What Should I Do With Old Paint?

How many of us have old paint cans stored in the garage? Maybe your home is new and the builder left the original paints. Or perhaps you painted some rooms yourself and saved the paint in case of touch-ups. What about when you buy a new house and the old owner left paint behind? Paint does have a lifespan, and you should make sure the cans taking up space might actually come in handy some day.

When ESP paints for you, we try to leave behind some paint to use for touch-ups. If you have old paint stored already, our painters can take it for you to get disposed of. That way, you know the paint you have on hand is what is actually on your house.

In the meantime…

• many paint stores in the Portland area are PaintCare drop-off sites. Call to confirm if they are accepting paint that day, and bring your closed containers to them for recycling.
• leave partially-full latex paint buckets open to dry and then put them out with your trash.
• bring nearly full buckets to a local theater or school that needs paint for its sets.

Label your stored paint with the room that it was used in so you remember which one goes where. It isn’t as important when every room is a different color, but all those tones of whites look similar, especially if you use a different sheen in different rooms.

Keeping paint handy for touch-ups is a great idea but be careful you don’t hang onto them for too long. Our painters are happy to take old paint to be recycled when we are done!