Do You Need Primer To Paint Over Dark Walls? 

Best wishes on the paint job!

Christ you’re old…. You’re practically a dinosaur, lol 🦖

Thanks, I was looking for a video about buying a cheaper paint and go over with a more expensive paint afterwords as the top coat.

My eyes are up here! 😂 never noticed that but it’s not surprising at all!

In cases of deep base colors I always use a slightly darker flat version as my base and I can do 2 coats of what ever color I want. The grey primer is not helpful.

I also so your comment on his caulking video. I tore it apart. There were so many 30 yr + painters on there that said they learned something new that I became skeptical of them.

@@michaeldiffey3791 keep in mind that many 20-30+ year painters learned the trade ages ago and never tried to learn anything new after a while. It's pretty easy to get stuck in your ways.

@@michaeldiffey3791 personally, I've never had a problem with dark/deep base colors covering in 2 without a prime coat. But that's just me. Newer paint formulations are pretty impressive.

@@indomitableson I agree. I've been painting since 1988 and paint has come a long ways since then.

Cheers Rushill🍻enjoy your Sunday!

That’s a good idea, I will do that in the future

Hopefully all goes well!

How did the paint job go?

@@wellsnapyeah It went very well. A light buff colour on a very dark blue wall. Only 2 coats required. I now have a beautiful vintage style home office. Thanks for the tip!

I've had good luck with Behr Marquee, but it is rarely one coat as advertised. Normally two gets the job done, but like you said YMMV.

I only use Sherwin Williams and Ben Moore because they are higher quality and they are easier to paint with. I have used Behr because some customers insisted that it was the best.. but it's not. Believe what you want but I have painted hundreds of homes and I've tried many brands. The winners are very clear in my book. One thing, though, it's not every product from these two. Even with these top brands only some of their products are good. For SW I prefer Cashmere, Superpaint, and Emerald in that order. For BM I only use Regal Select. And I use Cashmere medium lustre for trim, not one of the fancy trim paints like Advance or ProClassic. Finally, there is no paint anywhere that covers in one coat. Ignore the advertising. It's all a lie.

Best wishes on the painting project!

Thanks again for the support Luc🍻

I’m not 100% sure on that, but if it were me I’d probably hit it with a pole sander before I painted it.

You can rough it up if you want but it's not really necessary. If it was full gloss/high gloss then I would rough it up or consider using a flat latex bonding primer to prevent the old paint from flashing through and to give your new paint a better surface to stick to. Glossy surfaces are much harder and smoother and in some situations can create a bonding issue.

Interesting comment 🍻. If the wood is bare I like to use an alcohol based primer.

You're so freaking funny 🤣🤣 Needed a good laugh today. Did you use Flotrol? What would you recommend I use to paint an exterior metal door (no rust but small area of peeling paint that's been sanded). I'm painting it the same color. Thanks

I don’t usually use floetrol for walls.

@@TheFunnyCarpenter ok thanks!

I usually do a quick sand just to knock off any bits that might have been in the paint.

No. Because you still have to do two coats of paint over the primer. Primer can't take as much tint as paint can so you can't get it to the same color as the paint. Even if you could.. primer is not paint. You need two coats of paint to achieve a consistent surface, consistent sheen, and the warranty is only valid if you do two.

@@indomitableson thank you. Makes sense. What about when you might need 3-5coats of paint to cover a dark painted wall? Could you then maybe do 1 primer 2 paint instead of 3+ paint? Is it reasonable to assume primer is usually cheaper than good paint?

@@TheDOS there are cheap primers in the $30 range and higher performing products closer to $50 that cover better and are easier to paint with. The issue is that many primers are only for sealing.. meaning they don't have many solids that could be used to hide the dark color. You could use Ben Moores Fresh Coat primer (more expensive) as your first layer to cut down on the total number of coats. But it also depends on what you are painting over it. White over dark is a lot different than another light color because it has little to no tint. Another option is to make your first coat be the same wall color you are going to but instead do it in flat. Flat will prevent the sheen of the old paint from coming through. This would act like a primer and you could do it in a cheaper product. It all depends on what color you are going to. So what are you trying to do? Also, a higher-end product with a higher volume solid count covers better.

@@indomitableson thank you. It’s kind of a hindsight thing. I had a room with rather dark thick latex paint, and it apparently took 5 coats to cover it with light white-yellow semigloss paint iirc (I didn’t actually do it myself that time). So trying to learn what I could do better in the future.

@@TheDOS what product was used?

98% of the time all you need is two coats of a quality paint.

😂🥸whoops

@@TheFunnyCarpenter Yeah, I was like why does he have the mic all the way down there? Ha ha ha... Your advice on everything finishing work (which I hate doing with a passion) always inspires me. Thanks for making it easier (and funnier) to deal with. Great stuff!!

Hey friend... uh.. PVA is only useful for brand new drywall and drywall mud. All it does is seal and fill pores in the substrate so that the paint will look even. Also, if it takes six coats of paint you are using a terrible product that barely has any solids in it. The real problem colors to cover with white are red and green. You should consider using a first coat of a super flat white as a prime coat. There's no real advantage to using an actual primer. The bleed-through happens because of how shiny the old paint is and using a flat will kill that. And switch up which product you are using for wall paint. The more solids by volume in the paint means it will cover better in fewer coats. And keep in mind you can also ask the paint store to add 2 ounces of white and a drop of black to increase coverage even more. Best of luck!

@@indomitableson You read what I was doing completely wrong. But thanks for the useless novel lol

@@evictioncarpentry2628 what did I read wrong? You primed with PVA and then put six coats of cheap paint on it?

@@indomitableson Primer is Flat white. No different then a flat white paint. It is meant to lighten the dark color in this case. Not seal it. Standard procedure. 2. All paints were sherwinn Williams products. Are you saying their paint is no good? I know you're trying to look or sound smart but unless you were there, you have no clue. There was no sheen to the wall previously. It's the pastel color that is the issue and the base white coat used needed to be tinted before applying it.

@Eviction Carpentry I use Sherwin Williams paint every day. It depends on which ones you are using. There is a big difference between Super Paint with a volume solid count of 38 vs Promar 400 at 29... which is the same amount as found in the PVA they sell. Cashmere and Duration are at 40. Emerald is at 41. The higher the amount of solids the better it covers. The only times I have had to put more than 3 coats of paint on something was going pale yellow over red and going red over white. That said.. SW changed their color system years ago and ever since then their whites haven't covered as well. The ceiling paint sucks and the alkyd trim paint doesn't cover very well. We're now using Ben Super Hide Zero for ceilings and it works amazingly well.

This is bad advice. It's unavoidable to use a brush to cut in the edges of anything. And primer will never work as a top-coat for anything. Primers are not designed for that. They are designed to resolve specific issues: bonding and sealing. You have to put paint over that.

@FireFlyEx my brother and son and I paint houses for a living. You only use a brush to cut in edges if it's absolutely necessary. Like you can't fit a cutter in the space. Obviously you have to tape and taping is the only way to get perfect paint lines 100% of the time. Tinted primer gives you the exact same finish as a flat paint. Literally no difference. I know this because I've seen if on tens of thousands of square feet of ceilings. Can you use a brush to cut in edges? Yes you can but it's not a 100% and if you're painting for a living it's economical. You can mask and cut in a room in a fourth of the time you could cut it in with a brush.

@SG-Cichlids I paint for a living too and I only use tape in rare situations where the brush would hit something I don't want paint on... and even then I will use an artist brush first if I have to. Cutting a line by hand takes practice for sure but I have never had tape leave a perfect line. That's the beauty of painting, though, everyone has their own techniques. But I still strongly disagree with using primer as a top-coat.

@indomitableson I am not a painter, just a DIYer. I agree with you about not using primer as a top-coat. I have never seen that turn out well.

@irafair3015 obviously if you just go by some primer and use it as a regular paint is going to look terrible. Primer doesn't have any pigment in it, but if you tell the paint store to tint it to a specific color like you would with regular paint. The finish is exactly like any flat paint. Plus much cheaper. A lot cheaper.

There are for wire shelving and don’t really come off the wall nicely.

You risk damaging the wall taking them out.

It’s a 6 minute video. Thanks for watching 🍻

😂you know it’s bad when you start hating yourself mid-sentence🍻

@@TheFunnyCarpenter Truthfully, I hadn't noticed you using the word often. You're your own worst critic, as we all should be.

I like it in moderation

@@TheFunnyCarpenter TBH, I love under the nail splinters.....why? Cuz the relief when you get it out is almost orgasmic...sorry if that’s over the top, but I’m serious🤣🤣👍🏼👊🏼🦖🍺

To be a little more specific.. one of the reasons why cheap paint doesn't cover is because they have a lower volume of solids. When the paint dries and all the liquid has disappeared the only thing left are the solids.