Primer Before Paint: Why is it important?

In this post we will discuss the importance of applying primer before paint as well as the two main types of primer.

Before starting any new painting job you will need to prepare all surfaces for paint. This means ensuring the surface is clean, dust-free, with no loose or flaking paint. It is essential to fill any cracks or holes with the appropriate filler and sand down for a uniform, smooth finish which is ready to be painted.

Before applying the beautiful paint you have decided on you should first seal the surface with primer. Primer is an undercoat which has many benefits:

• Primer helps to seal the surface for paint application. It will reduce the coats of paint needed considerably as without primer the paint would keep soaking into the surface.
• Primer effectively hides joints, seams, imperfections, multi-colored surfaces, and knots in wood in one go.
• It ensures a better connection between the paint and the surface to be painted (as primer leaves a slightly rough finish for the next layer to adhere to) which in turn means a better quality paintjob and an increased durability.
• Primer is used when changing from a dark color to a lighter color. This means you will be able to use a smaller quantity of paint which equals cost effectiveness.

There are two main types of primer: Oil based and water-based.

Oil based primer is mainly used on high traffic or frequently used areas such as doors, windows, cabinets and wooden surfaces.

Water-based primer can be used on a variety of surfaces such as; plasterboards, stone, metal, and is fantastic at covering imperfections and stains.

Finally, there are also some specific primers to seal and cover the most difficult stained areas such as smoke stains.

We hope these tips on the importance of primer has been helpful for your next painting project.

Happy painting.