Summary for painting polyethylene Discussion
Painting polyethylene is the central question in this thread, and the practical advice given is to use a flexible coating rather than a rigid one. Steve Currie of Anchorage, Alaska, says the helpful answer is to use house exterior acrylic because it can expand and contract with polyethylene without cracking. He also points readers to a technical bulletin from Poly Processing on painting PE storage tanks for more detailed guidance. The thread includes a brief aside that the earlier response was considered unhelpful, but no alternative coating system is proposed in the excerpt. Overall, the discussion suggests that flexibility is the key requirement if someone wants to paint polyethylene successfully.
Q. How can I paint polyethylene?
Carlos Lara
– Mexico
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
 | 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 :-) Regards,
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