Painting - Interior Painting -- Prep Questions

Hi -- This is my first time trying a painting project, other than touch ups, and I'm confused as to some of the prep work I need to do. I’m doing one room, a hallway, and a foyer. This is a 30 year old condo that has been painted a few times, probably with different levels of care and professionalism. I’m doing it myself, and I don’t want to over-complicate things and waste time & money, but I do want to do a good job.

Here's the background, in order of what I did up until now:
-- 3 out of 8 walls had old wallpaper, which I removed using Dif, then scrubbed using only warm water.
-- The hallway and foyer walls seem to be in a flat or enamel latex, while the room walls (the ones that were under the wallpaper) are in a satin or semi-gloss latex.
-- All walls (whether flat or semi-gloss) are textured, sort of a smoothed, hand-stuccoed mediterranean knockdown look.
-- The ceiling in all 3 areas had popcorn acoustical covering, which had been tested to be non-asbestos. I removed the ceiling, patched any rough and uneven areas with joint compound, and wet-sanded to remove any remaining ceiling material, dust, and feathering lines from the patches.
-- Finally, I made some surface repairs to all walls, smoothing out some bumps and old paint drips, and patching dimples and nail holes with joint compound.

For the ceiling, I am already planning to apply a primer/sealer (BIN white shellac based/red can – is this a good choice?) and two coats of latex flat interior paint.

Here are my questions (other than the primer question above):
(1) Do I need to sand the satin/semi-gloss walls before painting them? Will this be hard to do with the textured surfaces (since the sanding would only reach the raised areas and not the recessed areas)?
(2) Do I need to use a TSP solution, some other cleaner, or even just water to wash the walls before painting them? How can I make sure that I’ve cleaned away the dust that was created from sanding, patching, and the popcorn ceiling removal?
(3) Do I need to spot prime the patched areas on the walls? If so, do I then need to prime the entire wall, or will spot-priming be enough?
(4) One of the walls in the foyer was also under wallpaper and is also a semi-gloss. When I removed the wallpaper, the paint underneath was prone to peeling and cracking. I sanded and patched like on all the other walls, but do I need to do anything special to make sure that the paint bonds to this wall okay?

I really just want to get the painting started already so I can get my room back, but after seeing some of the stories on this board, I want to make sure that I’m not skipping any crucial preparation steps.

Thanks in advance for your help.

BIN is very aromatic and overkill in your situation. It is used to hold back water-soluable stains and such. I'd use an oil primer myself. Far fewer fumes and dries much slower than shellac products.

Since the project is so varied, I would prime the lot. Spot prime your repairs first, then prime the lot with a quality acrylic such as Fresh Start or Aqua Lock. You'll improve your coverage, sheen levels and miles per gallon on your paint. It will also eliminate sanding to achieve 'bite' into the old paint.

1) No, but you'll live with what texture does remain.

2) TSP is superior to any soap. It is an emulsifier and dissolves grease and oils you cannot see. I'd use it, then rinse with clean water (thereby removing any dust left from previous sanding).

3) Yes, then the whole wall. Sheen is more uniform, spots much less noticeable, color truer across the wall.

4) By using the top quality acrylic bonding primers, they will also adhere to any questionable previous coatings, whether they be oil or latex. The total-prime job eliminates headaches and has you finished sooner without future worries at very little cost when applied to the life of the job.

Hope this gets you going straight away. If not, let us know. :D

Keith

That can of BIN alcohol based primer, might be one of the best friends that you could ever have. It will prime over virtually ANYTHING, including old paste residue, patched areas, even items that would normally bleed through, such as red paint, magic marker, etc., etc.
If the odor from the alcohol base does not bother you, you could prime anything and everything with it, and it doesn't make any difference if you top coat it with latex or oil based products. Contractors use it to prime out fire jobs, where it is necessary to cover over smoke damage, and smoke odors. Sounds, to me, like you are off to a good start already. Good luck.