Inaccuracies in paint coverage

[NicA]

Hi, more of a rant than information or question....

Working on my man cave recently. 50+ year old single car garage (brick, concrete and tin) which was made into someone's workshop. When we purchased property, I kept it and demolished the home. (garage size 3.8 x 6.8)

Anyway, I spent 2 months (weekends) on prepping the old concrete floor. in this sequence

1. water pressure clean it.
2. 2l sugar soap and stiff brush then pressure clean and inspect
3. 5l degreaser - let is soak, brush, then pressure clean and inspect
4. (this is probably overkill). 1:4 dilution with HCl to etch it. Pressure clean and inspect.
5. 1:4 dilution again as in 4. Still some stubborn spots.
6. 1:2 dilution this time still some spots that were not budging (lets say 3m2 of it)
7. Modified two wire brushes into a broom like set up and scrubbed the offending area with that, then thought why not do the rest! broomed and pressure washed.
8. 1.4 diluton of acid again and boy did it fiz....... it was bubbling!
9, 2x pressure washes.
now for the reason for the post.
10. 4l tin of Dulux sealer ("stage 2") for concrete and paving. After the first liberal coat I had about 1.5 litres left. [ now it does say 10m2 per litre]. Let it set, a few drinks later and ready for the second coat. thinking might not be enough and get ready to go back to the store for another tin! Was I wrong! it used a little over 1 litre the second time... and I was not stingy at all. So, yes, the first coat did as it said but the second was way out.
11. Then let it set for two weeks. Then this week went off to get the 4l tin of the stage 3 paint and tint.
12. Followed the similar steps and ended up with this time about 1 litre remaining after the first coat. Knowing that 1 litre is not enough I contacted both the "B-ings" store and the Dulux store asking if there is a 2l or 1l tin available. both said no. So I asked the Dulux store - is there an alternative that I can use for a second coat and they said no.

So here is the dilemma.... I need most likely 1 litre of paint to add to the 1 litre remaining to give the garage a second coat. which will mean I will have 3 remaining after that. What a waste of money (these are $140 kits).

I cannot believe that they do not have smaller volumes available.
And B-ings wont split the un-tinted paint for me so that I have 3l left which I can then on-sell to anyone that is in the same predicament.

So i am now left with doing three coats!


Because we all know, in this day and age you do not want to waste a good thing.


(rant over).

(by the way, it does need a second coat as you can still see the markings below.

[419]

Working on my man cave recently. 50+ year old single car garage (brick, concrete and tin) which was made into someone's workshop. When we purchased property, I kept it and demolished the home. (garage size 3.8 x 6.8)

Mate, I am in awe of you. Demolishing the house and keeping the shed. This separates the men from the boys in shed world!

FWIW, which is probably about the same chance of success as winning a lottery which in turn is higher than the chance of the coverage guide on the tin of paint being remotely correct, it might be worth keeping an eye on the mistints trolley in Bunnings in case there's a marked down tin of what you want.

[NicA]

Fast forward from the post. I went to Bunnings, got the same base paint - I worked out that if I got another 4 litres i'll commit to three coats (no wastage).
Now for those that do not know with the concrete and paving paint (stage 3) it comes in a couple of base colours.
I chose the white mid tint not the maximum tint.

So, get the correct tin, go to the paint desk and wait, and wait, and wait. 15 minutes before anyone asked if I was being served! I politely said no, and he said "someone won't be too long" ... WT .

So not too long came and a young chap appeared, I showed him the tint recipe from the first tin of paint I purchased. He punched it in the computer, looked at the tin and said - you got the wrong one, hang on I'll get the right one for you. Great I thought someone is on the ball here.
He opens it up, does the tint, mixes it in the machine and hands it to me.

Get home and to my surprise I got this!

Hmm, why such a difference, check the tin and the sticker both the same.

I sent both stores the photos and all the details then I rang both stores and ask which one is correct. In fact store 1 said that store 2 made a mistake.
Rang store two and they said no, the sticker is correct and your paint is correct, store 1 is incorrect.

So rang store 1 back and they said no he made a mistake look at the bottom of the can it says maximum tint not medium tint.

So back to the store and yep he was wrong. So $140 tin of paint wasted.

He made me a new one and I said to the older man at the counter, this sort of thing in hindsight might happen more than you think, its time that better marking is placed on the shelves or at the counter when tinting is done.

He said- its too difficult and its easier to just remake a new can and hope that someone likes the colour and pays a cheaper price.


So all good now, will do the third and final coat tomorrow morning.