# Knots coming in over...guess what...knotty pine



## JA Paint (May 25, 2018)

A couple of years back we had a customer who really wanted their knotty pine walls painted vs. stained, so we did the work. We applied BIN shellac over the knots to seal them, then a coat of Ben Moore all-purpose primer before painting. The customer was home during the project and fumes were a concern. It's been 2 years, and now the knots are coming through. Has anyone else had knots come through with BIN?

Edit: The pine was fairly new, and had very deep knots. We did what we thought were the right steps, but also realize there's no guarantee that knots won't bleed through I know--shame on me for not warning the customer that there could possibly be long-term bleed. Now I've got to go and tell them.


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## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

Depending on how bad it is and how big of a room or project I think rattle can each knot with cover-stain, oil prime the whole thing, than paint is your best bet. It could still come back. You could top coat with oil as well that would help hold back even more but it would yellow if its a white.


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## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

JA Paint said:


> A couple of years back we had a customer who really wanted their knotty pine walls painted vs. stained, so we did the work. We applied BIN shellac over the knots to seal them, then a coat of Ben Moore all-purpose primer before painting. The customer was home during the project and fumes were a concern. It's been 2 years, and now the knots are coming through. Has anyone else had knots come through with BIN?
> 
> Edit: The pine was fairly new, and had very deep knots. We did what we thought were the right steps, but also realize there's no guarantee that knots won't bleed through I know--shame on me for not warning the customer that there could possibly be long-term bleed. Now I've got to go and tell them.



The only sure fire way to seal knots I've seen is to bleed off the pitch with a torch then prime with stain blocking oil primer.


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## JA Paint (May 25, 2018)

Going forward, I'm not going to take on painting over pine boards again. It's just too risky. We spent a good amount of time over at this job the first time around trying to keep the knots from bleeding through, it's frustrating to have this happen--for the customer as well as us. Going back 2 years later to try to "fix" this knowing it's going not going to be a permanent fix is a lose-lose. Haven't met with the customer yet to look at it, but guessing they will want a permanent solution, for free.


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## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

JA Paint said:


> Going forward, I'm not going to take on painting over pine boards again. It's just too risky. We spent a good amount of time over at this job the first time around trying to keep the knots from bleeding through, it's frustrating to have this happen--for the customer as well as us. Going back 2 years later to try to "fix" this knowing it's going not going to be a permanent fix is a lose-lose. Haven't met with the customer yet to look at it, but guessing they will want a permanent solution, for free.


I would straigh up tell them,(with a smile of course) it is what it is. Knotty Pine.. It's not meant to be painted and may bleed again..Tell them the knots are beautiful and looks kind of cool. Or for an extra charge can spot prime with cover stain and repaint..


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## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

finishesbykevyn said:


> I would straigh up tell them,(with a smile of course) it is what it is. Knotty Pine.. It's not meant to be painted and may bleed again..Tell them the knots are beautiful and looks kind of cool. Or for an extra charge can spot prime with cover stain and repaint..


I agree. 
I have 3 designer clients where knots bleeding is the desired & intended look. Although not my flavor with whites or lighter colors, I do think it looks pretty cool with darker/ historical colors. Below’s a link to a slideshow of a project I did which was published in Cottages & Gardens and Elle Decor, a few of the slides illustrating the bleeding being the intended look on center match t&g knotty pine ceilings. 

https://www.cottagesgardens.com/ste...gansett-home-of-designer-joe-nahem/pic/11052/

On another note, Coverstain provides no stain blocking resistance against solvent soluble extractives found in pine knots and the knots will bleed like crazy if using Coverstain.

The only sure-fire method is bleeding the pitch with a blow torch as CMN mentioned, allowing it to cool & crystallize, scraping it off, wiping it with turps followed by a light sanding. I did a home in ‘95 which was trimmed out in knotty EWP, having revisited it 23 years later and none of the knots out of the hundreds bled, having used the above described method. 

Aluminum paint is also another option in lieu of shellac, but with no guarantee. 
There’s a lot of mixed opinions on aluminum paint.


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## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Redux said:


> I agree.
> I have 3 designer clients where knots bleeding is the desired & intended look. Although not my flavor with whites or lighter colors, I do think it looks pretty cool with darker/ historical colors. Below’s a link to a slideshow of a project I did which was published in Cottages & Gardens and Elle Decor, a few of the slides illustrating the bleeding being the intended look on center match t&g knotty pine ceilings.
> 
> https://www.cottagesgardens.com/ste...gansett-home-of-designer-joe-nahem/pic/11052/
> ...


I agree not to use cover stain direct on the knots, but on top of paint where its just the staining of the knot pitch? Also, is it even possible to bleed the knots after it's been coated with multiple layers of paint? Never actually tried this..


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