Why Priming Before Painting Is Important

Hello out there again my friends, Cheap Calgary Painter professional painter here again, and welcome to this why priming before painting is important blog post. We get lots of questions about priming new drywall, priming existing painted walls and surfaces, and often complete a lot of full interior prime and paint jobs around town. So we though we would push out this why priming before painting is important blog post to point out a few reasons why priming before painting is important on most paint jobs.

You know, giving your space a fresh coat of paint is usually exciting, and it's very tempting to just grab a brush or roller and jump right in the priming and painting. But one of the most important first steps in a good portion of paint jobs that we get into is to prime before painting .You know there are a number of situations where priming is important, and in this blog post the cheap Calgary Painters will go over the best types of primers to use for interior painting projects. 

So why prime before painting. Well first and foremost, priming will always ensure good adhesion of the paint to the surface. Think of it as a magnet for your finished paint. You know priming is commonly used to cover dark colors to make it easier for the finished coat to hide better. Adding some tint to the primer will even help the finish coat cover better too. 

Another reason to prime is when your painting walls that have a high gloss finish, or when you are painting very smooth surfaces, such as cabinets, or shelves, or wood trim and wood doors that have been stained or lacquered and are being painted with paint. Regular paint won't often stick to those types of surfaces very well, so priming is important in this situations, but not every situation.

Lightly sanding these surfaces, and priming them before painting them, will provide the best possible adhesion. Priming patched areas is also good practice. It can be done with primer or with paint, but in this blog post we will be using primer for spot priming damaged and repaired areas, and then finishing up with a couple of coats of paint to help make everything look brand new looking again.

This allows the finished coat to dry to a uniform shade. If patched areas are not primed with primer or spot primed with paint first, the finish coat will look dull, stand out, be easy to see over top of those spots, and you won't miss them. This occurs because the repairs are not properly sealed. And lastly priming stains caused by running water, or smoke damage, is critical. 

Priming these types of stains first will prevent them from bleeding through to the finished coat. If you skip priming or spot priming, it could take more coats of finish paint to cover everything up and make it look all nice and new again, and trust me, you don't want to go there. You could get stuck having to pay the painters and painting contractors to complete a third or fourth coat of paint depending on the paint colors you currently have and the new paint colors you picked.

So what's the best primary use? You have many options. Well for interior projects, you can't go wrong with a good multi-purpose primer such as Cloverdale speed primer, which provides excellent adhesion, seals repairs well, blocks most light stains, and provides very good coverage. But keep in mind for the toughest stains you'll need to use a more specialized primer with stain killer technology.

Premium stain blocking primer in latex or oil based uses the latest waterborne architecture to cover anything from lipstick to smoke damage, yellowing ceilings, basically the toughest stains on the planet. Now remember, priming will ensure your paint stays and looks good for years to come. So if you're not sure which primary use and need additional help selecting the right primer for your painting project be sure you head on in to your local paint store or give them a call. They can give you some ideas and options.

So here we go. I'm going to be showing you some drywall repair painting. Before we paint and prime we start with priming. So kind of a start to finish project. So I'll show you what I do through each step. So first find the little things, and screw pops, scratches, dents, dings, and damage areas that need to be repaired. Once that's ready for sanding then take your block sander to it. We like to use about a 120 grit sandpaper block sander. Never use just sand paper, you won't sand the mud flat to the wall with just sand paper.

Make sure you get all the edges nice and sanded smooth. If you don't sand the edges you won't miss them, and everything about you not sanding the edges smooth will be apparent and very visable. Don't put the compound on too heavy. Some areas will require a coat or two or three of drywall compound or drywall patch. Be sure you catch our other blog posts that show how to apply the compound properly so you can get perfect drywall repairs every time.

You don't want too much to sand off, and just make sure all the high points are flat, the edges are flat, the tops are flat, and everything's nice and smooth. Making circles with the sanding block over top of the patched and repaired areas seems to work the best and provide premium results. After everything's nice and smooth, you want to make sure that you get the dust off of those areas too. Some painters just leave the dust as is. We've tried both ways, and both ways work.

So I just like to use a damp rag or a slightly wet sponge. I run my hand over all the areas that I sanded just to be sure everything is smooth and we didn't miss anything. Using this method most painters and decorators should be able to patch and repair all of the drywall damage and dents and dings in most houses in just an hour or two. Don't get sucked in to paying hundreds or thousands extras for repairs that only take minutes to an hour or two to complete in most cases.

And then I'll give that a bit of time to dry before I'll roll on my first coat of primer. Optionally you could roll and brush in a coat of primer on everything, highlight all of the damage areas now that you can see them, or just use the old school patch first, then prime, then paint method that works but isn't the most effective way to consistently get all repairs in one pass or two.

For this job it'll only required one coat of primer. On some areas, two or more coats of primer may be appropriate. If there's not new drywall, and the repairs are fairly minimal, then one coat of primer should be sufficient. So this, I'm using a 10 mm thickness micro fiber roller sleeve. I use that for most residential painting jobs. 

So the roller sleeves that I purchased, they're good for all types of paints and primers. Make sure that you get a good roller sleeve. Don't go too like shopping at the dollar store cheap because, the cheap ones really aren't made very well and you will regret it when it starts falling apart in the paint tray or on your wall or painted surfaces. It'll be too frustrating, and you're better off to go with kind of more higher end paint roller sleeve. 

Whatever paint store you're in, depending on location where you live, just walk into the paint store and tell them you want to buy the best paint sleeves they have for priming and painting your particular services. They will be sure to hook you up with the best. Don't be afraid to pay $10 or so for a good paint sleeve. It's always worth it in the end. And you can usually wash them out and use them a couple of times before disposal.

So this primer is it's an excellent primer made by the same company that I use their paint. So I use Cloverdale and Dulux paints, but this paint job is using Cloverdale paint and this is their Cloverdale latex based speed primer. I find that latex speed primer is pretty good on most surfaces, and is also an excellent bonding primer for hard to stick surfaces. While not required, its really important, especially when you have repairs. 

You might have heard or seen about those two in one primer and paint in one products. You get the primer and paint in one. Tt's really not not good enough to cover up the repairs sufficiently, but it can be used in a pinch for the less informed. So that's why it's always better just to get a can of primer. A primer is usually thinner than paint, goes quite far, it doesn't cost a lot. It's well worth it to just take care of that.

So as you can see, I just go from one side to the other. Nice and even 50% overlaps with a good roller, a good sleeve, and a good Cloverdale Speed Primer. Having the appropriate amount of primer on my roller sleeve it makes a big difference. Using a larger pile sleeve really helps get a lot of primer or paint on the wall or surface. I always start away from where I stopped and then work my way back. I just want a nice even amount on the wall. 

You don't want to see where your roller marks where your roller has went up and down, so you want to make sure that there's no high points. Make sure you go back and reroll to feather things out like I'm doing, and just nice and easy, top to bottom. Get yourself a good painting poll, they don't cost a lot of money, and they really do make the job go a bit quicker. They will also save your back and help make your painting and priming go as easy as possible.

Now I typically don't go too too quick. The the most important thing is that you just stay steady. You don't want to be rushing and getting the primer or the paint all over the place either. You do want to get it on the walls or the surfaces you are painting and that's about it. You want just a nice steady speed. Now you noticed I don't have any drop cloths down, because you can tell this carpet is being replaced. 

So I'm getting all the painting wrapped up, then the carpets coming out, new carpet being installed, then new baseboard, and we will be spray painting in all of the baseboards and all of the trim and the doors in the house before we finish up this job. So I didn't have to worry too much, but I still don't get too much on the on the carpet even if there isn't a drop cloth down because you will look like a pig painter and not a pro painter.

But I do suggest if you're painting your house, and you don't do a ton of painting You're definitely going to want to put some drop cloths down if you're not replacing the the carpet. Optionally some ram board or some cardboard cut to appropriate lengths also works in a pinch. So once I get the primer on, I'm going to give that a bit of time to dry. I have other things that to do. 

So we generally will give it a few hours before I put on the first coat of paint. Now make sure you read the back of the can. All paints have different recommendations. Just go by what they suggest because they know their product, and what it needs to be done to get maximum performance out of it. So I'm just going to finish up here with the roller, into the corner there. 

That corner had a bit extra mud and it wasn't quite dry, so I have to have to sand it off later, but this is good for what I'm demonstrating in this why priming before painting is important blog post we are sharing with you on just how to paint the walls like a pro. So now on that same wall, the primer is nice and dry. We have a much nicer color. It looks very light going over top of the the primer and the current wall. The customer picked the color, and I like it too.

So I am going to be just taking my brush, two and a half inch sash brush, doing all my brush work first after we rolled and cut in all the primer. Now I'll be inside crown molding. It's not too difficult to apply the paint. It's pretty easy to do your edging up to it. Now all you want to do is make sure you don't put it on too heavy. 

You want the right amount on it on your brush. Make sure you feather it down. You don't want to put the primer or the paint on too heavy, but what I like to do is get all the brushwork done, then start my rolling while the the brush work is still wet. That's how the pros do it. I find then I can just blend nice with the roller, and less likely to see brush strokes and marks. 

You want to put it on fairly good but remember you're going to put on a second coat definitely after this first one because we are doing a color change, and also because we primed this wall with white primer before we get on with the painting. Brush will be needed as well. Don't go cheap on those. Don't be going and just buy some dollar brush over at the dollar store, because they all suck. 

You want to spend a few bucks to get a good brush. Just be sure you are using a paint tray liner there too. Now that those are all recyclable, so I use those for just easiness too, for cleanup and everything. I'll just make sure all the paint is dry that's left in the tray, and then I can recycle them. So those paint tray liners, they they cost me about $0.80 I guess $0.79 a piece, so I buy them by the hundred and $79 for a hundred tray liners is a pretty good deal. 

Painting the paint on is the same application as the primer. Just up and down, nice and even. You want to just you'll find that happy medium of how much paint put on your roller sleeve each time. You don't want it too heavy, you don't want too light, you want to be able to do quite a bit with each time that you have to refill your your sleeve with paint. 

And another pro painter tip. Always keep your paint right nearby. Now that sounds like you know obvious thing, but if you keep your paint tray too far from where you are working, you have to be walking too much. It'll really take a lot of time. The closer that you keep the paint to you definitely much easier and quicker to get the wall done in a sufficient time. 

So I'm just going up and down just like the primer, and getting a good first coat on. Always starting away from where I started, and then working my way back over. Just to make sure that there's no high points left by the roller sleeve. Just up and down, but definitely a second coat is always applied on all paint jobs. So yeah this is a nice color it changes up the room, and you can't see any of those repairs because they're sanded out proper and a good coat of primer is applied. 

So that is something that you definitely need to do if you have a similar project at home. Just follow these steps, read the recommendations on the back of whatever can of primer or paint you buy, and yeah, hopefully this why priming before painting is important blog post will help get you going it the right direction for your prime and paint job you have in mind.

That's about all that can be said about why priming and painting is important on most types of paint jobs that you do yourself or you might consider hiring in a professional painter or a professional painting contractor to complete for you. Painting is easy, but it takes hundreds of paint jobs to perfect the art of painting. If your painter or decorator hasn't completely repainted at least a hundred house interiors or a hundred house exteriors you probably got the wrong painters.

The very best way to get the very best results is to call in a professional painter to complete the painting and priming and decorating for you. The pro Calgary Painters over there at the low cost professional Calgary Painting Company can probably get your house looking better than brand new and for a lot less than the competitors in and around town. Give 1/2 Price Pro Calgary Painting a call at (587) 800-2801 and get yourself a free painting estimate or a free painting price quote.