Is Ready Seal always Been LOW VOC?

[Ron Musgraves]

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10790900.htm

Ready Seal Announces New Low VOC Level Formula
Ready Seal, a semi-transparent exterior wood stain and sealer, launches new formula with lower VOC level at under 100 Grams/Liter. New five-gallon metal containers are now available for any project.

 

[Ed Thompson]

What are some of voc's that are important to making a good stain? I was told by my paint rep that the drying agents are voc's. That's why a product like Bear or Cabot can sometimes stay sticky after application. When we used those products we would add paint thinner. We would never use that stuff again.

 

[Everett Abrams]

I do not want to speak for Ready Seal but when I used it and the new VOC changes came about it was marketed as already meeting VOC Compliance. Don't know what the new formula is. Ed, in regards to Cabot when new VOC changes came about some states went further than the mandated regulations. New York and New Jersey were 2 of those states and Cabot really had it screwed up at first and it was blotchy and sticky in a lot of areas. They weathered that storm and at the time ("off the record") there was a lot of "add thinner" to it and it will get into the wood better and it will dry correctly. In the end all you were doing was adding the VOC's back into the product. It is now a completely different product that is water based.

 

[Ed Thompson]

We had a few nightmares with Cabot. Thankfully we made it through. It took a few years to learn how to profit form deck staining.

 

[Everett Abrams]

My personal opinion is that they still keep making mistakes. Currently they continue to keep changing colors under the same names. This year the problems are with the reds and browns. They are nothing close to there previous colors which can hurt on maintenance coats. They have sealer, ATO Jarrah Brown that used to be a real dark brown color. This year it has more of a reddish color than brown. You should see it on cedar which really shows up red. The store where I get my tinted stains has so many returns of Cabot this year because of the color changes and the huge difference from the color chart to the actual color when dry. On older wood I do what is called intermixing which Cabot used to promote before Valspar bought them, in which I take my natural and mix it 50/50 with their decking stain to get a more semi-transparent look with all the protection of the stain. In this way you can tint a natural to most any color. You could do the same with their natural or any other water based natural. Strips and cleans real easy too.