Anyone have a drywall primer suggestion?

[Tom Porter]

I'm hoping to finish mudding new drywall in a project I'm working on and will hopefully be priming and painting soon. I'm wondering if anyone has a suggestion for a decent primer. This is my first time doing drywall and the results of my mudding are likely to be mediocre. (75% of the project is garage walls, so I'm not super concerned if it ends up craptacular, especially for my first attempt at this type of project). I don't expect the primer to solve significant issues but it would be nice if it smoothed things out a bit. If anyone has any suggests about specific brands they've had success with, I'd appreciate it.

[Wayne Lomman]

Painting won't fix the appearance but you can do minor plastering touch up after the primer. Can't recommend a brand as I'm not precisely local. Cheers

[George Bokros]

Like Wayne said primer will not hide surface imperfections. I have good luck with Sherwin Williams Primer.

[Ole Anderson]

Plan on touching up your mudding after priming, then touching up the primer. I just use Behr drywall primer from HD. Big project? Time to get a small airless? Graco X5.

[Dave Lash]

I have had good results with Behr drywall primer and sealer number 73. I have found that if you have sanded your drywall mud so that there are no high spots, and then prime with this primer, it will harden the mud. After priming you can fill any remaining low spots or imperfections, and when you sand, the primed drywall mud will not be affected and only the new mud will be sanded. When you are happy with the wall surface, reapply primer to the touched up spots and you are good to go. Behr recommends that if you are using a semi-gloss paint you then apply an additional coat of their stain-blocking interior primer and sealer number 75 before painting.

https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/3acc230b-1592-41fc-8c89-700879e9a72c/svn/white-behr-premium-plus-primers-07301-64_1000.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Mud work is an art-form. Most folks tend to overwork it and that just makes for...more work. It also need to be mixed/worked before applying to insure it's smooth...using it straight from the bucket without "massaging it" makes for issues. Get it on, smooth it quickly (damp trowel of appropriate width helps) and knock off the high spots with the trowel once it's dried rather than trying to sand everything multiple times. Use real mud trowels, too...they are worth the investment. The blades are thin and springy and easy to work with once you find your rhythm.

That said, and as others have already said, primer isn't going to fix imperfections, but it will assure good adherence of your paint. (even if the paint purports to be a primer/paint combo as many low to mid-range products do these days) I use the primer from Sherwin Williams in most cases. And using a flat paint will help hide minor imperfections because reflection is your enemy with such things.

[Jim Dwight]

I normally do not prime. For ceilings, I have good success just going to zinseer ceiling paint (that goes on pink). For walls, the boss dictates Lowes paint which probably really needs the walls primed first - the finish varies depending on whether is a joint or the wallboard paper underneith.
I have used sherman williams, however, and it is good but I think pretty much everthing at that store is overpriced. But the boss says I am cheap.

[Mark Bolton]

My input is dont skimp on either the primer or the paint even if your trying to burry some less than perfect compound. Use a good quality primer and if you want to hide as much as you can run a thick nap roller (1/2" minimum) and dont stretch your primer or paint out til' your roller is dead dry (common homeowner mistake). Lay your primer and paint on good and wet with a thick nap roller and your three coats (prime, and two finish) will leave you with a pretty heavy orange peel that will do a lot for hiding but also be reasonably close to smooth. Using a good quality paint (thick almost to where your stir stick will stand up in the can) will help a bunch with hiding as well as leaving you a paint job that will live well and last a while.

Its only a garage but you put the work in already so no point in skimping on the last step thats going to leave you with a paint job that looks like hell in a year or two.

Just my 0.02 from 30 years in the trade, full time self employed.

[Gary Breckenridge]

Drywall is easy if you do it right. Get some fiberglass tape, joint compound and a blue drywall knife. This takes three steps to do a decent job. Then do a bit of sanding. Use A product called Gardz for priming. Then paint.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I stopped using primer on drywall a while back. Found it wasn't necessary.
A couple coats of HD's medium grade interior paint should do it. Maybe 3.

[David Helm]

For interior walls building codes generally require a sealer/moisture barrier for dry wall. Some builders use visqueen behind the drywall for this but any PVA primer/sealer will meet this code. Also, follow Jim's advice with one proviso; very thin coats of mud are much easier to deal with than heavy coats. Ultimately, with practice, very little sanding will be necessary.

[Mark Bolton]

I stopped using primer on drywall a while back. Found it wasn't necessary.
A couple coats of HD's medium grade interior paint should do it. Maybe 3.

If your using "3" why wouldnt you make the first coat a prime coat that normalizes the absorption of the surface at 1/3 the cost of your top coat? Makes no sense to put three expensive finish coats on when one could be 1/3 the cost.

[Mark Bolton]

Drywall is easy if you do it right. Get some fiberglass tape, joint compound and a blue drywall knife. This takes three steps to do a decent job. Then do a bit of sanding. Use A product called Gardz for priming. Then paint.

We've been finishing drywall for 30 years. Which I could find the easy way. Fiberglass tape is the absolute worst if your not super careful in corners not to cut it (a straight trowel or even a sharp butterfly will cut your tape and you will have no corner).

There is a reason pro's never use mesh other than for build-ups

[Tom Porter]

Thanks for all the input. I don't expect the primer to make up for much in the way of mediocre mudding. I think this is one of those jobs where by the time I really get a feel for it, I'll be done. If I'm lucky. But it won't do much good for this job. I used paper tape, mixed the joint compound well before using it, watered it down just a little to thin it, tried to use thin coats, tried to feather the second coat a little and sanded too much (probably). Some of the joints look great, others not so much. It may look a lot better after the third coat and if I need to, I'll touch up with a thin fourth. I'm going to prime even if some may feel it's overkill.

In the end, I'm not trying to cut corners but I want to finish the project up and need to be realistic. I might be able to get close to perfection, but in this case, is it worth the time? I would end up with nice flat smooth walls that I immediately cover with shelving and hanging storage. It's just a trade off I need to consider.

Again thanks for all the advice. Might even get to the priming and painting this weekend if I can wrap up the mudding and decide on the brand of primer. Cheers.

[Joe A Faulkner]

If you haven't already purchased a drywall pole sander or sanding stick, I high recommend one. There is a small learning curve in learning how to control it, but once you have it down, sanding goes much faster. If you aren't good at mudding, you need to be good and patient at sanding. I've heard of some guys putting an edge on their drywall knives so that they can feather the mud to a thin layer. My brother-in-law told me of a professional finisher who did work in his house who when asked how he would keep the dust down when sanding, replied, "I don't need to sand". In the end he was true to his word - his finish work with his knives was such that no sanding was required.

Paint and primer will not compensate for any imperfections in the drywall mud. Instead, paint and primer will accentuate the imperfections. I'm not arguing for perfection, but be aware, if the seams and nail or screw indentations are not filled in and relatively flush, primer and paint will reveal that pretty quickly. Once you prime the mud, it is much, much, much more difficult to sand.

[Lon Crosby]

If you don't have deep scratches/gouges, a hi-solids dry wall primer can solve many problems. Has 3x to 4x more solids than standard primer so the price will match. Best sprayed on but can be rolled on.

[Bill Dufour]

I often buy the returned mis tinted paint in a color close to the finish color. this makes good primer and costs less then most primers. A damp sponge or paint brush can also be used on the mud job.
Bill D

[Doyle Alley]

Here is my trick. Get yourself a bag of powdered drywall texture and instead of mixing it with water, use cheap PVA primer. Mix it the consistency of gravy, then roll that on with a short-nap roller. Don't try and overroll it. Roll on about 2 sq ft at a time, then reload your roller. It will give your wall the same texture as a 90 year old nudist's skin (sans the wrinkles). It is just enough to hide some of the mudding imperfections without making a real "textured" wall.

[Brice Rogers]

Some people doing their first "mudding" job use the wrong compound. Some people have even used rock-hard "spackle". I use a bedding compound with tape first. Then after it dries and shrinks I start using a topping compound. When dry it is soft and easy to sand. I use a 3M open mesh sanding media on a flat pad. It is not really all that hard to get a nice finish if you take your time.

I live in southern Ca. and down here most builders use a splatter finish or a "knock down" splatter finish. It hides a lot of things. Harbor freight sells a low cost texturing machine. When texturing, you are looking to only do a partial cover of the drywall, rather than a full flood coat.

I drywalled, "mudded" and textured my 800 square foot workshop and it came out great. It was my first significant sized job. But I have also watched professionals and learned a few things.

[Carl Kona]

As Brice said there a two different compounds that should be used when applying compound (bedding and topping). The topping doesn't have the glue (or is as thick) that the bedding needs for the tape. Most people (myself included) use general purpose compound and it makes it harder.

A PVA primer is made to bond and fill the pours of drywall paper and provide a better/harder surface to apply a topcoat. As mentioned you can get varying degrees of solids in a PVA primer. The higher the solids the more expensive more forgiving. The other big reason to use a drywall primer is to provide an even top coat. Using a general purpose primer or paint instead of drywall primer will allow the tape joint/board contrast to bleed through. This is evident when you walk into a painted garage where they cut corners and you can see every tape seam and nail cover right through the paint.

[Tom Porter]

In answer to Carl's "let us know what you do", I may have made a series of mistakes. I decided to prime even though I knew my drywall mudding wasn't very smooth in places. Frankly, I was willing to sacrifice perfection for completion. I chose Zinsser's 123 based on research on a bunch of drywall forums. However, I think it might not have been the best choice for me. Frankly, I had a hard time figuring out what was a drywall primer and what was just a general purpose one. They all said suitable for drywall. The 123 wasn't as thick as I thought; I don't think it has a high enough solid component to smooth some of my rougher areas (I realize no primer would solve all my issues but thought some of the minor ones would blend in more). It occurred to me after the fact that since I was looking on forums frequented by experience drywall folks, the primer I selected might be better suited for those who had done a better job mudding than I had. I suspect the primer I used is perfectly functional (it was a very popuar suggestion on the drywall forums), just maybe not the best choice for me. Anyway, I'm going to sand down a few spots in the mudroom section, touch up with joint compound and prime again. I'm less concerned about the garage; prior to this, my garage had only two walls with drywall and the builder had only done what appears to be two thin coats of mud on the joints and that never bothered me. Even with my mediocre job, it's a step up.

Thanks for the advice, even though I might not have used it as effectively as I would have hoped. Live and learn.

[Frank Pratt]

I don't think a primer exists that will smooth the rougher areas. What any paint or primer will do is make it virtually impossible the sand out those imperfections. Once it's been painted, you need to skim coat everything to get it smooth. But if it's only a garage, who cares?