In my younger years, in certain friend groups if you happened to mention the words ‘Mad Dog’ in conversation, imagery in the group’s mind would often jump to thoughts of an extremely popular (in various circles) alcoholic beverage at the time called ‘Mad Dog 20/20’ (these days I have no idea if this is even still around or if so, exactly how popular it is!).
This same train of thought still rears its head from time to time when I bring up the term ‘Mad Dog’ in conversations and it may trigger a memory from years ago with the Client I happen to be speaking with.
While I am sure hearing the term ‘Mad Dog’ in talking with someone may lead to thinking of a night out on the town from decades ago or, literally, a ‘mad dog’, it can often generate an inquisitive look from the person I am speaking with when reviewing how Mad Dog products have been instrumental to our company being able to warranty our work for as long as we do (five years).
Although they have a variety of products which we find VERY useful, Mad Dog’s flagship product – their exterior primer – is what has been the glue (no pun intended) that has been holding our exterior paint jobs and procedures together for many years.
As part of our prep process, specifically in older homes which have a bit of peeling associated with them, after the surface has been brought to the point where we would consider it to be sound, we apply Mad Dog’s exterior product.
The way we position it with our Clients when explaining how it works is that Mad Dog is almost like a glue that when touched, even days after it is applied, never seems to fully dry and has a certain “tack” to it – which is AWESOME! because of the way that the Mad Dog product not only seems to suck in and stabilize the surface it is being applied to, but it also is super “grippy” for the subsequent products which follow in the application process.
Although there are a number of products on the market that claim to perform in the same manner in which Mad Dog does, our preference is the Mad Dog product because not only does it have tremendous bond-enhancing qualities, but it also neutralizes tannin bleed – a characteristic these other products simply do not exhibit.
After the Mad Dog is applied, our next step is to coat the areas where the Mad Dog primer was placed with a coat of a latex primer (for a very long time our preference in this step has been utilizing Benjamin Moore’s Latex Fresh Start Primer).
Upon the latex primer completely drying, the finish coat process is started from there and when that is completed, the paint job will be well on its way to lasting for years to come.
Over the years I have seen dozens of specialty products and systems which guarantee in one fashion or another that their product or way of doing things is your best bet for maximizing the longevity of your exterior paint job, however, barring rare types of paint failures, the ultimate approach towards truly getting as long life as possible out of your exterior paint job, could quite possibly rely on this Mad Dog primer which has been the backbone of our exterior paint systems for many years, and one we do not plan on deviating from at any point in the foreseeable future!
