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    • #38986
      Jeff Schechter
      Guest

      I’ve just primed a wall with white latex primer and I’m planning on painting over it with a brick-red colored semi-gloss latex paint. Someone told me that I should put another coat of GRAY primer over the white. He said that if I don’t, the white primer will turn my brick-red wall pink.

      Has anyone heard of this before? Should I re-prime with gray?

      Thanks all for your help.

    • #197034
      BobF
      Guest

      You are going to have trouble with a deep red paint no matter what you do! A gray primer is not going to help much so don’t waste you time with that.

      I watched a pro paint crew fight this problem on one wall of an office. After three coats of the red, they gave up and said that was the best they could do.

      My wife wanted me to do the same thing at home and I had the same problem. Warning: If you use a Ralph Lauren latex paint, you are going to have trouble with it drying. I followed directions on the can and let each coat dry well before proceeding. Applying the next coat seemed to soften the previous coat. After three coats, I had a sticky mess. Let it dry for about a week and painted over it with a normal latex paint. I took it back and got a refund.

      I know a fair amount about painting, and I have also heard others complain about the RL paints. Same problem.

      If you are determined to do this, with the RL paint, let each coat dry at least three days before proceeding. And expect to need three coats minimum to cover.

    • #197038
      Henry in MI
      Guest

      Jeff, painting ANY strong color over white primer will let some of the primer color come through, and red is about the worst to cover. This is a normal situation and the quality and flatness of the paint will have a lot to do with your results. Paint that is very flat will have whitish particles that do the flattening and this will not help. One suggestion is that the primer can be tinted and this may help its hiding power. If you have a full can or very close to that of primer left, you might consider taking it back to the store and having it tinted to match your red color. The store MAY not be thrilled about this and will tell you that they can’t get a good color match. This is not a big thing since you will be painting over it anyway. If you get too big a hassle, consider going somewhere else. On the other hand, if you have less than 3/4’s of a can of primer to tint, it probably is not worth YOUR hassle. The real bottom line is that it WILL take more than one coat of paint to cover and it may take more than 2 or 3. Going to a grey primer will not make it any better than using a red primer and changing to another color from the red to another equally strong color may not be much improvement.

      Henry in MI

      Henry in MI

    • #197048
      Jeff Schechter
      Guest

      BobF…Henry in MI…

      Thanks for the advice. I’m at the “in for a penny, in for a pound” phase of the project having just primed with the gray that the store told me to. Here’s hoping my little weekend home improvement project doesn’t turn into the “Section of Wall from Hell.”

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