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View Full Version : Anyone have problems with Zinsser 1*2*3 recently?



Rich Engelhardt
01-29-2012, 8:12 AM
We're repaint the rental and the tenant put on dark blue, brown and green semi gloss on swirled textured walls.
In the past, I've just put on a coat of Zinsser 1*2*3 interior/exterior primer (after washing and rinsing the walls) and then two coats of latex.

This time around however, the finish coat has alligatored. Not all over, but in spots that are all over.
The crazing goes all the way down to the old finish so it's not the new finish not sticking to the primer, it's the primer not sticking to the old finish.
I checked the batch numbers of the Zinsser and there's two different batches. One of the cans is a year old, but, it's been stored properly. The other can is a couple of months old and it too was stored properly.
From previous experience, I know how rare a bad batch is, but, it does happen every once in a blue moon.

Since it's happening in thee different rooms, I'm pretty sure it's not a surface contaminate. It's also happening on different parts of the walls - shoulder level, up near the ceiling, down by the floor, next to a couple of - but not all - windows.

I can fix the areas affected by scraping and repriming with B*I*N. I'm not real happy about that, but, at least that looks like it's going to work.

I'm hoping RPM (the parent company of Zinsser) hasn't diddled with the formula and ruined what was once an outstanding product.
I never had an issue like this in the past - prior to RPM - going over semi gloss or even high gloss w/out sanding.

Doug Herzberg
01-29-2012, 8:36 AM
I certainly empathize. I once had a tenant paint a bedroom midnight blue, including the ceiling. Did you wash with TSP prior to priming to dull the gloss?

I've started using PVA drywall primer in some of these situations. Haven't really read the label instructions, so I'm not sure how wise it is. I just had some around one time and I needed a primer and it's cheap. It makes a nice, even base for the topcoat.

To answer your question, I have never had a problem with 123, but I haven't bought any in the past few months.

Lex Boegen
01-30-2012, 6:44 AM
I painted my house last year (exterior) and primed with 1-2-3 and it's held up just fine. The house hadn't been painted in 20 years, so I power-washed the chalked paint off. I used it on concrete, wood, and vinyl; and it's held on to all those surfaces. BTW: I used Floetrol for the first time on this house and it's made me a convert. I'll never not add it to water-based paint again.