Painting - steps to painting??

Hi, just joined here and this site has tons of great info. I recently decided to remodel my bedroom. i took off the wallpaper and on the advice from my friend who is a contractor, i put the primer on next before doing the patch work. was this a good idea or not? i already have 1 coat of finish paint on the walls, and i can see every patch. will they go away with the 2nd coat? sorry for the long post. just hope i'm not screwed.

It is not a bad idea to put on primer before you patch,but you need to prime the patched spots before you paint. Maybe 2 coats primer on the patches.

May as well keep painting at this point. Probably at least 1 more coat than you would have needed.Or you could spray the patches you can see with Bin Primer Sealer and then paint just the patches, then paint the whole room again, maybe twice depending

I am assuming you are just seeing the patches due to them absorbing the paint differently. If you can feel the patches ----you are screwed

You always need primer on patches...or else they will show through with semi-gloss or eggshell paint.

I'm not sure why your friend would have told you that, seems like a wasted step to me.

Sometimes it is necesary to prime before patching - when patching over enamel or chaulky surfaces. It is always a good idea to prime over repairs, especially necesary when using any type of enamel.

If the repairs are done correctly another coat of paint should take care of the problem. If the repairs need more work, sand and/or remud as necesary before going any further. When you are sastified with the repair prime and when dry apply another coat of finish paint to the wall.

em69

"I'm not sure why your friend would have told you that, seems like a wasted step to me."

If the paper is really ripped up the moisture from the mud can delaminate it and put you back to square one. I would not prime it with water based primer though :wall: . It only takes a few minutes to apply the Bin and you are virtually assured of doing the repair only once, all things considered.

I would not prime the whole wall unless there was a reason like dramatic color change[tint primer] or glossy paint[ prime everything with Bullseye 123 tinted toward finish coat] I would spot prime damaged areas with Bin before doing anything,or prime the whole thong with Coverstain or equivalent oil based primer if the Walls were really sorry. Guardz is another option.

Personally I would recommend doing it[again, not with latex primer,and not for tine little nicks], but only because I do it. It doesn't make sense not to do it imo,but it is not necessarily required. At the very least it can't hurt at best it can save you a lot of work.


I realize everybody will not agree with doing this so keep in mind it is just my way of doing things. It is another no brainier imo to spot prime repairs before you add mudd

I will drop out of the conversation now. bndawgs can possibly use the advice,or not, on the next job. It does not really apply to this one.

At this point, I'd go with another coat
If it's good paint, and the patches were done right, you should be OK

thanks guys for the responses. i almost think at this point, i might have to go the route of re-priming the whole room. all the patches came out great, they are all smooth, but i can see them coming through the first coat of paint. i had taken a sample of behr paint to the duron store to have them match it(mainly b/c i can use my friend's disc for 70% off paint) and low and behold it doesn't look the same on the walls as it did on the card. 2 questions.

1. how long does it take for the paint to show its true color? and would a second coat make a difference or could i tell by the first coat?

2. with the walls already having a latex based paint on them, which primer would work the best for covering it up? oil based or latex based??


again, any help is greatly appreciated. thanks

2 questions.

1. how long does it take for the paint to show its true color? and would a second coat make a difference or could i tell by the first coat?

Depends on the paint
Overnight will tell for sure
A second coat can make a big difference, depending on the paint and what it's going over

2. with the walls already having a latex based paint on them, which primer would work the best for covering it up? oil based or latex based??

Latex, you don't want to put oil in the mix right now

is it possible that the color will become truer to the real color with a 2nd coat? i am using the duron, velvet flat line of paint if that matters.

I'm not familiar with that paint, and it's hard to say for sure w/o seeing how off it is and what it's going over, but the general answer is yes
It is possible the color needs another coat to be truer

What color is it and what color is it going over?

it is a dark blue with some gray in it. similar to the color of the reply and quote buttons at the bottom. the behr color name is ocean ridge. when the duron guy put a dab on the label it looked to be the exact color. but after putting it on the white primed walls. it is looking more purple than blue.

Dark blue over white will take two coats to get an idea
And it may take three to look good, even with good paint

okay, so i probably shouldn't get too worried until after the 2nd coat then? whew, now i know why people just pay someone else to do all the work. thanks for all the input

...it is looking more purple than blue.
That would be normal for deep/dark blue over white
The first coat of deep/dark blue over white, I would expect it to look funny, and specifically a little purpley
(purpley...it's a technical term lol)

If it was me on a job, I would expect it not to match the swatch/chip with the first coat
It really is a blue over white thing
I would have to wait until the second coat (possibly third in spots) to decide wether or not the shop messed up the color

just thought i would give an update to how things turned out. after the first coat of paint went on. it looked purple, but after a 2nd coat, the true color was coming out. i could still see a few spots where i repaired the walls, so i put a 3rd and final coat of paint. the room turned out great. although, it looks like i did miss a few spots with the putty. but oh well, it still turned out great and you don't notice those few spots unless you are looking for them. thanks for all the help guys

Thanks for the update
Glad it turned out so well!