How long does paint last?

[oreocrumbs]

I'm finally onto the finishing touches of my rental house (it has been a nightmare - all but rebuilt and has cost me and arm, leg and more grey hairs than is right!).

Before I rush down to B&Q and buy the paint, I've had a rake around the black hole of doom the garage and I have loads of paint.

I have satinwood and matt emulsion that is left from the last time I decorated that house 2-3 years ago. It has been opened.

I found a big tub of matt emulsion left by the last owners of this house that must be about 6 years old, again it has been opened.

There are also quite a few half tins of silk emulsion that I used in this house about 2 years ago.

They have been stored in an internal garage so have not been exposed to extreme temperatures.

So... can I use them? - I have no more time or energy to waste, so if they will not be good then I will buy new!

And if I can't use them where do I get rid of them? IIRC you can't throw paint in the bin so where do you dispose of it?

TIA

We had this recently too, only thing is to inspect them. IMO if the paint looks OK and stirs up OK might as well give it a go. By the time I had eliminated all the tins that were welded shut/had solid stuff on the bottom/had solid layer on the top/ had separated cream cheese style/did not look like paint any more, there wasn't much left. Some plain white, some woodstains and some undercoat.

The other thing is do you have enough of anything to do a whole room anyway?

You can take the unusable tins to local tip/household recycling place.

Thanks fossil

There is enough to do the whole house and then some, its all white and magnolia, and the stuff from my own house would do the small rooms.

I'm going to have to go back in the garage and check them. There are spiders in there , I was brave once, twice is pushing it .

We have a household recycling centre near by so at least I can free up some space if I can't use it.

Wot fossil said.

If they look good but bits of rust have fallen in, try blotting the top with kitchen roll. If that doesn't work and you're dedicated, strain what you need through an old pair of tights.

The satinwood you might have to cut a skin off the top.

Good tip Serialkipper, they are mostly in the big plastic tubs so hopefully not too much rust, but I shall keep an eye out.

Thanks

If I understand you rightly, this is for a house you're going to rent out.

In which case, it might be a false economy to use leftover paint.

Personally I'd go for the standard bestselling colours on the Dulux chart, in a matt emulsion.

Reason being that landlords can't charge against the deposit for "wear and tear" on paintwork, but walls are very likely to become scuffed and damaged during a tenancy (moving furniture up and down stairs, random marks on walls, shadows where furniture is moved etc).

If you use a standard colour and matt paint, you can simply touch up small areas of damage, rather than re-paint a whole room. You can also specify the colour and finish you've used in each room in the inventory so your tenants can put right dilapidations themselves (which they'll do if they're sensible as these you can charge for).

I say Dulux because it's good quality, easily available (unlike RAL or trade paints) to tenants themselves, they don't discontinue these colours, and there's minimal variation in batches. Matt is good because it's the finish that the tester pots come in, so you don't even need a big pot of paint for repairs.

Thanks Thomas, yes it is for my rental house. I've had it for years, and the majority of the paint is there from the last time I decorated it so that shouldn't be a problem for most of it, but you are right about the stuff from my own house - I'll leave that for my own touch ups to rot in the garage for another decade .

I'm just being economical tight with money now as I really have almost nothing left.

A real life example to landlords of checking that your insurance covers malicious damage . On the plus side I'm almost there!

that's awful oreo, how hideous for you.

Touch wood my insurers have been great over the years, but malicious damage is a new one to me, and it must have been horrific.

It was - I'm quite pragmatic about it now but she was a nightmare, and ran water through the house - pulled radiators off the walls, ran the taps etc. After 18 mo we managed to evict her and got the house back in October. The damage was horrific, had to strip the house to the joists, dry it out, replace walls, electrics, central heating, kitchen, bathroom, and it wasn't covered by the insurance as I didn't have malicious damage cover. It has completely cleaned us out money wise.

Still we live and learn, onwards and upwards and my new tennants are a one of the girls who works for me and her boyfriend who I've known for 7 years so this time I should be alright!!