The popularity of using chalk paint on outdoor surfaces such as lawn furniture has grown at an exponential over the last few years due to a number of popular YouTube videos showing you just how simple chalk paint is to use. With the low price tag and great performance of chalk paint, we only expect its popularity for outdoor use to continue over the coming years and we see plenty of questions from the community asking about using chalk paint on their outdoor surfaces.
One of the more popular questions that we see time and time again is based on how to seal chalk paint for outdoor use to help protect it from the elements and ensure that the paint will last for as long as possible. Although some chalk paint formulas do offer minimal protection to the elements, it usually is not enough to take any serious punishment so the majority of people do usually look for a way to seal their chalk paint to help protect their paint and their furniture.
Thankfully, there three quick, cheap, and easy ways that you are able to seal your chalk paint for outdoor use and ensure that it will last you for as long as possible. Throughout the article, we will go over the three main methods that are commonly used to seal chalk paint as well as their advantages and disadvantages as well as their application methods. We see so many people get a reliable sealant for their chalk paint only to make mistakes that are easy to avoid during the application process and cause issues.
How To Seal Chalk Paint For Outdoor Use!
We are fully aware that there are plenty of methods that people mention online to seal their chalk paint. Many of the “methods” that you see mentioned online on social media and forums perform poorly, especially in areas with heavy rain and wind. This is why we have specifically chosen the three methods below as they have been tried and tested in various environments to ensure that they work.
As with most things when it comes to arts, crafts, and decorating, some of the methods listed do definitely perform better than others though and we will go into the best-performing products below as we work through the article. The first product that we will go over is an acrylic-based sealent and definitely performs the best by far in our opinion so would be our primary recommendation to our readers.
The other two featured products are a wax-based product and a polyurethane-based product. Although both do have their place in the market as a chalk paint sealant, the weather in your local area do definitely come into play with how effective they can be so we usually just recommend that people go with the acrylic product if possible.
Sealing Your Chalk Paint With Acrylic Coating!
There are a number of different acrylic sealing products on the market that tend to work well when used with chalk paint but in our opinion, the Krylon acrylic sealant is definitely one of the better options. Although it has not been specifically designed for use with chalk paint, it does tend to offer some excellent protection for general wear and tear, heavy wind, heavy rain, and UV light from the sun.
This helps to ensure that your chalk paint will stay clear and bright for as long as possible without flaking off the surface you have painting it on outdoors. With white chalk paint being such a popular option, the protection from UV light in many acrylic-based sealants helps to prevent the color from yellowing too. When it comes to rain the other sealants don’t even come close with acrylic-based sealants also winning our breakdown of how to make chalk paint waterproof too.
You are able to find acrylic sealants that need to be applied via brush but with chalk paint, a spray applicator will almost always be the best option. You usually just hold your canister around 30cm away from the surface that you want to seal with your chalk paint on and spray an even coat over it and then let it dry. The main downside of acrylic based sealants is that they tend to have a gloss effect as they form a barrier over the chalk paint causing it to keep its chalk paint look but loose the authentic chalk paint feel when touched but this shouldn’t matter to most of our readers.
Sealing Your Chalk Paint With Wax!
There are a number of great wax top coat products on the market right now that perform very well with chalk paint and can act as a great sealant option for outdoor use if you live in an area that gets minimal rainfall each year. When it comes to protecting your chalk paint from rain and other water sources, a wax based product really is not the best option and you should really be going with an acrylic as covered above.
That said though, a wax top coat is a great option for all other forms of protection with a wax product often being the main recommendation of the various brands who actually make chalk paint. Just like the acrylic sealing products on the market, the majority of wax products are available with a brush applicator or a spray applicator with the spray option usually being considerably easier than the brush, especially for outdoor furniture.
Some wax sealing agents that have been designed for use with chalk paint do have slightly different application rules though so we would always recommend that you read the label of the specific product that you are about to use. For example, most wax sealants do only need a single coat to protect your chalk paint from the elements but some of the better performing ones do specifically say they need two coats so always read the label.
Sealing Your Chalk Paint With Polyurethane!
Although some people do use a polyurethane sealant to protect their outdoor chalk paint, we really don’t like it and usually recommend that our readers avoid it if possible. Although it can work, either of the two options above do usually perform better while they are also cheaper and often easier to use.
The majority of polyurethane products on the market are also water-based meaning that any heavy rain will just wash it off and ruin your chalk paint too so only use it in areas with minimal rain fall each year. When it comes to protection from the heat and wind, polyurethane can work well but wax and acrylic can still out perform them in most cases.
Unlike the other sealant options covered above, polyurethane products are usually better when applied with a brush. Although there are some spray-on products on the market, most of them tend to underperform considerably when compared to the performance of the brush-applied products. Please also note that when applying a brush-based polyurethane product to your chalk paint-covered surfaces, you only need a very thin layer for optimal protection. So many people over do it and add way too much that ends up spoiling the chalk paint effect.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to seal chalk paint for outdoor use to a close. We wish there was a product on the market that would offer excellent performance with no downsides but at the time of writing, there is no product available. All three of the featured products do have a downside with using them but they also do have upsides that tend to our weight them and help to protect your outdoor chalk paint projects from the elements for a long period of time.
