Should i prime drywall before painting?

[Krassus]

I've got a basement to paint, brand new drywall. I have lots of old paint that i could just mix up and use for the first coat, or spend $200 on primer. Which would you suggest and why? Also, when i was painting the upper floors, i needed three coats of white paint to fully cover the brown paint that was there. How many will i need for drywall?

 

[IamElectro]

Bite the bullet and buy some kilz..

 

[aircooled]

Prime it. Your existing old paint will go much farther with a single coat of primer.

 

[Krassus]

I'm buying all-new paint for the actual final coat(s). But i was thinking of using crappy old paint as primer.

 

[LemonHead]

Originally posted by: IamElectro
Bite the bullet and buy some kilz..

Amen! Prime that mutha before painting. You'll be glad you did!

 

[MichaelD]

Actual "Primer" paint is made up, chemically a little bit differently. It "sinks into" pores and nooks/crannies better than regular paint and provides an optimal surface for the actual "Paint" to adhere to.


If you DON'T use any primer, here's what will happen

/Krassus cracks beer, turns on radio, preparing to paint
/ *humming a happy tune*
/dips roller in paint tray, rolls it up wall
/dips roller in paint tray, looks back up at wall
/first row of paint is GONE; wall is not even wet!
*Krasus says "WTF?"*



Don't be a cheapass; buy some primer. It's cheap.

 

[xSauronx]

definitely prime it, killz rules for primer. its not cheap primer, but its definitely worth the money

 

[ThisIsMatt]

You're not going to texture it?

 

[OZEE]

Not just the Kilz -- get the LATEX Kilz, not the oil based. It cleans up much, much easier and doesn't smell nearly as bad.

 

[amdskip]

Primer at Walmart is $8.94 a gallon, nothing fancy, just simple. Its made by Valspar and it is actually pretty good stuff.

 

[NeoPTLD]

Paint is not cheap.

If you cheap out on primer, you will have to use more coats of paint that cost more than primer unless you're considering using something ultra cheap like Ever something from home depot. This is especially true when you go from dark to light color.

 

[Bryophyte]

You'll get a better result if you use a real primer. The paper part of the drywall and the mud part take the paint differently and you'll see a difference in sheen across the wall if you don't prime...even if you use multiple coats.

 

[Bryophyte]

Oh, and if your final paint color is a deep or dark color, tint the primer the same color. You'll need far fewer coats of paint that way (I had to use 4 coats of paint on some shelves that I painted dark...damnit, should've tinted the primer...) They'll do it for free wherever you get the paint/primer.

 

[Bryophyte]

BTW: how big is your basement that you need two hundred bucks of primer??? Hell, a five gallon bucket of it won't be over fifty bucks...

 

[SoyBoy004]

yes of course use primer. i patched a ceiling in my parent's house and lemme tell you, if i didn't use primer, it would have been terrible looking!