The one thing people always mess up when they paint a room

I see it all the time, people skip the primer. They think a coat of paint is enough, but it's not. I painted my living room in my old apartment and skipped primer to save time. Within a year, the paint started peeling near the windows because of moisture. I used a good paint, Behr Marquee, but it didn't matter. The wall just wouldn't hold it. Now in my house, I always use a stain-blocking primer first, especially on fresh drywall or over old stains. It adds maybe an hour and $30 to the job, but the paint sticks better and looks even. It's the difference between a job that lasts and one you redo in two years. Has anyone else had paint fail because they skipped this step?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_smith372mo ago

My buddy's paint peeled in six months without primer.

elliot_harris2511d ago

Exactly @ryan_smith37, that's what I'm talking about. Primer isn't optional, it's the whole foundation. Paint bonds to primer way better than it bonds to bare drywall or old paint. If your buddy skipped it and got peeling in six months, that's exactly what I'd expect. The paint just doesn't have anything to grab onto, so it lifts off in sheets. It's not the paint's fault, it's the prep. Primer gives you that mechanical grip and seals the surface so moisture can't get behind it. Tell him to sand it all down, use a bonding primer, and he won't have that problem again.

graymiller2mo ago

Honestly, my friend tried to paint over her kid's crayon marks without primer. She used a really thick top coat, but all the waxy spots bled through in like a week. It looked awful, these weird ghost shapes all over the wall. She had to scrub it all off and start over with a proper stain blocker.