OK, so what's the downside of barn paint? Does it not last as long as "better" exterior paints - or is it just cheaper because it's only available in a very small range of colors?
I bought 5 gallons of white self-priming yesterday, figuring I'd do our garage with it (which I'm hoping to tear down in a couple of years and rebuild anyway) - cost me $60, and would have been around $300 for equivalent "good" Behr* top-coat and primer.
There's gotta be a catch somewhere :-)
cheers
Jules
It will impart the smell of fresh manure to your garage and the vehicles you store therein...
I'd guess it's because it really only made for the vertical siding of the barn, horizontal catches and holds much much more water so anything horizontal should have "real" paint. Just my guess.
Hmm, all the barns in this area seem to be horizontal rather than vertical, just like other buildings (typically).
Having done a bit of wall with it in the last couple of hours, it's drying with no gloss to it at all, and it looks like it'll need a second coat (but that might just be due to my putting it on siding that's well overdue for replacement).
Lack of any kind of shine's not a problem given the nature of what I'm painting, but I don't think that's the reason for the low cost - I can't imagine a little bit of gloss inflates paint price by 500% ;-)
cheers
Jules
The retail price of paint varies wildly. It's sort of like mattresses.
must be one hellofa garage if you're gonna need 15 gallons of paint for it.
"bought"?! For the outbuildings I used the recycled stuff the county gives away. On a couple of those buildings the paint is the only thing holding them up.
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There is a catch. Once you paint a garage with barn paint, you CAN NOT park a car in it. You'll have to buy a horse and buggy. Any attempt to park a car inside will result in all 4 tires going flat (just like the paint, which is why the paint is flat). However, if you're Amish, you CAN park a car inside.
Thankfully I wasn't drinking anything when I read that :-) Oddly enough we park the car outside and the garage seems forever full of kids stuff. There is a '60s truck in there with tires that have no tread left on them, but they're not flat yet...
Hmm, not heard of that before - I'll have to ask and see if they do that around here.
You've seen our garage, then ;-) Not sure how old it is, but it has four layers of shingles on the roof, so it's definitely been around a while. The previous owners of our place weren't exactly big on preventive maintenance, but if I can keep the garage alive for another couple of years I'll be happy.
cheers
Jules
I used to buy CIL piant by the 5 gal pail. The paint store ( not box store) simply called it industrial paint. They would mix in any color you wanted. It was cheap and of good quality. It was a no frills product. Only available in 5 gal pails in paint stores, not advertised with minimal distribution costs. Those savings were passed on to the consumer.
You believe Behr is a good quality paint. Is that from experience or marketing? Getting people like you to believe Behr is a good product isn't cheap.
Behr don't care because you are paying for your own brainwashing when you buy their product. You also pay for the small cans and all the distribution costs associated with them.
I have no Idea what sort of quality Behr products are and don't particularly care. I do regularly see products advertised that I know are virtually useless but they are advertised and people buy them.
There is a catch. Marketing people are driving around in BMW's that you paid for.
LdB
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I had a friend and mentor who was production manager for a very very large international paint company. They would make 10,000 gallon batches of white paint. Some of it packed and sold in 5 gal pails for bulk contractor sales. Some sold in quart cans for high price marine paint.
Behr has usually gotten good Consumer Reports ratings
It applies well and seems to weather OK - beyond that I have no idea if it's worse or better than Behr's competitors. However, $35 for a gallon of Behr white exterior top-coat and $60 for 5 gallons of Behr white exterior barn paint makes me think that there's some downside (in Behr's eyes) to using the barn paint. It's entirely possible that what Behr see as the drawback in using the barn paint (and which makes them sell it cheaply) isn't relevant to me.
Well, I bought 5 gallons of exterior top-coat for the house a couple of years ago - that wasn't Behr, but someone else's product (I don't even remember who). That wasn't particularly cheap, either (memory is saying around $120).
Looking online quickly, other exterior top-coats, whether sold by the gallon or 5 gallons, also seem to be "up there" in price (between $20 and $50 per gallon) - I think there has to be something that separates "barn paint" from other exterior paints and makes it cheaper.
cheers
Jules
Jules Richardson wrote: ...
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It (the barn paint) doesn't have any longevity warranty (ergo, warranty cost to recover) for one thing; all it says is any batch you get was manufactured to the specifications for it and they'll replace it if it wasn't.
At one time Behr had product specifications including paint pigment quantities/unit volume, type of pigment, flatteners, etc., etc., for their products on the web site; I see the site has since been redesigned and don't see that level of detail any longer.
In general, higher priced paints have higher-priced ingredients (and/or more of them). There was an article on the composition of paints and the various ingredients used in various grades in an issue of Fine Homebuilding some months ago -- I'd guess within the year but might be a little farther back; seems like that happens in my recollection a lot any more :) ). Whether it's viewable w/o subscription online at the Taunton site I have no idea and I don't have it at hand and am too lazy to get up and try to find it :) but the overall result is that higher-prices correlate to stuff in the paints that isn't in the lesser. Most has to do w/ ingredients that have to do w/ longevity and coverage and the type of surface finish in a detailed way not just a casual manner. The amount of gloss in a finish is a big contributor to cost, btw. (OBTW, the article did point out that the "designer" paints have a higher cost structure owing to the nature of the target market that isn't all tied to the paint in the can but that isn't the case w/ the basic paint products of the mainline manufacturers altho there clearly is a difference in cost structure between the professional retail/homeowner distribution market and the BORG model among other differences from one manufacturer to another).
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I painted my shed 3 years ago with barn paint and so far its holding up quite well. It was considerably cheaper than "regular" paint.
I think one thing that makes it cheaper is that barn paint has to be non toxic to animals if ingested, so the ingredient list was pretty short.
From what I read here in all the posts, I'm thinking of buying barn paint for the inside of my garage. Or do I get the cheap builders paint? If the price is close, maybe the barn paint is better?
That reminds me, I left it go for months now, but it didn't finish spackling by itself. Ugh.
Thanks - that's useful to know; if it does three years and still looks reasonable, that's into the sort of territory where I want to tear the thing down and rebuild anyway.
Good point!
cheers
Jules
Don't count on it being non-toxic. GENERALLY barn paint is made to absorb more into the wood like a stain rather than to just sit on top, because barn-board is very porous. It also is designed to be self priming - you don't prime the whole barn before painting it - and it is designed to last in the weather without having to look like a million bucks - so in general, barn paints tend to "chalk" somewhat - meaning they are not high gloss - and being a chalking paint, are somewhat "self cleaning".
Just my experience from the farm a few decades ago. Also, it generally it comes in 5 gallon pails, 15 gallon drums and 45 gallon drums instead of pints, quarts, and gallons, and is manufactured in large lots - which tends to keep the price down. Add to that the fact the paint manufacturer spends litterally ZILCH on advertizing the barn paint.
replying to alwaysontime, Gutter wrote: WTH are you talking about
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