Who stole my wallpaper paste ???

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I mix up a small pot of cold water paste and paste up some (Legitimate) posters around our tiny village and put the lid onto the pot – we don’t use the internet.  Perhaps a week later, I paste up a couple more posters.

About 3 weeks later, I need some more paste, but SOMEONE has entered my shed, cracked the combination of my safe and stolen all the paste and this is the cunning bit, they replace the paste with water.

Now how have they done that ?

Confused BOB who has lost 10p worth of paste.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Sounds like a case for the Village Bobby !

If you get a trace of it, you need to stick with it, just dont get too hung up about it.

I suppose you could try putting up a few posters asking for information ?, but then, you would need past for that, so that,s a no-no.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

That’ll be the village witch, burn her!

Carefull if you drop a poster, we don’t want any more paste side down

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

The Shed Elves up to mischief again!

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Engineering solution – drawing pins.

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Curious that, about six months ago I saved about a pint of paste in a sealed plastic container (i kid myself it was in case i needed to paste any edges down but it’s probably because age related retention is taking hold).

I saw it this very afternoon on a shelf and it too had changed into clear runny water!

Not sure what to blame it on, not even Musk or Trump have made threats to our decorating materials  (yet).

Mick

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I suppose when you mix it up the flakes are saturated but in suspension but after time they possibly dissolve and that may make you think you just have water but it will still contain the dissolved contents. Drink it and see!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Frost. That’s what does it. Repeated freezing cycles separate the water from the starch and the gel gets broken down.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Paste is noticeably thinner after a week or so without frost. Be warned, emulsion paint is completely wrecked by frost. Proper alkyd paint is unharmed apart from being thicker when it’s cold, recovers when warm.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

I suppose when you mix it up the flakes are saturated but in suspension but after time they possibly dissolve and that may make you think you just have water but it will still contain the dissolved contents. Drink it and see!

Somebody could come to a sticky end that way😉

Sorry the temptation was too great!

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

The mixed paste is a colloid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid

Over time, it turns into a solution and the colloidal gel properties are lost.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Has to be that the long chains of the starch are being broken up by the water.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Essentially hydrolysed into sugars

 

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Martin K,

Ah sugar – If I left it open, would natural yeasts get into it and then turn into ALCOHOL ????

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

So now we seem to have solvited that question

Who can tell my why premixed paste can stay like it should for far longer?

I’ve used the premixed for many years now as it is consistant and you can just spread it with a paint roller in a fraction of the time. Also what a lot of the decent paper supplers say to use. Also suitable for the paste the wall papers.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

So now we seem to have solvited that question

Who can tell my why premixed paste can stay like it should for far longer?

I’ve used the premixed for many years now as it is consistant and you can just spread it with a paint roller in a fraction of the time. Also what a lot of the decent paper supplers say to use. Also suitable for the paste the wall papers.

I would guess the manufacturers use some additive to inhibit the phase change of the starch from suspended solid particles to a solution. This might not be possible with the mix-it-yourself version because it needs some special mixing process. They might even use something different from starch as the solid part.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

At a guess they probably alter the pH

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