Posts: 7,421
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Joined: Sep 2005
I will tell you from experience what I found.
I got some regular Behr paint on my arms and I took a shower and it washed right off.
I got some Behr Marquis Ultra Premium paint/primer on my arms and I had to scrub and scrub in the shower to get it all off.
I got some dedicated primer (Zinsser 1-2-3, water based) and it took an entire week of showers for all the primer to wash off.
It was enough to convince me: Dedicated primers work better. Two gallon pails are just $35.00 at Home Depot. You can get it tinted to match your final coat.
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
Posts: 64,652
Threads: 3
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Merryland
Paint with primer basically has a thickening/sealing agent in it to seal the walls and it's got an adhesion promoter in it... glue. It doesn't give you any of the properties that make a finished product "Pop".
I use a primer first to give me an evenly colored canvas and hide the old color and provide a consistent texture on the wall before painting. The finished product looks better imho.
Posts: 12,046
Threads: 1,611
Joined: Jan 2001
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
I used a PVA primer on bare new sheetrock---horrible. I covered that with BIN (tinted red for the lower half) and normal white for the top half---since the lower would be a bright gloss red and the top gloss white.(I was using Sherwin Williams middle grade paint).
Red is the hardest color to get right, over the tinted BIN, it only took 2 coats. And I also put two of the white.
I never have used glue---er---primer/paint in one. No way is it as good as real primer and real paint.
Posts: 5,733
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Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Fort Worth
PVA primer is for fresh new drywall. More of a sealer so the paint doesn't keep soaking into the paper.
Paint that advertises as paint and primer in one... Yeah no it's just the marketing hype.
My favorite paint these days is Behr Marquis. Depot sent out coupons to the pro rewards guys when it first came out. I got 2 gallons for a penny each along with some brushes and tape etc. That paint sticks great it cleans well and it flows out very well even when brushed.
The worst paints I have used are Valspar from Lowes and the garbage that ACE carries, neither of those flow out at all and you have to add flotrol to it to make it even somewhat usable. It's real garbage paint...
If you are one of those worried about VOCs then you will want to look at oil based paints. The common thinking from marketers is that water is better but oil based out gasses in a few days then its done. Latex out gasses for years and the new fancy "VOC free" paints are actually some of the worst as the chemicals used in it are unknowns when it comes to their chemistry mixture and they outgass for decades.
The only reason for the switch to water based was ease of cleanup but I often find that clean up is easier with oil based paints since they set up slower.
Posts: 13,412
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Joined: Jun 2004
Location: Texas
On interior walls in fair to good condition I use kilz primer2.
For heavy stains, crayons, markings and such, I prefer the bin primer.
I always primer now. Results are 2x better.
Posts: 1,280
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Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Naperville, IL
I accidentally got the Behr paint/primer. It was terrible. It went on thick but the it slowly started running down the wall. Maybe it's my technique, I am not a professional, but I had never had such problems with regular paint over primer.
Posts: 36,538
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Joined: Nov 2004
Location: RTP, NC
For fresh drywall or any kind of drywall mud or spackle, put a PVA primer on it first. Any other primer will either soak in and not do its job, or it will peel. After that, prime with any other primer or paint it.
