G4 again

[roger]

Way off boats but does anyone think G4 would be good for protecting a mural on a 100ft ply wall outside. The mural is acrylic paint. The suggestion is to use G4 to help protect it. It was done in 2008 and is needing some support I suggested it might help to protect with G4, clear of course .

Any thoughts.

[Rupert]

Could do, unless it melts the acrylic and makes it smudge?

[Michael Brigg]

I thought the "Clear" was popular here because it has a "varnish like" patina, darkening and slightly "ageing" the underlying wood, varnish on the Vermeer so to speak.

So what are these rarities, any chance of pictures? Can we look forward to a display of Banksie or Berlin Wall?

[chris]

Roger it may depend how sound the stuff under the paint is. If it is a bit crumbly I doubt if anything will help but if sound then a couple of coats of G4 might help but I don't know that it would penetrate acrylic paint like it does on bare wood. I have some masonry damp proofer left from trying to stop some damp in a wall if you want to see what that does. It is thinner than G4.
The only thing to suggest is try a bit somewhere it doesn't matter too much.

[Michael Brigg]

The question about Banksie is pertinent. Is this a mural of significance from an artistic perspective and if so what is it's provenance or significance?

G4 will give it a varnish patina and certainly alter the vibrancy of the coulors, which I believe is an effect that increases over time.

100ft x ?6ft is a fare old surface area and with cover per coat quoted at 200gm / Squ Metre, that is 12 litres, so it could be up to £200 per coat.

I would suggest another alternative is to re- paint over the mural, copying it so to speak, (paint by numbers) using bilge paint in the respective coulors.

Bilge paint comes in a full range of coulors every bit as vibrant as the original acrylic, and can easily be "touched up" from time to time. Possibly the same expense as G4 and every bit as durable, but with not too much skill required (100ft mural is unlikely to be a Canalletto) and less likely to spoil the original appearance.

[Ed]

25kg of G4 comes in at £165ish from http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/, so enough for two coats. If I was putting it over brick, I would dilute it quite heavily for first coat anyway....and most probably apply it with a roller or spray.

You would need to check it first, but I would think it had a decent chance of working quite well, although I would expect it to yellow in time as it doesn't have that great UV resistance.

cheers

eib