painting pink foam board

[Winklesun]

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Does spray paint or spray sealer eat pink foamboard the same way it does regular styrofoam?
I guess I can experiment but thought maybe someone could just tell me.
Thanks!

[Wolfbeard]

Use only water based acrylic or latex paints on foam board! Any oil based paint will attack the foam!

Eric

[Misdomt]

I just finished using Pink foamboard for tombstones. Spray paint does eat the foam board! As wolfbeard has said, I too bought latex paint. I actually purchased latex primer and had them add the color to the primer. It covered great and kept the cost down. After the latex was dried, I did some accent work with spray paint, but sprayed it into a cup and used a fine brush for final effects. Good luck with your project.

[Bryan316]

Hint:


Wagner Power Painter and El Cheapo exterior latex.

Hell, ANY exterior latex from the mitinted clearance table, cuz who cares! Don't need to pay top dollar for base coat. As long as you ain't trying to paint white on a black base coat, anything will work as a base coat. And using a Wagner makes the job sooooo much faster than brushing or rolling it on. You can do a week's worth of carving and sculpting all kinds of stuff, and spend a half hour spraying the base coat and have everything done with a Wagner.

So use acetone in a squirt bottle to dissolve and sculpt your stone work, then base coat, then all your spraypaint cans will work just fine.

[Winklesun]

Yeah, that is kind of what I thought.
What about a spray sealer over top of latex paint? Is the latex paint enough of a barrier (without putting 20 coats)
so that the sealer won't soak through and cause damage?
Thanks again.

[Bryan316]

IF you do two decent coats, it will seal it up just fine. As long as you give it a full 24 hours to cure, any spray paints afterwards will not dissolve that paint and get through to the foam.

[jollygorilla]

use acrylic gesso first cover the area your going to paint and then you can paint anything on top of it. sometimes spray paint makes a nice texture for tomb stones.

[Xane]

I would use something like Zinsser or Killz water based primer on it first. Spray paint has more chemicals than just paint thinner to make it flow better, stuff like toulene and xylene that will definitely eat styrofoam. Regular oil based paints may or may not eat it, I haven't actually tested it but I don't find paint thinner/mineral spirits to be all that damaging to plastics. It's when you get nastier chemicals into the mix that things start melting, but even some brush-on paints have more than one solvent base. Even some water based paints can have harsher chemicals than you would expect (concentrated ammonia, for instance, which is why you can't use latex paints on skin!). Just make sure you use a primer that says it's universal for water and oil based products, then you should be able to spraypaint it afterward.

[discozombie]

I'm with Bryan316 on buying oops paint from the paint department. I was in Wall-mart the other day and found a gallon of grey latex primer for $2.50. (why anyone would order custom grey primer I dont know) Every time Im in Home Depot or Lowels I always wander though the paint section and see what's in the mark down bin.

[Winklesun]

Thanks for the info everybody.