Best Drywall Primer

Miniroller

Figure I'll ask the pros because the pros know. I just finished taping and mudding a 12x10 room. After I sand I'm going to prime it with Ben Moore Super-Hide flat paint. This is what I've always done on previous drywall jobs I have completed. A friend of the HO told the HO I should only use a primer on raw drywall. I told told the HO this is how I've always done this and this is how I priced the job (I have lots of leftover Super-Hide around).

I know the customer is always right but is a friend of the customer always right?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Davey

In my experience, the flat ceiling type paint is an acceptable primer. The goal of drywall primer is not to 'hide' anything but to equalize the absorption rates of the drywall and the gypsum mud and prepare the surface for the final coats of paint. The brand usually does not matter but with Benjamin Moore you won't go wrong.

Primer tends to raise the grain of the paper a bit more, which may require a bit of sanding in some spots before the final coats.
If you are trying to acheive a #5 fiinish, CGC sells a product called 'TUFF HIDE' which is a primer with a high gypsum content. It is sprayed on just like paint.
p.s. freinds of the owner are usually a pain in the you-know-what!

CapeTaper

Hi Miniroller,
Ben Moore Super Hide is fine for priming drywall. I sed it for years before switching to SW Builders Solution, or SW MasterHide when level 5 is not needed. Both are superior to SuperHide, IMO,but the Ben Moore is perfectly acceptable. As for the HO's friend, ask if he or she wants to do the paint work in exchange for a small token amount taken off the final invoice. That usually shuts them up. If the customer starts with that " I have a friend that said......." stuff when I start a bid, I usually pass on the job.
Hey, where are you on the Cape? I'm Hyannis area.
Good Luck.
CapeTaper

Miniroller

Thanks for the tip on SW, I will try that next time i do drywall. I was kind of scared that all this time I've been doing it incorrectly by not using "primer." I was going to offer the HO's friend a free lunch; i make a mean knuckle sandwich.

CapeTaper I'm in Lower Cape area. I try not to do new construction drywall too much- it's something I can't even come close to competing with "bigger" companies pricewise at least. Many times I get offered and complete lots of smaller jobs, a bedroom here, bathroom there, and many ceilings and repairs. I do top quality drywall work and skim coating and it is a part of my business I am proud of. Good luck to you CapeTaper.

747

Cape cod isn't that where slickshift makes his home?

steve-in-kville

Just my experience... I keep a 5'er of SW Pro-Block on hand. I think its their heaviest primer. Stuff works great as an all-around primer/sealer. I know SW makes a primer just for new drywall, but who wants to stock three different primers when one will do it all?

steve

__________________

DPainting

Devoe has an excellent primer for new drywall/compound mix repairs. It leaves an even flat white finish. Great coverage.

JohnFRWhipple

The best drywall primer I have found for bathroom's and kitchen's is Zissner's Cover Stain. Here in Vancouver I pick it up at Cloverdale Paint or Dicks Lumber.

I find that it sands great and will powder and not peel like a Latex Primer.

It also helps keep the paper beads from lifting to some degree which I think is critical in a heavy steam setting like outside a steam shower. Everywhere else in the home it's fair game but I think in our small en-suites, steamer rooms and kitchens this added expense is worth it.

Unlike a latex based primer it needs a much cleaner surface over drywall and we brush out are walls with a 3" brush and shop vac. This gives us a great bit and killer end result!

The best way to open paint can's is with my little lifting key from ACO! I keep it on my key chain and use this little key every week for something! I don't think I will ever toast a home key again.

John Whipple
By Any Design Ltd.
North Vancouver

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
John Whipple (By Any Design Ltd.) - Member of Terrazzo Tile and Marble Association of Canada, the National Kitchen & Bath Association and the National Tile Contractors Association. Specializing in Vancouver bathroom renovations, linear shower drain installations and shower waterproofing procedures.

JMC1981

USG Tuff Hide is the best drywall primer out there, it's one of the few level 5 finish primers on the market -- I know someone mentioned Builders Solution but that isn't a Level 5 primer (at least according to SW). Problem is it has to be sprayed and it has to be sprayed with a larger sprayer. That immediately rules out people who are doing side drywall jobs such as yourself. If you are looking for a relatively fair priced product I would use Sherwin Williams Masterhide, this product can also be used as a finish paint so if you second coat the ceilings it should be good enough to call finished. If you're willing to spend a little more for a little bit of a nicer finish I would use Sherwin William's drywall primer which gives a bit of a different feel and finish than the masterhide even though they are both flat latex paints. Hope that helped.

AARC Drywall

Guys keep this in mind...lets say you tape and finish a wall... then prime it with the primer of your choice....the next day you come and have a second look...and you see a spot that needs attention...lets just say its a bevel joint that has been over sanded a bit...it happens.. the paint used as primer will cause problems because the mud you put on it to fix the over sanding will get small bubbles..and the mud will not bond as well. Regular drywall primer will not do this. This is our experience, but give it a try and you will see what i mean.

__________________
Profit is NOT a dirty word....Cheap is....

JMC1981

You wont have this problem with any of the primers / paints mentioned in this thread unless you're putting the mud on too heavy; which if the case will bubble regardless of the surface. The only time I have problem with bubbling - if the mud is applied correctly - is over old surfaces that have had finish paint, or multiple coats of finish paint, sitting on them for a while. You can get around this by putting multiple tight skim coats on the area that needs fixing.

AARC Drywall

Correct, thinner coats work much better.

__________________
Profit is NOT a dirty word....Cheap is....

Mike-

Thanks for all the posts on this.

__________________

mrcharles

Myron R. Ferguson the author of many editions of the the "Ultimate Guide to Drywall" says he prefers to use a flat latex paint as a sealer. I have found this to my favorite as well. I agree with the post above that the Zinsner product works well, it is what I use if there are heavy stains or pen marks I think might bleed through.

Big Shoe

I'll take a stab at this. I tell all my customers to use PVA primers on newly finished drywall.

Or any brand ''made for drywall'' !!!!!!!

If you want to use cheap latex paint as primer, your drywall job better be near perfect or any touch-ups will flash. Just like AARC says.

My 2 cents worth.

Almost 28,000 views.

angus242

SW PrepRite ProBlock.

Of course, most of my bathroom jobs are over DensArmor with first coat Durabond and finish coats of DensArmor Cote.

Even when I spec out the materials for drywallers and painters, they are all surprised at how well this combo works.

Finish is usually with SW Bath paint.

__________________
Angus
L+M+O+P=C
"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise"

JMC1981

I have used Zinsser quite a few times to prime. You wont find a better stain blocker than their oil based product. If two coats on Zinsser Stain Block Primer doesn't cover the stain than nothing will. Having said that, the fumes are overwhelming and I find it difficult to work around. Second, because it's oil based, it's more difficult to roll out and more likely to allow the seams to flash.

This is just my opinion.. As someone said above, I always recommend sticking with a flat latex for a prime coat simply because of the problems you can have with flashing with different sheens of paint.

gbruzze1

PVA primers are considerably cheaper then 100% acrylic primers, such as Benjamin Moore Fresh Start.

world llc

PVA primer...

no need for a thicker acrilic for prime coat on drywall....

__________________
www.worldllc.net
www.facebook.com/WorldLLC

WilsonRMDL

I always use SW promar 200 drywall primer, kida expensive but works great

__________________
Innovative Remodeling LLC
Licensed and Insured