I learned something new today after discovering last week that my paint cans, after having been sitting on the concrete floor in the basement of my house in Saskatoon , started to leak. I noticed the leaking paint cans about a week ago and couldnt figure out which ones were actually leaking. I moved a few of them onto a plastic bag and it seemed to just get messier. Just a gooey orangey brown mess! Of course, the only can of paint that I needed to use was one of the few that was the culprit. I have my house for sale in Saskatoon and I wanted to do a bit of touch up work to help sell the house in Saskatoon, but of course the only one that I absolutely had to have was one of the bad ones.
I took my paint colour, thankfully I still kept the leaking can, to Benjamin Moore paint in Saskatoon and told them what happened. The girl just smiled and said where were you storing your paint and I thought she was assuming I was silly enough to store it in my garage and, as we all know in Saskatoon, our garages freeze in the winter so we must store our paint indoors. I told her I kept it in the basement, so I was happy I wasnt one of those sillies who thinks paint is okay in the cold garage. She asked about the flooring and I said it was concrete then she asked if I had anything under the cans and I confirmed that I did not. That was the problem! She told me that concrete and paint cans dont mix and that in some new houses the paint cans can be eaten away in as little as a week. I was amazed! I had no idea! I am relieved that I can clean up the mess and prevent any further issues but storing my paint on something other than concrete. Even a small buffer like a plastic bag should prevent the corrosion. As I have one of the many houses for sale in Saskatoon I know how important it is to have everything in good shape and any nicks in the walls fixed, but also to ensure that buyers dont look at the staining on the concrete and mistake the leaky paint cans for water issues. As a Realtor in Saskatoon I was told by other Saskatoon real estate agents when I first started to be careful of signals like staining on the floor and rust from paint cans as that may indicate a leaky basement but now I know that marks on the floor from paint cans dont always mean that the house has had water issues maybe they just had improper storage of their paint like I did! I will be telling all other new Saskatoon realtors that I speak to about my experience as this does affect houses for sale in Saskatoon and it does affect peoples perception of homes for sale in Saskatoon as it can scare someone away.
Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.