interior and exterior paint question

[BjornBee]

I bought (almost nothing) some interior 100% acrylic latex paint, enamel finish, made by Behr. I usually use two coats and the first is normally just some "ooops" paint, and then better stuff on top. But I never used interior first and covered it with exterior paint.

Is there that much of a difference between interior and exterior latex paints, that would prohibit using one as the first coat, and the exterior for the second?

Comments?
Thank you.

[asprince]

Bjorn, I am a contractor and we slop on hundreds of gallons of paint each year. I can't tell much if any difference in interior and exterior acrylic latex paint.

Steve

[dhood]

I ask this question at Lowe's, when buying some paint that was mixed wrong. He told me that interior paint will not hold up outside that long, but will last a couple of years. If painted over with outside paint, it would be protected for a little longer. I have read post from some that say they dont even paint their hives, so I dont see that much of a difference in the two, unless you were using plywood.

[purvisgs]

I would go through the effort (or possibly extra cost) of finding exterior paint.  You can often get it for free from a households toxic waste recycling facility if you go there, kindly ask the workers to save a few 5 gallon buckets of latex exterior paint for you.  they generally don't accept latex paint (it's not toxic), but tell people to pour it out on kitty litter and throw it away.

is the (in my opinion good) possibility that you will have more labor costs in the form of having to (possibly strip &) repaint 2 years earlier than the saving of ten bucks on a gallon of paint?  to me= no brainer

this is based upon my experience as a painter where a good quality paint over a crappy coat of paint = a crappy coat of paint that is instantly blistering. 

yes you can slap on hundreds of gallons of paint but have you slapped on interior paint, outdoors, and then gone back and checked on it 10 years later?  (I have not myself so I say,?, but it makes sense to me to spend the extra $, if necessary)  I have come across many customers who were unhappy with the last person who painted their house...

, or try  a post on craigslist, even calling contractors, etc I bet you can get old buckets of exterior for free

[Shawn]

Check this link out about painting hives. Sorry Michael for always posting stuff about your site. I actually sat down and read it all and things will get a lot easier for me I think. Lok for the heading "Stop painting your hive"

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm

[Michael Bush]

I don't mind your posting my links at all.  But I'm sure BjornBee has see that one posted before on beesource...

[asprince]

yes you can slap on hundreds of gallons of paint but have you slapped on interior paint, outdoors, and then gone back and checked on it 10 years later?  (I have not myself so I say,?, but it makes sense to me to spend the extra $, if necessary)  I have come across many customers who were unhappy with the last person who painted their house...

purvisgs, you can rest assured that would never apply interior paint to the exterior of a customers home. Furthermore, prep prior to paint is equally if not more important than the paint.

Now for a hive body, two coats of any good quality acrylic latex paint (bought cheap) interior or exterior will last a long long time. The interior may fade some over time since it does not have uv inhibitors.

Steve   

[BjornBee]

Thank you for the replies.

I'll try some interior for the first coat on mating nucs, and then a good coat of exterior. That way, the mating nucs usually get stored for winter and that may get them to last longer. I do paint different colors so I have less queen loss.

[Irwin]

I do paint different colors so I have less queen loss.


What does colors have to do with Queen loss?

[BjornBee]

Irwin,
In raising queens, if all the boxes are the same color, queens sometimes land on the wrong landing board. Of course, they are killed. Painting them different colors helps with the queen being able to find the right hive to enter.

If you think about bees in nature, a bee tree may be hundreds of yards from the next bee tree. So being accurate is not a concern. But many beekeeper put hives next to each other, and it's a very un-natural situation. And we expect way too much from them is some aspects. The painting of different colors takes this into acount.

Even if you have just a few hives, the same problems exist even if you are not raising queens (although you are if the hive swarms or supercedes), if your hives are next to each other or in a row. The best thing is distance between hives but this is not always possible. So the next best thing is different colors or markings.

And all this helps with cutting down drifting of field bees also. Which effects everything from disease transfer to defensive bee behavior.

PS...What a great photo!