Barn Paint. Anybody know anything about it?

[saveasteading]

I had not heard of this product called Barn Paint, but see it is widely available. 

If it as great as the descriptions , then I should be a standard product, hence my suspicion.

At first I assumed it is what we see as the ubiquitous red coating of country retreats in Scandinavia and Canada.  ie for wood cladding.

 

But some  is available in many colours.

 

I have 2 possible purposes for it.

 

1. our latest barn conversion is a rusty steel portal frame. once it is enclosed in new sandwich cladding it will be dry and safe, but it is obvious that it should be painted beforehand. It is actually in good condition, with red oxide pain still present to most of it, but with a patina of rust. I was thinking of using Rustoleum or similar. But in searching I kept finding barn paint which apparently can go straight onto steel, or wood, or tiles, or concrete....etc. 

It is chalk based, or acrylic, or water based according to what I read from different manufacturers.

 

What I like is the idea of minimal preparation then one coat of paint that will stick to anything that isn't flaking.. maybe 2 coats..

 

2. My house is weather-boarded, painted white. I prepared it thoroughly during lockdown and painted in primer, undercoat and gloss. Very thoroughly actually. 4 years later there is lots of flaking, mostly the bits I didn't do (there might be 10 coats over the nine decades, some onto unprepared surfaces when nobody was watching..

So Barn Paint might be the answer, as apparently it adheres well and flexes with the wood.

 

Any advice or information please? Anyone remember Snibbo? I fear it is too good to be true.

[Sparrowhawk]

Tangential but I learned recently that the Scandinavian red coating is called Falun / Falu and comes in red or black. It seems to last well - I've seen a wooden clad house in Scotland painted 5 years ago with Falun and it looked like it had been painted this year. The owner was going to give it another coat this year to top up the protection.

 

Shame it doesn't come in more colours.

[Alan Ambrose]

We used black Barn Paint on our barn conversion (on the softwood cladding) a year or so ago. I think the cladding was still in its ‘straight from factory’ finish. I tested a few paints on patches to see how I liked them beforehand - including Osmo and others. I liked Barn Paint the best. It”s nicely thick, like cream, and covers very well and v easy to brush. One of the others I tried (the Osmo I think) was stupidly thin and didn’t cover. I also used the black on the outside of a bought in softwood log cabin, with white Barn Paint on the softwood window frames. No prep, two coats on bare wood - I can’t remember whether we did the 1st coat as watered down ‘primer coat’. Actually the first coat was a thin clear preserver, I’ll check which one as I have the half used cans.

 

I used the black more recently on some hardwood door cills which were about 5 years old and had been baking in the sun (again in their original coating which was clear) with good prep including proper sanding and filling of the weathered surface. One coat, didn’t prime. That is not so good now, with some flaking and I’ll have to do them again in the next week or so. Whether that’s due to the fact that the hardwood is less absorbent, the wood is more oily, the barn paint didn’t like the original finish although it was well prepped, or movement in the wood itself in the sun - I’m not sure.

 

I don’t have any idea whether it’s good on metal. Suggest apply a bit and see how it feels.

[Kelvin]

The farmer where we rent had all his metal barn doors painted with red barn paint. As far as I could see the painters prepped the surface well. Less than 4 months later it’s all flaking off. The worst is a brand new door he had fitted. 

[Alan Ambrose]

The OP, I think, is talking about Bedec Barn Paint (the brand) rather than generic ‘barn paint’ - which is any old paint you paint a barn with 😀 I guess.

[saveasteading]

The OP thinks that they all have different specs.

5 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

talking about Bedec Barn Paint (the brand) rather than generic ‘barn paint’ 

Paintmaster reads best.

Description
A highly durable oxide gloss with a rust inhibiting formula preventing the risk of corrosion. Based on an oil-based solvent and suitable for wood, concrete and metal. Especially suited for use on metal and wood building. High durability and is easy to clean

 

There is no mention of chalk.

Lots of colours.

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Anyway, if it was me I'd use Bedec Barn Paint on any softwood cladding and probably a specialist metal paint for a steel portal frame.

[Onoff]

3 coats of Satin Black Bedec Barn Paint on my new/second, scaffold board gates. Paint still looks like new.