Zinsser 123 Bulls Eye Primer/Sealant Primer - 1 Litre,

We want to buy this paint for some work around the home - we need it to paint some beams and have read that this is the best paint for our purpose. We have found it on Amazon.fr but it has a 23.99€ delivery charge which we are not willing to pay. (You can buy it in half litre tins without delivery charges but the price for buying two tins would be too high). We have also been on the Zinsser website but they do not do free shipping to France (only Germany and Austria).

So our question is do you know of a place in France where we can buy this paint (1 litre size) at a reasonable price with no delivery charges.

Alternatively, is there a good (and I mean good) equivalent. They are old beams which have been painted with a dark brown gloss paint and we want to prime and seal them. We don’t want any of the brown colour to bleed through.

Thanks.

The basis of Zinzer is shellac in alcohol or some other spirit that’s fast evaporating. So I would look for a shellac based paint in France. As it was widely used for french polishing I would imagine there is something similar.

Is Zinzer a type of paint? I think Zinsser is a manufacturer.

Is Amazon UK refusing to send it ? It’s usually on there.

Otherwise have you checked the French Screwfix?

Lastly I am pretty sure a few of the very large DIY suppliers in Germany would send to France for an extremely moderate cost if you can find it in stock there.

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Below is the list of distributors.

Have you thought of having the beams sand blasted then you can wax them?

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An electric drill with a plastic cup brush does the job with less mess and cost - and then wax them .

At our place I did twenty-eight large, adze-cut, chestnut and oak beams that way.

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Well done, that’s a task!

Thanks, but it wasn’t that difficult, in fact it was rather rewarding. One difference between that method and sandblasting is that the plastic cup brush (not a bare wire one!!) burnishes and emphasises the hard wood grain and gives it a sheen before the wax is applied.

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That is a lot of work, well done.

I have chêne plafond francais but thankfully they were just dirty and no one had painted them.
I think wood should be kept with a natural finish and even if there is any new wood introduced. New wood just adds to the story of the house.

Ours had six centuries’ of dirt, but it wasn’t that much really. I was reminded of Quentin Crisp’s observation on housework in The Naked Civil Servant that, ‘There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.’

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That’s my philosophy but I am always over ruled.

Just estimated the number of poutres, solives and planches, 300+. If they were painted I would have had them sand blasted.

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