Frustration......

Norman Hitt

Member
Messages
1,810
Location
Odessa, Tx
Are most of you able to buy Zinssers "SEALCOAT" locally, or do you have to order it? It's crazy, but both Borgs in both Odessa and Midland carry several different Bullseye products, but NOT Sealcoat:bang:Neither do the ACE stores OR the Paint Stores.:bang::bang::bang: It seems crazy to me since it is the most versatile of all the Zinsser Bullseye Products IMHO. IF you have to order it online or by mail order, where have you found the best place to purchase it, (preferably the closest to the Southwest) and approximately how much /gal?
 
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Why not ask the store to order some in for you? I've done that and it works well with a small town store. They just add it to their regular order.

Where you might run into some trouble is when the distributor requires a "minimum order" quantity. Then I complain o the manufacturer. That has worked too.

Another way to deal with a "minimum quantity' problem is to get your club to share in the order. Good reason to join a club!
 
SEALCOTE?

I don't know what that is.

Sounds like a 1 pound or 2 pound coat of shellac.

You could get some shellac flakes and some denatured acohol and mix your own.

But - maybe I am of base here. I usually am anyway.

I do use a spray shellac - to seal wood - really a LOT of the time. It has to do with the way I do a project. That stuff is readily available at the borg and other stores.

Yeah - I know - this probably don't help much.
 
from the retailers end, not to frustrate you more Norman, but if a product has a certain shelf life, and history has proven its not moving, the retailer just doesnt want to deal with it for the once every 2 months hes going to sell one. Shelf space is at a premium in most stores, so its best to line the shelves up with what people buy constantly.
I believe its not the retailers fault, its the product's sales, marketing and advertising dept, they havent convinced the retailers their product is something they should sell and push because its one of the best.
Another thing is that some stores get frustrated themselves, because companines force them to carry full line supplies in order to sell their lines, and only half the line really sells, so then returns, everyone loses money on them. its just money sitting on the shelves.

I cant imagine a smaller retailer in paints or hardware that has that available to him, wouldnt order you a can whenever you gave him advanced notice.Espeically if they carry other products manufactured by that company.
 
HD and Lowe's both carry it here right next to the other Zinsser products (except B.I.N. is over by the primers). HD is terrible about not clearing old product off the shelves so you really have to check the dates. Lowe's blows out shellac that is old but still usable (if you're quick). Your dealer should be able to order it for you. After a period of regular orders you could talk them into stocking it(?).
 
Thanks for all the replies. When I queried each of the stores, NONE of them had ever stocked the "Sealcoat" here. It is strange though that the Borgs stock EVERY one of the other Zinsser/Bullseye products AND I did find ONE small spray can of Sealcoat at the Ace Hardware Store, (boy would that get expensive).:rolleyes: Sherwin Williams did say they could special order it for me but that there might be a special order charge, and one fellow at Kelly Moore said he had ONE quart (for $13.11 + tax which would make a gallon of it cost over 4 times as much as I paid for the gallon of Shellac),:doh: but since he had to go back and read the label three times and then stuttered, I expect to get there and it won't even be Sealcoat, but I will go there this morning and see. Not being able to find it locally on my original quest, I bought a gallon of Bullseye clear shellac about a month ago and poured some in a large jar to try to De Wax it myself, but it never did settle out. I thinned it and tried it anyhow on one sheet of OSB and it sealed it 99% OK, and then I scuff sanded it but the primer still didn't really seem to make a very good bond on it. As far as the sealing went, I only had three "small" spots on the whole sheet where the latex primer raised a flake in the OSB.

I really think that if I can get some Sealcoat to prime the OSB with after I've made a fast run over it with the ROS first, it will finish 'close' to the smoothness of drywall, and I will be satisfied with that, as I'm not striving for perfection,:rolleyes: just trying to eliminate as many of the places Dust can hide and collect as possible.

Hmmm.....I just had another thought, I wonder if wiping it down with thinner or something "might" remove some of the surface wax and improve the adhesion.........:dunno:, anyone got any ideas/thoughts on this??????
 
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I thinned it and tried it anyhow on one sheet of OSB and it sealed it 99% OK, and then I scuff sanded it but the primer still didn't really seem to make a very good bond on it. .......:dunno:, anyone got any ideas/thoughts on this??????
If you're going to prime it, why not just start off with Kilz, not the water based, but the shellac based version? Would save a step, no?:huh:
 
If you're going to prime it, why not just start off with Kilz, not the water based, but the shellac based version? Would save a step, no?:huh:

Rennie, all the Kilz I found in stock anywhere stated "Somewhere" in the fine print about water content, (or alluded to it), but I tried two kinds I had and they both flaked the OSB.:dunno:

GOOD NEWS/"Partial Success": When I went to the Kelly Moore store yesterday, they REALLY did have Sealcoat in Quarts, AND not just one but several quarts in stock. It seems a little expensive though at $13 + /qt including tax, hmm....that would be $52/gal.....about 2 1/2 times as much as I paid for a GALLON of Zinssers Shellac at the Borg).):eek: They DID NOT have any in Gallons though.

Now for the Fun Kicker,....... As I was talking with the sales girl at the checkout counter the mgr came over so I asked him about ordering a gallon of it. He said that they could order it, but would have to make a minimum order of 4 gallons, then he got a quizzical look on his face and said, wait a minute, I want to check something and left. When he came back, he said I thought I remembered something back thee a while ago, and when I checked just now, we have "THREE", 5 gal buckets of it in the back room, would you be interested? I told him I didn't need anywhere near that much, but for curiosity I said how old is it, and he said "I really don't know, it's been there, uh,.... for a while"...... I said I"ll pass.:rolleyes:

I really can't imagine why they would have stocked 5 gal buckets of the stuff, but not any in the 1 gal size, since he said all the Cabinet makers and Contractors around here just shoot Laquer..:rolleyes::dunno::dunno:

Anyhow, I got a quart to try, and if it works OK I can go get more even if it is more expensive by the quart, because the whole batch in stock was dated 08/21/08, so it should be fresh enough to work.

(Now if my knee and ankle will just improve enough that I can get up on the ladder and scaffold to finish that section of the framing and insulation,:rolleyes: I can give it a GO and hope it works like I think it will.)

Well that's Progress at least.:D
 
If those 5 gal. buckets had been around a while, he may have taken 50 bucks to get rid of one of them:D Never know!:thumb: Hope your feeling up to the job!

I did think about it, BUT, the way he hesitated on the age, I was afraid it might be Several Years old, and I sure Didn't need 5 gallons of that stuff if it didn't work.:D I couldn't even think of what I could do with 5 gallons of it if it DID Work.:D:D:D:D
 
It's date stamped, and Zinnzer says it's good for at least three years thereafter. You shoulda checked.

Oh well, it's still there, (and I doubt it's going anywhere soon), and knowing that NO one wants to discount anything around here anyhow, I'll just let it stew in his mind some. If this first batch works good for MY purposes, I can still pursue it further.;)
 
Here's the one I was thinking of - <LINK>

Did not know it had a water content.:huh: Sorry.

Maybe it DOESN'T, Rennie.:huh: It is possible that I misread the label, 'cause I spent nearly two hours "TRYING" to read the micron sized print on every primer they sold at the Borg. With the combination of my Trifocals, dim lighting in that isle, Tiny Print And the total number of Primers they had for me to check, I very easily could have made a mistake. It really would be too simple for the mfrs to make a short list of ingredients, (in PRINT that was large enough to read), like they used to.:rolleyes:

+1 for B.I.N. it sticks to everything. I did OSB with it after getting delam with drywall primer.

Maybe my BIN, (only part of a small can I had, was just OLD, ... OR maybe it was one of the tests that I diluted and used too much Alcohol).:dunno: OR....., MAYBE the Glue in my OSB is just Bad???:rofl::rofl::rofl:

At this point though, I am determined to LEARN from this experience and find the proper solution for Finishing that stuff, BEFORE I finish this project, (Just in case I should have a weak moment and do something like this again).:rolleyes::rofl::rofl::rofl: I'll probably even try some more BIN before I'm finished.

Thanks for the feedback Rennie and Glenn.:thumb:
 
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