light gray over... crappy mint

Hey-oh!

SO! I've been working on painting this bedroom and it's been a disaster, sort of. I've primed the ceiling and then painted it white using a "premium" ceiling paint from Lowe's and it looks so so SO much better than the nicotine color it was before.

My problem is the walls.

The idiots before didn't care how the room looked and they painted it a medium to light mint green depending on what part of the wall you look at since more was applied in places and less in others. They also didn't cut in and probably didn't have a ladder so they were only able to cover as far as their arms could reach up the 10ft walls.

I've primed once with Kilz 2 latex primer because a painter suggested using it but now after reading more about it I'm a little concerned Kilz 2 is crap. However, it seemed to do quite well on the ceiling and seems OK on the wall. I'm doing a light gray paint on the wall (Olympic premium from Lowe's, small room and I'm going to be doing Sherwin-Williams in the Kitchen for a comparison later) so I wanted to stick with the white primer as I thought gray would be too dark for underneath.

My problem is this, one coat of primer seems to hide the mint green pretty well but I can still see variations in paint intensity in parts. Where I've used spackle to fill holes I've tried to be liberal with the primer but not enough to make an uneven coat or runs. I'm worried that I'm going to have to do two coats of my light gray finish paint on some/all of the walls. Is this to be expected? Should I prime once more? What about trying the light gray finish on one wall and seeing how that does?

Thanks


P.S. Was I crazy for thinking I could get away with 1 coat of primer and 1 coat of finish on top of a crappy paint job??? This room is only 100sq.ft. but it feels as if I've spent 80 hours on fixing holes, trim work and trying to smooth out their last paint job!!!!!!!

 

I found it very hard to take photos of the paint with the lighting conditions. Paint01 is door with no paint, far left, paint02 is cutting in with primer to the right and opposing wall with window and paint03 is half primed half not... Not sure if these help but hey... why not. Door is installed now, talked the sales guy down on the knotty alder door at Lowe's to the price of a pine door!

 

I don't think I've ever gotten away with a single coat of paint.
I've always had to prime then do two coats of paint. Was able to cover up a wall that had sponged dark blue, light blue and white with a good coat of primer and two coats of paint.

 

I guess I should have counted on two! I won't prime a second time but will do two coats of finish. Should I cut in with my light gray on both coats or just cut in on the second coat?

 

I'd cut on both. I have on mine paint jobs and they turned out decent.
Maybe the pros would do different.

 

I rarely ever apply 2 coats of primer. You will get better wear with 2 coats finish as opposed to 1 coat primer and 1 coat finish.

I've painted a lot of new work that just got 1 coat primer and 1 coat finish and have done a lot of repaints that only got 1 coat. Using the right coatings goes a long way towards getting good coverage. I've paid more for a better coating than the specs called for because it would cover better and save me money in the long run.

Whether or not to cut in all coats is job specific. While it never hurts to cut in all coats, there are times where you can get by without cutting them all in.

 

Personally, I would not use the primer you did, it has known adhesion issues.

That said, I would use joint compound to smooth the walls and then prime and paint if there really are surface irregularities (hard to tell from the pics). I'm with Mark - one coat of quality primer and then one or two coats of quality paint (my choices are Zinsser and Benjamin Moore, respectively).

 

Well I did cut in on the first coat last night and it looks like at least one wall will need another coat of finish. So that will be tonight's endeavor. For 4 walls (100sqft each) it took me approximately 6 hours to cut in (no taping used) and paint. Luckily for tonight's second coat of finish I'll have a buddy help out and we should have it done pretty quickly.

marksr, what does "using the right coatings" mean? I.e. type of paint and finish of paint?

Unfortunately now that i've used part of the 5gal bucket of Kilz 2 I'm not sure if I can return it for credit, bummer, should have asked first instead of taking one painter's advice.

 

I find my painting endeavors go best if I come here first and get Mark's opinion before I start.

And yes, his comment about the right coatings means using quality paints versus cheap ones.

 

Knowing which coating is the best one for the job at hand comes with experience. Usually the help at your local paint store is better trained than the help that is typically found in a paint dept. As Mitch pointed out, the quality coatings generally cover better than their cheaper cousins. Also some coatings are better suited for the job at hand than others. The more you know about a manufacture's coating line, the more able you are to pick the right coating for the job. DIYer's shouldn't be expected to know all this but the paint salesman should!