# Painting over Behr Elastomeric Paint?



## imola ghost (Aug 26, 2008)

We painted our house back in 2006 using Behr's Elastomeric paint. We've been overall pretty happy with the the paint. 

One thing I remember when we purchased the paint was that we were told that once you paint it with this elastomeric paint you can't go over it with just ANY normal exterior paint. 

I was curious if this was true or what our options were about using exterior paint on top of this kind of paint.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

I'm certainly guessing here, but, elastomeric is designed to flex with the movements in the substrate so it has more flexibility than a regular coating of paint. Applying something other than elastomeric on top would be susceptible to all that flex and would likely fail in a short time. 

If you are happy with what's on there now, just use the same thing or the Behr product that is compatible with the Behr elastomeric.


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

Yeah, Gymshu is right. Once you have a highly flexible coating like elastomeric on, you wouldn't want to go over it with a less flexible product. The flexing of the base coat can crack less flexible coatings on top of it. 

Stick with an elastomeric. Probably best to just use the same product again. The Behr elastomeric stretches up to %600. You need something that can perform similarly.


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

Actually, I think it all depends on why the elastomeric paint was applied in the first place. Elastomeric paints have much greater film thickness than normal exterior latex paints and are often sold as "lifetime paints" so that you'll never have to paint your house again. If that's why you chose to use an elastomeric paint, it's probably not stretching and shrinking at all, and so any exterior latex paint should work well over it.

Let me explain this, and then you can decide if you can paint over it or not...

Also, I just wanted to make the point that elastomeric paint isn't really designed for flexing; it's designed to stretch. It's meant for painting over masonry buildings where active cracks let in rain water or snow melt. The problem is that when that rain water or snow melt gets into the wall and freezes again, it can cause all sorts of freeze thaw damage to the masonry.

Elastomeric paint is very much like that kids toy "Stretch Armstrong" where no matter how much you twist him out of shape, he always reverts back to his original shape. Elastomeric paint is the same in that respect. When it's applied over a crack, then it'll stretch across the crack for as long as the crack stays open. When the crack closes again, the paint pulls back into it's original shape just like the toy Stretch Armstrong.

A normal latex paint simply wouldn't be able to stretch with the elastomeric substrate, and so it'll crack and peel off the elastomeric paint.

Elastomeric paints have considerably greater film thickness than normal exterior latex paints and they are often sold as a "lifetime" paint. Never will you have to paint again kinda thing. If that's the reason you used the elastomeric paint in the first place, then you probably don't have any active cracks, and your elastomeric paint isn't stretching and shrinking like it's designed to do. And, if that's the case, then I don't see any problem with painting over it just as though it was a normal paint.

IF that paint was applied over a masonry wall to keep water out of active cracks, then I would agree with the advice you were given, which is that you can't just paint over it with any exterior latex paint. However, if this elastomeric paint was applied over any kind of siding on a normal house just to get a long lifetime paint, then it's probably not stretching and shrinking anywhere, and I don't see why any ordinary exterior latex paint wouldn't work well over it.


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## klaatu (Mar 9, 2015)

Nestor_Kelebay said:


> Actually, I think it all depends on why the elastomeric paint was applied in the first place. Elastomeric paints have much greater film thickness than normal exterior latex paints and are often sold as "lifetime paints" so that you'll never have to paint your house again. If that's why you chose to use an elastomeric paint, it's probably not stretching and shrinking at all, and so any exterior latex paint should work well over it.
> 
> Let me explain this, and then you can decide if you can paint over it or not...
> 
> ...


Absolutely correct.


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

klaatu said:


> Absolutely correct.


Thanks for taking the time to read my post, Klaatu.

I like to explain things so that the original poster(s) not only know what the answer to their question is, but also knows WHY that's the answer. Doing that takes a few more paragraphs, but people generally appreciate it.


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## klaatu (Mar 9, 2015)

Nestor_Kelebay said:


> Thanks for taking the time to read my post, Klaatu.
> 
> I like to explain things so that the original poster(s) not only know what the answer to their question is, but also knows WHY that's the answer. Doing that takes a few more paragraphs, but people generally appreciate it.


And I appreciate what you do. I have 32 years in retail paint sales and I have learned quite a bit from your posts. I don't have the background you have in the chemical side of paint that you do, so i can pick up quite a lot on that regards from your posts. And you have the ability to explain things in a way that is much more clear and concise then I can.


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