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HELP- Painting with red

16 years ago

I am painting my dining room red and originally used Behr paint. It came out horrible. We decided to start over and purchased Valspar in red and got gray primer to go with it.

How is the primer supposed to look? There are streaks everywhere and many spots you can still see the red underneath. The can says you only need to do one coat, but I'm not sure if we should do another one.

We have textured walls so I don't know if that's the reason why it's so streaky. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

dabunch
16 years ago
I'm never that particular when I prime. I have streaks all over. I'm lazy-lol

When I painted my door red, I used 1 coat of grey primer, not caring if it looked great. Then 2 coats of BM Heritage Red coverted the door beautifully, including the not so great grey prime job.

I like Valspar. Two coats of red should cover your primer job. I think you use the Grey just to get the correct Red, so it doesn't come out Pink. The amount of coats of Red will decide the proper coverage, without streaks. I'm not an expert, but I just got done painting 8 rooms.

I just painted a bathroom with Valspar. I used Roman Orange. I used that over an existing Hot Orange, already. Unbelievably, I had to put 3 coats.
I think that sometimes the SHADE of color will dictate how many coats will give you nice coverage, not necessarily how perfect your primer job is.
decorativewalls
16 years ago
using the gray primer is good for transparent reds (if you are using a transparent red). You need to apply at least "2" coats of the red and maybe another one to get the depth desired.

Another thing is how much you are applying as per the can on the sq. ft. of wet mil thickness.

Another thing is your textured walls. You need to use the correct roller sleeve for the texture you have and make sure the roller is loaded sufficiently to get into the texture.
Don't get discouraged; apply another coat of the red and give each finish enough time to dry out before reapplying . This is also critical to transparent reds.
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Use Gardz as a primer because you stripped wallpaper from the walls and Gardz will lock down any residual paste that you may have missed. Gardz is clear, but it is an excellent sealer as well. When applying the Gardz, you want to use a very short nap roller sleeve like 1/4" and be careful not to apply too much. It's really like applying water to the walls (it's that loose bodied). One dip goes a long way. Topcoat with Aura in eggshell or semi-gloss. The reason Aura is a good choice here is because it covers better than any other paint available on the market so you do not need to prime with a grey primer. In the days before Aura was available, we used to prime with grey and then perhaps still need to do 3-5 more coats. Aura will cover in two coats 99 percent of the time. You don't want to use flat because it is a room with moisture that will be collecting on the walls. For the trim, you will need a normal acrylic primer like Zinnser 123 or BM's Fresh Start, then topcoat with Aura or even Waterborne Satin Impervo would be fine as well...anything high quality and acrylic with some sheen.
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I prefer the garage door trim in the house trim color. Looking at the result, I would, however, paint the whole opening and not just the outer rim. It will lighten the side trim shadow, reducing the contrast between the two so it doesn't have an outlined eyeliner look but will be more blended overall. Try the one door first to see what you think. I'm kind of undecided on the door. It's such a beautiful red that looks like a deep rich brown-red that goes well with the colors of your house. But I'm not sure the door is the right place for it. (I mentioned on another thread that a wreath or planter, for example, could pick up some of the red in a smaller dose.) Hard to tell how bright the red gets from the photo. It doesn't look bright here, just a bit off overall, imo. And too dark, I agree. Of course, it doesn't appear to be wearing any hardware either! Kind of giving us a blank look ; ) I believe you said you were going with a dark orb? What type of hardware are you using? Knob or long handle, kick plate, knocker? I'm wondering how much, if any, impact it will have in dressing it (from a distance in all the shadows). You're doing a great job!
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Faron79
16 years ago
Hi A-M!,
There's no such thing as ONE coat with a Red/Burgundy color!!
* Streaks are mainly caused by technique, i.e....

> Not saturating roller enough,
> Pushing paint too thin (most DIY-ers are prone to this),
> Not doing a light vertical "sweep" of each column of paint before moving on. This evens out roller-turns, thin-spots, etc.
> & possibly from poor-quality tools. Cheap rollers don't release paint very well.

* For a deep RL red, like Longjohn Red, there's a TON of transparent Red & Magenta colorant added. The tint-base they go into starts out almost "clear" too!
* I know...I tint this stuff almost every day!! NOT at a big-box though!
* Allow 5-6 HOURS between coats of deep colors too.
* On a strongly-lit wall, I counsel our clients to almost expect to do a 3rd coat...even on a gray primer!!

Faron

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