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How can I paint polyethylene?

Q. How can I paint polyethylene?

Carlos Lara
- Mexico

"Working with Polyethylene"

on AbeBooks

or Amazon

(affil links)

A. Carlos,

To answer your question ... and all you asked was 'how do I paint Polyethylene' ... the reply is easy. Go ahead and paint!

Maybe what you meant but didn't say is HOW does one get a bond. Ah. The answer is simple. You don't.

Had you given more data, maybe I could have helped you. For instance, had you a round PE tank, then use a latex paint all over (latex being somewhat flexible) so that entire tank is painted and the paint will, so-to-speak, bond to itself, but not (very well) to the PE.

If it's a flat surface the paint would eventually come off.

Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).

A. I find the response to our Mexican friend's query about painting polyethylene to be rather "smart Alec-y". The helpful response, I believe, would be to advise him to use house exterior acrylic, which is more flexible, and will expand and contract without cracking.

For a technical bulletin on this subject, go to www.polyprocessing.com/pdf/technical/PaintingPEStorageTanks.pdf

Thanks, however, for providing us with this forum on refinishing topics.

Sincerely,

Steve Currie
- Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Polyethylene

Hi Steve. Thanks for the info and the helpful link!

Freeman is not a smart alec, but a very kind spirit who has helped hundreds & hundreds of people here over the years -- maybe thousands. But he has been begging posters for years, as have I, to detail their own situation rather than posting an abstract question -- and I'd guess his reaction was in response to Carlos doing just exactly that anyway :-)
Let's all try our best to to offer technical answers, camaraderie, & aloha, and to amplify the things we like :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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