3.5 oz Homax 3535 Waste Away Paint Hardener

I wanted to get rid of 3 gallons of old paint in a 5-gallon bucket. I used 4 bags of Homax 3535 paint hardener and spent 10 minutes mixing it into the paint. It began hardening almost immediately and the entire 3 gallons had solidified by the next day. This stuff works great and allows me to properly dispose of paint.

We have no paint recycling available to us. I had around 20 cans of paint of various sizes that have accumulated from projects and room makeovers that my wife thought I- I mean “we” should do. I considered putting a can of paint in each of my neighbors’ trash bin at 4am, but my environmental morality mixed with the challenge of tactically moving down the alleyway with multiple cans of paint without starting a neighborhood dog barking festival prevented this option. I then discovered Homax paint hardener. Easy to use, easy to dispose. With the aid of my 12 year old son, we were able to easy harden the paint and he was able to get paint on the right side of his clothes. Not only was my wife excited about the disposal of “her” paint, she was super pumped about the redesign on our son’s clothes. Some things we learned along the way: 1. Latex gloves, cardboard, scrap paper, disposable paint stirrers, and trash bags will make this a simple process. 2. Layout some scrap cardboard as a work surface. 3. Slowly and incrementally pour the hardener into the paint while stirring the paint. Be sure to scrape away the paint from the sides and bottom of the can as you stir. 5. Once you get a thick oatmeal consistency, dump it onto scrap paper and let it set for around 15 minutes. 6. After it hardens, dispose of it into the trash if you have no prohibitions against it. 7. If the thin layer of paint is allowed to dry on the sides, it can be pealed away. 8. The empty paint cans are able to be recycled. My garage is now free of all the old paint cans. Thanks Homax.

it worked great for cans 1/2 deep or less. If more than that, you would have to use 2 packages.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: Works great. Easy to use. Works well: Pour it into the paint and it hardens it. Value for money: I thought the price was decent

Seemed to woork good. Ingredients are not listed, I pretty sure this is just straight Silica Gel. Made to absorb moisture. So if it removes the moisture, nothing is left, but dried paint.

I used this to dispose of many old cans of latex and acrylic paints. I combined the contents of some cans that each had a very small amount of paint. Each bag can treat 2/3 gallon. Don't try to push it since more than 2/3 gallon will not harden fully. If your can has more than 2/3 gallon either use more than one bag or pour some of the paint into a second can. Where the paint had separated I briefly mixed it with a stirring stick. Then I poured in the requisite amount of solidifier powder and mixed that into the paint. Mix it well with a paint stirrer since you want it to distribute throughout the paint. Within about five minutes the texture will start resembling cottage cheese(!). Within a few hours, if you have kept within the 2/3 gallon per bag of solidifier, it will turn rather hard. I left it overnight so it got very solid and then disposed on the paint. Some people ask if it takes up a lot of space in the can. No. You are pouring up to 3.5 ounces of powder into 2/3 gallon of paint. That takes up very little space / volume. The solidifier is a fine powder. Take precaution to not inhale the powder. I used it outside. It does not work for oil-based paint, but there probably is no need to solidify oil-based paint. Frequently oil-based paint is considered hazardous waste that must be disposed of through special services such as a local government disposal day. And, they probably do not need to be solidified before disposal.

Worked great! Would use again.

Worked exactly as expected. I left it over night and it was not liquid the next day. Not hard as a rock but solidified enuf to put in dumpster.