Do You Need To Prime Wall Before Painting?

Do You Need To Prime Wall Before Painting? There is a specific process and a series of steps you should follow when painting. Traditionally priming is one of these steps, but many people wonder do you need to prime a wall before painting?

Some people just consider it an additional cost that takes additional time and effort to complete your project. However, there are many benefits to priming and because of these, experts will advise that it is necessary.

What are the benefits of Priming

Before I detail any scenarios where using a primer is important are highlighted times where you might skip it it’s important to first discuss what are the key reasons to use a primer. Despite what some people will tell you primers are far from useless additional coats they have many benefits

• They provide an effective seal for unpainted surfaces such as wood and drywall
• They can cover slight imperfections that have been repaired or patched
• they provide an excellent service for some difficult paints to stick to
• They can block out odors and stains
• They can help keep your color-neutral by adding additional layers between the existing color on the wall
• If you’re adding expensive paint to the wall, they can save you money by reducing the number of coats you need to put on top

As you can see, using a primer will actually save you money and time. Primer is vastly cheaper than most paints on the market. I will help you prepare any surface for a more expensive top coat.

Times when you should always apply a primer

Now that you see the benefits of using a primer here are the times when you should absolutely apply one.

Before painting fresh wood or drywall

Fresh wood and drywall are extremely absorbent surfaces if you add a fresh coat of paint to these much of it will just vanish and then you must add up multiple more coats on top before the area will be completely covered.

This is troublesome working with more expensive paints wasting them on material absorption just makes no sense. Prepare to surface by adding a primer and then you well only need two additional layers.

Making a major change

If you are changing the color scheme, it’s advisable to apply a primer first to prevent the old color from bleeding into the new one. Especially if the sub color is darker than the color you are looking to apply on top.

The primer will help you avoid ending up with a shade that’s more of a combination of the two than the color you want. A primer will effectively bring the base color back to White and offer your blank slate to work from.

When you are painting over oil or glossy paints

All paints need some type of surface to adhere to if you’re looking to paint over a glossy or oil-based paint you can use a bonding primer this will safely stick to any glossy surface and provide a perfect layer on which to add a topcoat.

Covering repairs or patches

Repairing or patching your drywall will mean be using a joint compound or a speckle that will leave patches along your wall, which are regularly different colors from the existing paint. This area of the surface may be more absorptive and effective paint if you apply it without priming first.

Hinding odors and stains

If you’re looking to hide crayon marks or greasy spots or any other type of stain that may be on your wall that will easily show up under any fresh coat of paint, a primer will be necessary to hide these.

For example, if you were in a room that has been subject to a lot of cigarettes smoke these orders can cling to the drywall priming the wall will help high deodorant and eliminate the problem.

Do You Need To Prime Wall Before Painting? – Conclusion

As you clearly see, there are several benefits to using a primer before painting yourself. Using a primer can solve a wide variety of problems and end up saving you time, effort, and money. Whatever your reason, adding a primer is always advisable before you add a more expensive coat of paint.