friend is currently renting a house; all of the windows match and most are in good shape. A few have broken vacuum seals although I'm not dealing wit h that as it is rented. A few more have broken "tilt-safe" latches - it's a three story house so the windows are tilt to clean type. They're all mol ded uncoated plastic and appear to have degraded simply from time. I *woul d* say UV exposure but they are on the inside of the glass so that ought no t to be an issue?
Anyway, if I were to have her purchase new ones would they last longer if g iven a quick coat of satin white spray paint before installation? It'd be no skin off my nose as I probably already have the paint in my junk box. M y gut says yes it's a good idea but is it really or would I be wasting my t ime?
I'd say a better idea would be to purchase a quart of a "Deep Tint Base" HIGH GLOSS EXTERIOR latex paint, but then don't have it tinted at all.
A "Deep" tint base will have the least white pigment in it but the most empty space in the can for adding large amounts of colourant in the paint tinting machine. That way, you can tint the quart of paint a true Navy Blue, Hunter Green or Blood Red colour without having the white zinc oxide pigments end up reducing it to a Powder Blue, Mist Green or Pink colour instead. That is, a "Deep" or "Accent" tint base that is not pigmented by adding colourant in the paint tinting machine should dry to a clear and colourless, or milky white film, depending on the amount of extender pigments in it. Extender pigments are what lower the gloss of paint to make it dry to a semi-gloss, satin, egg-shell or flat finish. Without extender pigments, all paints would dry to a high gloss finish. So, if you get a high gloss exterior deep tint base, you should get a can of liquid that has the least amount of extender pigments in it so that dries to a clear or transluscent COLOURLESS high gloss film rather than a milky white flat film.
The Deep tint base will have just as much binder as any other exterior latex paint, and that binder will suspend both mildewcides and UV blockers in the paint film.
Maybe go to any paint store and have them shake up a quart of their highest gloss exterior deep tint base paint, and then use a Q-Tip to paint some of it onto a colour swatch. Allow the paint to dry and see if it dries clear enough for your needs.
Exterior paints will contain both mildewcides and UV blockers to protect the substrate from the UV light from the Sun, and prevent mildew and molds from growing on the paint on the shaded side of a house, or in geographical areas where there's a lot of humidity, like in coastal areas. The binder in the paint forms a plastic film over the substrate with the mildewcides and UV blockers suspended in it very much like raisins in raisin bread. So, using an untinted quart of high gloss deep tint base paint, you should be able to literally paint on UV protection. And, you can increase the level of UV protection by adding another coat or two of that untinted high gloss deep tint exterior paint.
PS: The UV blockers in exterior paints and exterior wood stains are iron oxides that are colourless and transparent. These UV blockers effectively protect the underlying substrate by being opaque to UV light. Exterior latex wood stains also contain these iron oxide pigments, but in wood stains they're more often iron oxides that are yellow to orange to brown in colour, but still transparent to visible light, very much like the amber glass on an old beer bottle, but generally not nearly as dark.
This is similar to ordinary glass. Ordinary glass is transparent to visible light, but opaque to infra red light. If you ever watch a "Cops" show where they show the night vision image of what the IR camera on their helicopter sees, the glass on all the cars and houses will be opaque. You can't see what's going on inside the car or the house through the glass. That's because ordinary glass is transparent to visible light but opaque to infra red light just as certain iron oxide pigments are transparent to visible light but opaque to ultra violet light. So, having those iron oxide pigments suspended in the plastic film over the wood protects the wood from the UV light from the Sun by simply blocking it.
friend is currently renting a house; all of the windows match and most are in good shape. A few have broken vacuum seals although I'm not dealing with that as it is rented. A few more have broken "tilt-safe" latches - it's a three story house so the windows are tilt to clean type. They're all molded uncoated plastic and appear to have degraded simply from time. I *would* say UV exposure but they are on the inside of the glass so that ought not to be an issue?
Anyway, if I were to have her purchase new ones would they last longer if given a quick coat of satin white spray paint before installation? It'd be no skin off my nose as I probably already have the paint in my junk box. My gut says yes it's a good idea but is it really or would I be wasting my time?
thanks
nate
I have round metal railings at our steps. Of course they get very hot in the sun shine and very cold in the winter. I slipped PVC pipe over them. Painted with Krylon Fusion spray can. Made to cover plastic. Has been over a year and still looks great. WW
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