Can You Paint Wet Wood With Bitumen Paint?
Bitumen paint can be a great way to protect wood from water. It can create a waterproof seal that stops water from penetrating into the wood. But what if the wood is already wet, can you paint wet wood with bitumen paint?
Painting wet wood is never a good idea no matter what paint you are using. However, I feel it would be an even worse idea with Bitumen paint. You are effectively sealing all of the moisture inside the wood.
This would, I believe, speed up the rotting process of the wood as all of that moisture would have nowhere to escape to. The wood would never dry out and for all intents and purposes might as well be underwater without protection.
So you would be using a paint commonly used to protect from water to seal water inside the wood, probably doing more harm than good, it really doesn’t make much sense.
If It Even Sticks
They are the potential problems you could have if the bitumen paint even works on the wet wood.
In all likeliness, though you will probably have issues with the paint sticking to the wet wood. The water will act as a repellent and prevent the Bitumen paint from adhering properly.
Even if by some miracle it does stick then you could still have problems later down the line.
The water inside the wood could blister the paint as it tries to escape, ruining the finish.
What Is Bitumen Paint Used For?
Bitumen paint is often used for helping make roofs watertight. it is particularly common as an adhesive and water seal when putting down felt roofs.
The felt used on shed roofs up and down Britain actually has bitumen already in it and it is common to use bitumen paint to stick it down to the shed.
Bitumen paint is also commonly applied on top of metal roofs to add an extra layer of protection. This can both help to protect the metal from corrosion and add another layer of water resistance to the metal roof.
It can also be used as a wood preserver, some landscapers like to coat the bottom of fence posts in bitumen before putting them into the ground. This helps the post last longer before it starts to rot away.
Other metal surfaces such as downpipes, railings and gates can be coated in bitumen paint to add lasting protection.
This is more of a commercial use but you will also see it used as a protective coating for concrete structures, stone, brick, concrete screeds and sand/cement surfaces.
Conclusion
So in conclusion you may be able to paint wet wood with Bitumen paint but I really see no benefit in doing it at all.
For starters it may not adhere at all, this will mean you have wasted both your own time and the Bitumen paint.
Then if it does adhere all you are doing is trapping the moisture inside the wood, potentially speeding up the rotting process.
So it will either not work, or inadvertently damage the wood. There is no real reason to do this.
Related Articles
Want to know more about Bitumen paint? Why not check out these posts?
