To re-use this which is 3 years old?!

[Trellawe]

DH painted our garden fences in May 23. An area needs topping up - he’s said there’s a half used tin in the garage from back then so he’ll use that rather than spend £20+ on a new one.

Surely this will be well past its use?!

Surely you would try it first and then see if work? Is this not obvious?

It’s paint. You’re not going to eat it.

I mean, if it looks fine then crack on surely?

It might need a stir but as long as its not all dried up, then he can use it?

Otherwise, what do you think will be wrong with it?

Why wouldn't you try it and see if it's ok before buying a new can?
Just stir it very well before using, it'll likely be fine.

Stir it well and do a test patch. It's just another example of how we should be trying to be more sustainable. If it's fine then don't put something else into landfill for no reason.

Far too sensible.

Just not the Mumsnet way anymore.

I would just open the paint up and see if it's ok.

I always have fence paint in my shed and I have no idea when I bought some of it. I've never had a problem with it.

I have though had to throw away tins of emulsion paint which when I've opened them have separated and no amount of stirring would make them usable.

Bizarre to start a thread about this rather than cracking open the tin and giving it a try

Like everyone else, give it a decent stir (for several minutes) and see what it’s like. I recently used the remains of a tin at least 2 years old and it was fine, smelt a bit funky to start with but took about 5 minutes of solid stirring before it smoothed out and smelt like paint again.

No it will poison you

Blimey. When I redid my shed last year, the pot of preservative came with me when I moved nine years ago.

Paint = give it a stir and crack on
Yoghurt = exercise more caution