I have over a dozen leftover paint can from the various colors we painted throughout the house. Some of the cans are over 10 yrs old and have never been touched since. I just can’t help to think I might need a touch up one day.

Is there a statute of limitations on keeping paint cans?

I think you're supposed to keep them until you die, and then your kids are like, "Goddamnitjesuschrist, why did he keep these?!" And then they throw them out.

I find that if they're <50% full, the paint seems to harden and go bad. The more full they are, the fresher they seem to stay - assuming they're sealed. It's also effected by temperature, so if they're kept in controlled environment, they last longer.

BUT - Airsoftguy has the right of it. The code is FOREVER

Good information!
I had been asking myself the same question.

I now keep painting till the can is empty. I dont save anything anymore. Unless its trim paint which I keep. Door trim always needs touching up.

LOL. I have an entire shelf in my garage with paint cans that are probably 25 years old. I just need to go through them to write down the colors and codes for what paint was for where so I can buy matching colors if needed. I doubt mine are still usable.

We have a shelf in the shed with a ton of old paint cans, mostly from the prior owners.
Our county does a disposal amnesty day once a year [I think] where you can get rid of stuff like that without the fees [with a few exceptions].

Here is a lighthearted decision making flowchart for the OP

Old paint cans is on my todo list, but its way at the bottom. I've called junk removal and the city dump and no joy. I figure I'm either going to let my kids deal with them or wait until all these flock cameras are gone so I can toss them in the river. I wouldn't do that, but I might build a rocket and shoot them into space.

quote:

I have over a dozen leftover paint can from the various colors we painted throughout the house.

I suppose you could pop open the cans - if that's even possible, they may be glued shut - and see what the paint looks like, perhaps even try painting a small unobtrusive sample like a piece of scrap wood, and discard any that doesn't measure up. My guess is that after a decade most or all of it has gone bad. There should be some facility that will take old paint and its cans for proper disposal.

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Originally posted by airsoft guy:
I think you're supposed to keep them until you die, and then your kids are like, "Goddamnitjesuschrist, why did he keep these?!" And then they throw them out.

This!

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Originally posted by dbgeek:
I find that if they're <50% full, the paint seems to harden and go bad. The more full they are, the fresher they seem to stay....

Yes the less air in the container and better it seals the longer paint will keep. I pour part gallons of paint that I want to save for touchup in glass mason jars filled to the top. I have some unopened since 2003 when we built that appear perfectly fine.

Any part cans I want to dispose of I just remove the lid and toss in the dumpster after it dries up.

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Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
I now keep painting till the can is empty. I dont save anything anymore. Unless its trim paint which I keep. Door trim always needs touching up.

I like this answer!

In the past, I've opened latex paint cans and let sit in the sun...sometimes for days until it dried. Then threw them into the trash. I still have a few more to do.

I don't keep used paint - I paint what I need and then let the rest dry and toss it. I do keep color notes and codes on paper - if I need to I can get a quart for a touch up but once the job is done, so is the paint.

You can buy and use an inert gas preserving agent (Bloxygen is one example) to put into a paint can before sealing the lid. It works great, especially on anything oil based. Totally prevents any skin formation.

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Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I do keep color notes and codes on paper - if I need to I can get a quart for a touch up but once the job is done, so is the paint.

I get almost all my paint at Sherwin Williams, and have an account, so they can look at my history there, too.

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Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

I have over a dozen leftover paint can from the various colors we painted throughout the house.

I suppose you could pop open the cans - if that's even possible, they may be glued shut - and see what the paint looks like, perhaps even try painting a small unobtrusive sample like a piece of scrap wood, and discard any that doesn't measure up. My guess is that after a decade most or all of it has gone bad. There should be some facility that will take old paint and its cans for proper disposal.

we re did the house we grew up in after my Father died, and had a pile of cans left over,

there is a detached building I work out of on the property, and I needed to do some painting on the interior, had not been touched since 1994 or so


so, grab a few cans of the old paint, ones that were white (ish) and mixed them together,

did some drywall work and used the leftover as primer,

30 yrs of no paint and it sucked the first coat up, second coat looked OK, and then covered with the paint color I wanted,


worked out well,



so if you don't need it for a project,,,

toss in a neighbors trash you don't like and call the epa,

or black bag it and toss it at the landfill,


or if you are responsible, find out when the locality will allow paint to be discarded and recycled

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:

In the past, I've opened latex paint cans and let sit in the sun...sometimes for days until it dried. Then threw them into the trash. I still have a few more to do.

This is the way. And I need to get on it, my paint locker is filling up with crap.

On the good side, SWMBO decided to paint the bathroom. She'll be 83 next Monday. She got about 25% done with taping, said (literally...) "fuck this!", we hired my daughter to do it and swore a mighty oath that we'd never paint again.

ACE Hardware takes old paint for recycling. It's free.
I've dropped off about a dozen partially full gallon cans over the past year.
I think they limit you to five cans per trip.

Always added cheap clay type cat litter to help it dry quicker in the sun.