Sherwin Williams ZERO VOC Multi-Purpose Primer - Any Good?
I went into my local SW store this weekend to pick up some paint for my sons play room. I'm trying to keep it low VOC since he is going to be in there a lot and bought two gallons of their Harmony paint. I asked the saleswoman what primer she would recommend for painting over poly'd wood paneling walls. I was expecting her to say a oil based adhesion primer but she recommended their newly formulated Multi-Purpose primer. Apparently it is now reformulated so that it is zero-VOC. This sounds good to me but I asked her if it had enough bite so stick to previously stained/poly'd wood. She said it would as long as I scuffed up the surface...which I had planned to do anyways. Anyone use this stuff yet? Any good? Personally, I have never seen fit to use a low or no VOC product, but Sherwin Williams makes good products and the people in their stores generally know what they're talking about. I assume it's this primer - Multi-Purpose Latex Primer I haven't used it but being an old school painter I'm a bit skeptical of using latex over oil base finishes. If you go with this primer I'd definitely sand well first....... and let us know how it's fared after several months. I can't find the exact product on their website but its close. The Multi-Purpose primer I have looks almost the same except it says Zero-VOC in fairly large text on the front. The sales woman said it was recently reformulated and this version is replacing the one from the link. That said....it is not tinted so I can return it. In your opinion, what is the best primer to go over an oil base stain that has been polyurethaned? We'll be out of the house for a few days anyways so it can air out all it wants. What primer will make latex stick the best over a smooth, glossy oil base? I don't feel like being a guinea pig. Maybe I'll save this stuff for some drywall. Personally, I would use Zinsser's Bullseye oil based primer after scuff sanding the existing surface. I hear you on not wanting to be a guinea pig The primer my SW rep recommends for that exact purpose is SW pro-block, and yes, it is an oil based primer. It is not no VOC, but it is low VOC. You can find it on page 5 of this brochure. My rep also told me a story just last week about how one of her employees recommended a latex primer for priming over polyurethane/varnish and the customer came back asking why the paint could be scratched off easily with her fingernails. DOH! You sometimes get bad advice from even a paint store employee. It's best to go to the top with your questions! So I would NEVER use a latex primer over varnish, but would instead got for the oil based pro-block. Mitch17...This one.....?? That should work but this is the one I referenced: RustOleum.com Guys....thanks for your help! I'll ask one more related question so I don't need to start another thread. When I scuff up the glossy surface....what grit should I be using? I have some Fine 3M sanding sponges. Not sure of the grit. Will they be too aggressive? Should I be using something like Steel Wool? Thanks again! 220 grit would be my choice. I believe that is in the 'fine' category. The idea here is that you're not trying to remove any appreciable amount of material, just that you're trying to rough up the surface to give your primer more surface area for a better bond. 220 is good between coats of polyurethane or varnish, but I'd probably recommend 150 or 180 grit for paint prep. It will abrade the surface more so that you have good adhesion. 3M sandblaster sponges are fine if by fine that means 180. (they also make a 320 that would be too fine) A block sander is always better for flat surfaces, sponges are nice for profiles and grooves. I do indeed have the 180 grit fine 3M sandblaster sponges. I've got plenty of grooves to work with...I'll be doing this all by hand. But I lied...I have a few more questions. 1. I've read its good to wipe down the surface with mineral spirits prior to sanding to clean off the years of oil/grease/dirt/etc. I've got a gallon of denatured alcohol....will that work? 2. And with the primer...I'm priming over a cherry-ish stain color and going to a light pastel yellow. I'll be putting two coats of SW Harmony down. Does the primer need to completely block out the old wall color or is it okay if some shows through? Thanks! I think that should be it! Sanding will remove most of that from the surface. But in order to remove the dust after sanding, wiping everything down with a tack cloth and denatured alcohol would work well. If you have reason to believe some areas are extra oily due to people touching the walls (around light switches, etc), denatured alcohol works well for that. Wear some latex gloves when you use it though... it goes right into your skin. As far as priming is concerned, primer doesn't need to cover 100% of the old color, but it is certainly nice when it does. Primer coverage is more about adhesion. If you think the dark color will be hard to cover, you can always have your primer tinted so that it more closely resembles the top coat. I'm heading back to work! Yeah, primer isn't meant to hide what's underneath, it's to seal the surface so your paint can hide what's underneath. As well as providing a good surface for paint adhesion, of course. Painting over paneling or stained woodwork is almost always a 3 coat job - 1 primer, 2 finish paint. Yellow is a color that doesn't have the best coverage or hiding properties.... but a lot depends on the color of yellow used. Quality paints always cover better than their cheaper counterpart. I'd also recommend using 150 grit for the sanding. As noted above it's always best to remove any sanding dust' I like to use a liquid deglosser for this as it also softens the underlying paint/poly further increasing the likely hood of a great adhesion. Your denatured alcohol will be fine. I've never used gloves when working with solvents but I'm tough.... and probably a little dumb
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