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To prime or not to prime

12 years ago

Our ceiling had some water damage, which has been fixed, speckled, and covered with primer where the leak occurred. I also speckled over some holes and cracks in other spots as well as on the walls.

I am now getting ready to paint the ceiling and the walls, going from white to a very light yellow/cream. Do I need to use primer over the whole ceiling and walls, or can I just spot prime where it was speckled?

I'm using SW Duration and SW ceiling paint, planning on two coats, so would rather skip having to prime everything first.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
12 years ago
Do you NEED to prime/

The water damage, YES, the spackled spots, yes, or at least 2 coats of finish.
If I were doing it, prime the whole ceiling with an oil stain blocker( cover stain) and 2 finish coats. For the walls, clean and scruff sand, clean and 2 finish coats.
nosoccermom
Original Author
12 years ago
Right now, the water damage has primer over it, and no water stains are visible.
I'm just wondering whether the paint will be absorbed differently in the spots/areas where there is primer. So, for the walls, if I put primer on the spackled areas and then TWO coats of paints, will the areas without the primer look different? Basically, if you use primer, do you have to put it on the whole area?
It's a fairly big area, basically three rooms that are open floor plan. The thought of putting three coats on the walls AND ceilings is daunting.
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I would bite the bullet and go with another full coat of primer after all the caulking,filling,prep,etc.The second primer coat will also aid in re-covering dinks made during installationas well as cuts. Money well spent,imho You also want to make sure the back side has been primered as well,commonly refered to as "back primed".
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The siding was installed in November and was caulked at that time. Unfortunately the temperatures dropped from 70 to 30 overnight and didn't warm up again until April. We live in Iowa so the siding has seen its share of rain & snow and now finally warm sunlight. It seems to look the same as the day it was installed other than being a little muddy near the foundation. Every painter that has been out to look at it has said that they will clean it well and apply two coats of paint. The only major discrepancy between the bids is whether they prime the whole thing or just spot prime the areas that are caulked or cut plus the cedar porch rails. Only one painter has wanted to prime the whole thing and his bid is $2100 more than the next guy. Money is definately tight right now as we just finished building and are still in the process of closing on our mortgage. I'd love to save the $2100 but then again its not worth it if it results in an inferior paint job and we end up having to redo it in a few years. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
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Paint and primer are two different things - even though advertised as "paint and primer in one", you can't kill both those birds with one stone. Experts and pros can no doubt explain better than me, but I'll give it a go (and hopefully get corrected so I can learn in the process). Primer prepares the walls for painting - whether you are going over brand new drywall texture, or covering up neon blue. Depending on the surface, primer can provide better adhesion between paint and wall. I don't know much about tinting primer - I always rely on my paint store to help with that decision. I'm not sure if tinting is necessary when going to a light color, but when I painted a hallway hunter green, they tinted the primer a medium gray (I was going over white walls). Primer (Zinnser 123) $20/gallon Benjamin Moore Aura: $67/gallon One coat of primer does not equal one coat of paint! If the coverage is better because of the primer, you save paint.
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Faron79
12 years ago
If you prime everything, you'll have a perfect outcome.
Doubt is eliminated....

ESPECIALLY if you're doing the painting.

I fully agree with Christophern's recommendation.

Faron
paintguy22
12 years ago
I pretty much agree. I think if you are using flat paint on any ceiling and you have some patching that you did up there, either use the actual flat paint to prime the patches or prime the entire ceiling. Spot priming on a ceiling with an actual primer is just asking for a flash because now you have sealed that area and the rest of the ceiling is not sealed. Aside from the patching issue, if you are going for the perfect looking ceiling, you will want to prime the entire ceiling and then apply one coat of flat. The primer will give that flat paint the extra open time that you need on a ceiling, plus it is just easier to paint over a primer than it is to paint over another flat paint layer. All of this is particularly true for a novice painter. Priming just makes everything easier.

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