Everything You Need to Know About Primers
Painting is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to change a room without major construction changes. There are many ways to get the desired paint covering and color, and one of the most important ones is ensuring your interior painters use a primer.
Many people skip primers because they look like paint, but it makes the job easier and offers better results.
Primer is essential because it helps cover stains and offers a stable base surface for the paint to stick to, ensuring it lasts longer. It also ensures that residential painting contractors don’t need a lot of paint coats to get the desired coverage, which makes the job faster and cheaper.
When Should You Use Primer?
When you get a visit from Moon Custom Painting, an expert will examine your property to evaluate the surfaces and determine whether priming is necessary. Experts recommend priming when painting the following surfaces.
Raw unfinished wood
Bare wood is one of the most problematic surfaces to paint because it absorbs the paint, calling for numerous coats before getting good coverage. It also helps add a protective layer against moisture, mold, and mildew.
Expert residential painting contractors usually recommend using oil-based wood primer. While it dries slowly, it soaks into the wood and sticks better than other primers. Use a high-quality latex wood primer if you don’t want to wait a long time or deal with solvent clean-up products.
Raw drywall
Drywall is an extremely porous surface because of the drywall mud and base facing paper. That means it soaks up paint fast, leaving uneven coverage. Using paint without a primer will see you go through more paint buckets than if you were to use a PVA primer.
Masonry
While masonry is not porous like bare wood and drywall, priming is essential because of pH levels and efflorescence. Some masonry surfaces have high pH levels that could result in paint adhesion issues.
Efflorescence is white, crystalline deposits that form on masonry surfaces, causing the paint to fall off. Experts from Moon Custom Painting, Mattawan MI use efflorescent-resistance primers, ensuring you don’t deal with that issue in the future. Behr offers a clear masonry primer for garage floors, pool decks, and sidewalks. Drylok offers a unique product to help with problem areas like wet basement walls.
Stained walls
Painting a stained wall sometimes leaves the stains peeking through the paint layers. To avoid this, use a product like KILZ Restoration. When contracting interior painters, ensure they use paint-blocking primers. They also work when you want a drastic color change from the one currently on the wall, especially if you change from a dark color to a light one.
Glossy surfaces
Glossy surfaces, like those painted in glossy paint, ceramic tile, metal sidings, or vinyl shutters, are difficult for paint to stick to. If you are dealing with glossy paint, ensure you lightly sand the surface for more texture. You can then use a bonding primer or primer designed for glossy surfaces.
Uncoated plastic or metal
Like glossy surfaces, these surfaces are hard for paint to adhere to, making primer necessary.
When Can You Skip Priming?
Interior painters will not need a primer if your surface is clean, low-porous, and dry. You also don’t need it if you are using the same paint color as the previous one.
Can You Trust Paint and Primer Combos?
Many manufacturers advertise products as 2-in-1, like shampoos and conditioners. While some of these products work, 2-in-1 paints and primers might be less effective. While some are usually thicker than normal primer or paint, it does not necessarily mean they will give you the same result as you would have achieved if you used separate primer and paint.
It is usually a marketing strategy that will leave you with uneven results, especially when dealing with porous, glossy, or mason walls.
Contact Us To Discuss Your Painting Today
We are one of the highly-rated painting companies with well-trained and experienced residential painting contractors in Mattawan MI. We invest in high-quality paints, primers, and painting equipment to give you a smooth and uniform paint finish.
Our extensive experience makes us suitable to complete any project, regardless of your goals, the size of the surface, or budget. Contact us today to book a consultation for schedules, paint color options, budget, etc.