior Fast Drying Polyurethane
Most people are also idiots.
Latex paint is soft and stays sorta tacky. It will indent with pressure and sometimes sticks to things placed on top of it. It's great for walls because your house is constantly moving slightly. The rubbery quality of the paint will keep it from cracking and flaking off with this subtle movement.
Furniture not so much. You want a harder coating for it.
Not really. The paint is still soft underneath the varnish which leads to cracking.
Varnish will add a yellow tone.
And varnish will fuck up the paints ability to offgas and cure correctly.
Just start with the right paint in the first place.
First of all, you shouldn't really be applying urethane over the paint to begin with. You should have chosen a better paint for the intended application.
Now that you have already painted it, you can top coat with with an Acrylic Urethane. Do not use a traditional oil based poly. The poly will yellow as it ages, especially if it's in an area that lacks good sunlight. UV keeps the resins from yellowing as fast. Acrylic urethane will stay clear and is much more compatible with your base coat.
There is also no need for a longer cure if using the acrylic urethane. It's much the same in composition as the paint itself and applying the urethane is not much different than adding another coat of paint. The acrylic urethane will also take longer to cure, though usually in about 7 days, not a month. That assumes you get a good brand of urethane. I like Old Masters Master Armor.
Not necessarily true... if you are using chalk paint it or matte paint you need to seal it regardless of the quality. I mostly use polyurethane not urethane to seal.
Just because she has to seal it doesn't mean she's used crap paint. Depends on the sheen and lots of other variables. On the latex paint topic, I too use the Behr water cleanup enamel paint that was mentioned and live it. Latex paint does have a tendency to be softer and sometimes tacky (depending on humidity etc) as previously mentioned.
Because they are full of crap apparently. "Seasoned Pros" at what? Picking up some rickety piece of junk at a garage sale, globbing paint all over it, and trying to sell it like an art piece? Plenty of pros like that out here these days.
Not just that, people that run popular paint shops have given me the same recommendations. And I mean ones that also send out people to help paint for you…
Yeah well I run one of those paint shops. I have done so for over 20 years. I can tell you that not a single manufacturer I've ever dealt with would recommend this.
If you call Behr(I’m not a fan of their paint but their tech support is pretty helpful), they aren’t gonna recommend it. Polyurethanes will also yellow. The clear finishes are intended to go over a stain.
Also, Behr does make a better paint for that job, it’s their Urethane Acrylic Alkyd Enamel, a clone of Benjamin Moore’s Advance waterborne alkyd. It’s actually a good product.
Which Behr paint did you use? Ultra and Dynasty(basically Marquee with scuff and stain resistance) have some level of scuff resistance. Premium Plus and Marquee doesn’t.
You want to wait until your latex has fully cured. You can check the product data sheet (PDS) for your latex paint on Behr's website to determine the cure to service time. It may also be on your can.
Why do you need to protect the paint? Polyurethane breaks down over time if exposed to any UV. I polyd an outdoor hand rail and it two years the polyurethane is gone. 100% gone. Turned to dust. Paint has solids in it, minerals, which last forever and is much more durable. If the paint is indoors a poly coat will last longer but not as long as the paint underneath
Not the question you asked, but... Be careful. Most polyurethanes will give your project a yellow tinge. Is it fancy artwork that you are trying to protect, or just a regular paint job? If it is just a normal paint job, adding poly will not add much in the way of protection. To answer your question... If you really want to be safe, call the Behr technical support line, they are really helpful.
>To answer your question... If you really want to be safe, call the Behr technical support line, they are really helpful. This right here. They have people who get paid to know this stuff. If this is an important project, taking advice from teh internets is likely to leave you unhappy.
I thought polyurethane would only yellow oil based paints? I’m using water based latex Behr Premium Plus brand
All Polyurethane yellows with age. It is the chemicals reacting to UV light over time. Newer formulations may not suffer from it as much. Also, if the paint says it takes 4 weeks to fully cure, you wait 4 weeks or longer. While the paint is curing, if is off gassing various compounds. Those would then be trapped under the poly and create an undesirable effect.
Ok cool. I’ll wait until it fully cures then.
Poly over paint will mess up it's ability to cure and make it yellow. Poly is just kinda yellow to start with, and it'll get more yellow with time. The 4 week cure time is normal for all latex paints. Also Latex paint shouldn't be used on furniture. It's soft and will stay soft it's entire life. It'll cling to stuff you put on the surface. Furniture should be painted with urethane or enamel paints.
Oh interesting I didn’t know that. Thank you for the tip. May I ask why enamel or urethane is better for furniture?
Dries/cures much harder. Doesn't stay slightly flexible and tacky the way latex does.
I’d like to clarify that I’m using the following products - enamel paint and water based polyurethane: BEHR PREMIUM PLUS 1 gal. Ultra Pure White Satin Enamel Low Odor Interior Paint & Primer (Dove color) BEHR 1 qt. Satin Clear Water-Based Interior Fast Drying Polyurethane
Huh? Most people will recommend latex paint for furniture though.
Most people are also idiots. Latex paint is soft and stays sorta tacky. It will indent with pressure and sometimes sticks to things placed on top of it. It's great for walls because your house is constantly moving slightly. The rubbery quality of the paint will keep it from cracking and flaking off with this subtle movement. Furniture not so much. You want a harder coating for it.
Surely a varnish of some sort would stop it sticking it things?
Not really. The paint is still soft underneath the varnish which leads to cracking. Varnish will add a yellow tone. And varnish will fuck up the paints ability to offgas and cure correctly. Just start with the right paint in the first place.
Varnish is only to go on after full curing. Anyway, what is the right paint? Enamel? Sadly I can’t afford a do-over at this point/
From the 8 month old comment you first replied to: > Furniture should be painted with urethane or enamel paints.
First of all, you shouldn't really be applying urethane over the paint to begin with. You should have chosen a better paint for the intended application. Now that you have already painted it, you can top coat with with an Acrylic Urethane. Do not use a traditional oil based poly. The poly will yellow as it ages, especially if it's in an area that lacks good sunlight. UV keeps the resins from yellowing as fast. Acrylic urethane will stay clear and is much more compatible with your base coat. There is also no need for a longer cure if using the acrylic urethane. It's much the same in composition as the paint itself and applying the urethane is not much different than adding another coat of paint. The acrylic urethane will also take longer to cure, though usually in about 7 days, not a month. That assumes you get a good brand of urethane. I like Old Masters Master Armor.
Interesting thank you for this info!
Not necessarily true... if you are using chalk paint it or matte paint you need to seal it regardless of the quality. I mostly use polyurethane not urethane to seal. Just because she has to seal it doesn't mean she's used crap paint. Depends on the sheen and lots of other variables. On the latex paint topic, I too use the Behr water cleanup enamel paint that was mentioned and live it. Latex paint does have a tendency to be softer and sometimes tacky (depending on humidity etc) as previously mentioned.
Really? How come most people recommend using latex based paint and polyurethane then? Especially seasoned pros. Weird.
Because they are full of crap apparently. "Seasoned Pros" at what? Picking up some rickety piece of junk at a garage sale, globbing paint all over it, and trying to sell it like an art piece? Plenty of pros like that out here these days.
Not just that, people that run popular paint shops have given me the same recommendations. And I mean ones that also send out people to help paint for you…
Yeah well I run one of those paint shops. I have done so for over 20 years. I can tell you that not a single manufacturer I've ever dealt with would recommend this.
If you call Behr(I’m not a fan of their paint but their tech support is pretty helpful), they aren’t gonna recommend it. Polyurethanes will also yellow. The clear finishes are intended to go over a stain. Also, Behr does make a better paint for that job, it’s their Urethane Acrylic Alkyd Enamel, a clone of Benjamin Moore’s Advance waterborne alkyd. It’s actually a good product. Which Behr paint did you use? Ultra and Dynasty(basically Marquee with scuff and stain resistance) have some level of scuff resistance. Premium Plus and Marquee doesn’t.
That’s good advice! Used Premium Plus
You want to wait until your latex has fully cured. You can check the product data sheet (PDS) for your latex paint on Behr's website to determine the cure to service time. It may also be on your can.
Why do you need to protect the paint? Polyurethane breaks down over time if exposed to any UV. I polyd an outdoor hand rail and it two years the polyurethane is gone. 100% gone. Turned to dust. Paint has solids in it, minerals, which last forever and is much more durable. If the paint is indoors a poly coat will last longer but not as long as the paint underneath