Make your own waterproof outdoor paints & stains

Instead of painting or staining your deck or outdoor furniture with an expensive waterproof products, you can blend your own waterproof “milk paint” or homemade water-repellent stain.

Milk paint is waterproof enough to use on the side of a building, and you create any color you want by using water soluble dyes. Stir two quarts of builder’s lime into four gallons of skim milk – stir thoroughly.  Stir in one gallon of boiled linseed oil.  Then add the water soluble dye of your choice (artist’s pigments or RIT dyes will work fine).  Strain the paint through cheesecloth to get lumps out.  Use it within two days of mixing it.

You can also make a water-repellent stain when you want to let the natural wood grain shine through. Melt one-half pound of paraffin in a double boiler (don’t use a regular pan – paraffin is very flammable, and the double boiler protects you from having it go up in flames). To the melted paraffin, add three gallons of boiled linseed oil, two quarts of Penta concentrate, about two to six ounces of pigment (you may have to experiment to find the right amount for the color intensity you want), and one gallon of paint thinner or turpentine. Penta and turpentine/paint thinner are very hazardous materials – follow instructions on the packaging very carefully.

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Posted in Do It Yourself on August 13, 2008