Keep leftover paint somewhere heated for the winter, with the lid sealed tight, because water-based paint left in an unheated garage or shed can freeze and be ruined. Benjamin Moore recommends storing paint between 15 and 27°C (60 to 80°F), which in a Barrie winter means a basement shelf or utility room, not the garage.
Mid-September is when this becomes a practical question. The outdoor painting season is winding down, the touch-up cans from this summer's deck, fence and trim work are sitting on a garage shelf, and before long that garage will see its first nights below freezing.
Why the Garage Is the Wrong Place for Paint in Winter
Latex and acrylic paints are water-based, and the water in the can does not know it is paint. An attached or detached garage without heat follows the weather outside with only a short lag, and a garden shed follows it even more closely. By January, a can left on either shelf has almost certainly been frozen.
Benjamin Moore's own storage advice is blunt about this: "Consider the climate you live in when storing paint in the garage—make sure it doesn't freeze" (Benjamin Moore, storing leftover paint). Sherwin-Williams gives the same general advice, recommending that paint be protected from freezing temperatures, "especially water-based latex paints."
The better spot is a heated basement or utility room, on a shelf off the floor. Keep cans away from the furnace, the water heater and anything with a flame. The goal is steady room temperature, not warmth, and that matters most for any solvent-based stain or primer you are keeping.
How to Seal a Can So It Keeps
Cold is one enemy. Air is the other. A can with a poorly seated lid slowly skins over, and by spring you are cutting through a rubbery layer to reach paint underneath.
Benjamin Moore's steps are simple and worth following exactly:
- Put the lid back on straight away once you are finished, rather than leaving the can open while you clean up.
- Wipe the rim groove clean so dried paint does not stop the lid from seating.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the opening, then press the lid down on top of it for an airtight seal.
- Tap around the edge of the lid with a rubber mallet until it is firmly closed. A hammer tends to dent the lid and ruin the seal.
If a gallon can is down to a few centimetres of paint, it is worth moving that into a smaller airtight container. Less air in the container means less paint lost to skinning.
Label It Before It Goes on the Shelf
A year from now nobody remembers which grey went on the hallway and which went on the trim. Benjamin Moore suggests labelling each can with the brand, the colour, the product name, the sheen and where it was used. One tip from the same page: write those details on the back of a switch plate in the room you painted, so they stay with the room.
For exterior leftovers, note which part of the house the can was used on: the deck, the fence, the north-facing trim. Add the date you opened it. Benjamin Moore notes that "once opened, most paint products, including Benjamin Moore, have a shelf life of two years," so a dated label tells you whether a touch-up can is still worth keeping.
If a Can Has Already Frozen
Freezing does not automatically ruin a can, but it often does, and you can check in a few minutes.
Sherwin-Williams' guidance is to bring frozen paint up to room temperature gradually, then open the can and stir it. "If the paint looks like a fresh, never-been-frozen can of the same product, it should be safe to use." If you see "lumps, thickening or solid pieces that can't be broken," the paint should not be used (Sherwin-Williams, product selection FAQs).
Do not try to speed the thaw up with a heater. Bring the can indoors and leave it. Benjamin Moore adds two more signs that stored paint of any age is past using: a sour, strong smell, and chunks or a jelly-like texture that remain after stirring.
When in doubt, test a small patch somewhere that does not matter. Paint that goes on grainy or refuses to level out will look the same on the wall you actually care about.
Getting Rid of Paint You Don't Need in Barrie
Some cans are not worth keeping: the colour is gone from the house, the paint failed the thaw test, or there is a tablespoon left in the bottom. Those do not go in the garbage.
The City of Barrie directs residents to take paint cans, "whether full, partially full or empty," to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at the Barrie Landfill Site, 272 Ferndale Drive North, which is open Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The City's Recycling Depot also accepts household hazardous waste on Saturdays during the warmer months. Hazardous waste must not go out at the curb or down the drain (City of Barrie, paint can disposal).
Hours and rules change, so check the City's waste lookup tool before you load the car. Those details are the City of Barrie's. If you live elsewhere in Simcoe County, check your own municipality's household hazardous waste program.
Before you drop everything off, keep one small, labelled container of each colour still on the house. That is what makes a scuff or a chipped board a five-minute fix instead of a colour-matching project.
Getting It Done Properly
A shelf of well-sealed, labelled cans is useful. It is less useful if the reason for all those touch-up cans is an exterior that is overdue for a proper repaint. If you ran out of season this year, our post on how late in the year you can paint a house exterior in Barrie covers why the window closes when it does, and spring is the time to plan the work.
You can read more about our exterior painting in Barrie, or, if your projects are moving indoors for the winter, about interior painting in Barrie.
