Do you need to prime walls before painting

Are you prepared for the exhilarating journey of breathing new life into your living space with the stroke of a paintbrush? The prospect of a vibrant, freshly painted room is undoubtedly exciting, but before we plunge into the world of colours, let's take a moment to unveil behind-the-scenes wizardry: a primer.

Envision it as the silent architect, skillfully choreographing the symphony of your home's transformation, ensuring a flawless canvas to prime before painting. In the following article, we're not merely skimming the surface; we're on a quest to uncover the intricacies of priming.

Why, you may wonder? Because priming isn't just an option; it's a pivotal player in ensuring your paint job emerges as a showstopper. Whether you're contemplating a commercial painting project or planning a house painting endeavour, the secrets we unveil apply across the spectrum. Get ready to witness your living space evolve into an artistic haven, a manifestation of the vision you've long held. Let the priming adventure unfold!

What Is a Primer?

Primer is a preliminary coating layer applied on materials before painting. It ensures that the paint sticks to the surface properly improves durability, and offers extra safety to the surface to be painted. Primer also helps seal the pores in permeable materials and prevents bleeding from the knots. If applied correctly, primer makes the paint last longer and improves the look.

Which Primers Should You Apply?

Primers are based on shellac, latex, and oil, with each type having distinct ingredients and applications.

Oil-based primer

Oil-based primers dry slowly and generate volatile organic elements. When you apply these primers, you should use mineral spirits for thinning and cleaning purposes. The pores get filled effectively, and a smooth finish is produced. Oil primers are used for varnished wood, wood that is not finished, wood that tends to bleed, AND eroded wood.

Latex primer

Latex primers are water soluble and dry within a short time. You can use these primers for unfinished drywalls because they enhance the surface's shine and texture. They also allow the passage of water vapour and provide a surface that can resist cracks. You can apply latex primer on concrete bricks or blocks, bare softwood, unfinished dry walls, or galvanised metal that is properly cleaned.

Shellac based primers

These primers dry quickly, and they work effectively when you want to prevent bleeding or stop stains. However, they need a pleasant smell, making it challenging to use them. You can apply them to cover smoke, rust, or other marks. They can also be applied on wood, plastic plaster, or surfaces that need to dry fast.

Why Do You Need to Prime Wall Before Painting?

Here are some significant reasons you need to prime your wall before painting.

Primer helps prepare the surface

Primer is made to prepare your wall for the paintwork and ensure that the paint sticks evenly and adequately. Priming helps seal all the porous surfaces like wood or drywall that can absorb stains and make them look uneven or patchy. When you prime, you create a smooth and even surface for your exterior or interior paint to stick to, leading to a polished and professional look.

Hides all imperfections

Priming also helps hide all imperfections, such as dents, cracks, or holes on the wall surface. The primer fills all the imperfections, making it hard to notice them and offering a smooth surface for the paint to stick to. This helps create a more professional or polished finish and saves you from performing much preparation work.

Save money and time

Priming saves you money and time in the long run. By preparing your wall and enhancing the bond between the paint and the surface, a base coat reduces the need for re-painting or touch-ups. This means you finish your painting work with a few coats without compromising durability and quality.

Enhances durability

Priming also helps to enhance the durability of your painting. A perfect foundation layer offers a robust bond between the paint and the surface, helping avert fading, chipping, and peeling. This means your paintwork will be more durable, offering a more appealing and long-lasting finish.

Blocks stains

Most paints, such as crayons, water stains, nicotine, markers, or water stains, are stubborn and usually bleed through most paint coats. A primer works as a stain blocker, sealing and preventing the stains from messing up your paintwork.

You may wait to notice this, but when your interior or exterior paint dries, you will see the problems. Besides, changing from a darker to a lighter paint can be challenging to cover the old paint colour without priming.

Enriches the paint colours

Priming makes your paint colour look great by sealing all previous discolourations, colours, surface imperfections, and stains. It allows you to have a flawless and beautiful final finish.

Priming allows you to paint all surfaces

Some surfaces like vinyl or plastic don't just hold paint. If you try to paint them without priming, the colour will not adhere to the surface. Primers are made for tenacious paint adhesion to all characters, making it possible to paint any surface more quickly. Even if you want to paint ceramic tiles, the painting will be more accessible by priming your surface.

When Should You Prime the Surface Before Painting?

Though priming is always necessary before you paint, there are instances when you must apply primers before painting.

Here are some of these instances:

Porous surface

One of the instances priming is critical is if your wall surface is porous. The surface becomes porous if it absorbs stains, water, odour, moisture, or oil. For instance, a new drywall is usually passable.

The drywall mud and the paper covering it are usually compromised by moisture or water when you don't seal them with a primer. The surface will absorb the paint if you don't prime it. Unstained or untreated wood is also porous, so if you want to paint shelves or wood panels, you should first prime the surfaces.

Glossy surface

The paint doesn't adhere to glossy surfaces correctly. If your wall surface features high gloss paint and enamel or your wood panel is shellacked, you can apply many paint coats, but the paint won't stick. Such characters require priming, but it is also necessary to sand them before to ensure that your surface has the right texture to allow the paint and primer to stick perfectly.

Stained surface

If your wall has smoke stains or old water damage, prime them first because the primer acts as a sealant or blocker. It seals the stains and ensures they don't leak or show through your paintwork.

However, fixing any issue leading to the staining is advisable before priming any stained surface. For instance, with old water stains, you should repair the leak before priming or painting.

Your surface has an odour

Sometimes, the wall may soak up and retain odours if you cook strong, smelly food or smell from your pets. Priming helps seal and eliminate odours and ensures that they don't return. Note that painting will not eliminate the odour permanently, making priming crucial.

Colour changing drastically

You will need to prime if you change the surface colour from a very dark colour to a very light one. Saturated paint colours will show through the less saturated and lighter ones. You must also prime if you are switching between two saturated paint colours.

Ask an Expert For Help When Priming Your Wall

Just like painting, priming requires skills and expertise. You must leave the job to a professional painter for help. The experts will help apply the right primers based on your surface.

In addition, they will also help perform high-quality house painting to ensure that your wall will look great for many years to come. If you need commercial painting services, the experts can make your business look new again through their professional painting work.