Spar Varnish Over Paint

Is it not a good idea to apply something like that over an exterior paint.

Spar varnish over paint. Traditional varnish sometimes called spar varnish or marine varnish is a resin in an oil base with solvents. Most professionals agree that water based varnish is the best product to use over paint. Marine spar varnish can be applied over varnished stained or lacquered surfaces. If you want a clear coat over paint a better choice is spar varnish over oil base paint and.

Lacquer can cause the paint to bubble or crack due to the very hot solvent that is a part of lacquer. So just use a good exterior paint and call it good. Ive used helmsman spar varnish on outdoor furniture before without any issues. Spar varnish protects the wood from water heat stain and solvent discoloration.

Now the exterior of this door has faded dramatically and needs to be restained. Cole hardware is telling us we need to choose a color stain or paint before we apply the spar varnish. She claimed it would significantly yellow whatever it was painted over and more importantly would be short lived and flake off as it needs the bare wood for adhesion. Rust oleum marine spar varnish is a clear finish designed to provide maximum protection against sunlight water sea spray and chemical resistance on exterior wood boat surfaces including trim railings and wood furniture.

It provides a fair amount of scratch resistance. It came as a raw wood door and was stained with a spar varnish by our painting contractor. From what i can tell of the original finish only the spar varnish was. The polyurethane type of varnish is usually the best choice for this.

With all the modern advances in coatings polyurethane shellac urethane or varnish some confusion about formula is to be expected. However oil based varnishes typically have a natural amber tint and often become more yellow over time. The formulation of the product allows it to move with the wood throughout each season. Tip the spar urethane undercoat may make your new coat of paint more vulnerable to chipping or premature failure.

Varnish can be used to protect preserve and enhance paint. The lady at minwaxhelmsman claimed that helmsman urethane spar varnish should only be used over bare wood. It is semi thick tends to flow off brushes nicely imparts a warm amber color to surfaces and is easy to re apply over old varnish providing that the old varnish is not too badly degraded. And yes i was referring to exterior paints.

Spar varnish must be reapplied periodically as it will chip flake or chalk off over time. An acrylic latex paint is preferred because it is capable of forming a hard but flexible film over the relatively soft helmsman spar urethane. It has natural uv protecting properties.