new sheetrock....now what?

11 years ago

We are building a new house and are planning to paint it ourselves. The drywall guy has just finished doing the sheetrock and plaster. Before we start painting, what kind of primer do we need to use (please be specific i.e. brand, name)? Can the same primer be used for both ceiling and walls ? I read somewhere that you can just use a white primer for the ceiling and not have to worry aboout painting?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

User
11 years ago
If you don't know what products and tools to use here, you really need to re-evaluate your ability to do the job properly.

PVA primer.
bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
11 years ago
Everyone has to start somewhere... so I won't say that you CAN'T do the job properly...but I sure wouldn't recommend learning how to paint while painting an ENTIRE brand new house.

Painting isn't rocket science but it is HARD work and it does take some skill. Below is a link to HousePainting101 that will answer many of your questions about how to do the job and what kinds of tools to use and so forth.

Read all the articles carefully - including all the various links that give more info on each subject...like how to use a roller. (The videos page seems to be broken so ignore that. You can do a search on YouTube if you want for videos showing how to paint the interior of a house instead.)

Then, before you commit to painting your entire new house, try painting a couple of rooms (and ceilings) in the place where you currently live using the techniques you're learned from reading HousePainting101. Your current abode could probably do with a fresh coat of paint anyway, couldn't it?

If you can do two rooms successfully - and without winding up buying up all the BenGay at your local pharmacy, then go for it! But remember, when repainting a room, you usually don't have to prime and oftentimes a single coat of fresh paint is all that is needed unless you're making a drastic color change. With new sheetrock, every single surface will need at least one good coat of primer and two coats of paint. And some colors may require several coats of paint to look right. We have one room that is a deep brownish red and we had to put six coats of paint on it before it really looked right!

Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: House Painting 101
Related Professionals
Bayshore Gardens Architects & Building Designers · Palos Verdes Estates Architects & Building Designers · Pembroke Architects & Building Designers · West Jordan Architects & Building Designers · Yeadon Architects & Building Designers · Dardenne Prairie Home Builders · South Hill Home Builders · Erlanger General Contractors · Fargo General Contractors · Linton Hall General Contractors · Mashpee General Contractors · Mount Laurel General Contractors · Roselle General Contractors · Saginaw General Contractors · Signal Hill General Contractors
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
"With new sheetrock, every single surface will need at least one good coat of primer and two coats of paint. And some colors may require several coats of paint to look right. We have one room that is a deep brownish red and we had to put six coats of paint on it before it really looked right! "

Worth repeating.

every. single. surface.
I cannot stress that enough!
brickeyee
11 years ago
"We have one room that is a deep brownish red and we had to put six coats of paint on it before it really looked right! "

Most likely some tinted primer could have fixed this.
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
Not necessarily!

My brother used a gray primer, and HIS Chinese red still took six or seven coats.
GreenDesigns
11 years ago
I second the second thoughts here. If you don't own scaffolding and a spray rig, renting that equipment will take away any savings that you might think you're getting by DIYing. And, if you've not done this before, as your questions suggest, then you will end up taking longer and doing a worse job. The taking longer can come around to bite you if you aren't careful as all of the other trades need to be scheduled in sequence and any holdups that you create will negatively impact your bottom line and finish date.
EngineerChic
11 years ago
We recently did the priming and some of the painting on a large reno (new second floor) with skim coat plaster over blue board. For primer, we used Killz. I'm sure we didn't need to use that, but we've had good luck with it in the past & thought, why mess with success?

For trim you will need to buy putty (to patch the holes), latex caulk to fill any gaps, and a few sanding sponges to make everything nice and smooth.

In fact, get a couple extra sanding sponges to use on the walls between each coat of paint. Even the best roller will have some lint it will shed & a quick wipe down the walls with a fine sanding sponge will take care of that. Then you need to either vacc the dust off the wall or wipe them down with a tack cloth.

As far as tools to use ... I actually really like Wagner's power painter thing that pumps paint up to the roller. We have painted the interior of a few homes now (we've moved a few times) and while I never wanted to learn how to use a sprayer, a power roller helps me get more paint & primer on the wall. I'm less likely to try and "stretch" the paint too far if I get more by clicking a button for a second or two (as opposed to dipping the roller back in the tray).

BTW - new walls love primer. They drink it up like it's lemonade on a hot day. Buy it in 5 gallon buckets.

It's a big job, BTW, even with knowing what we're doing (somewhat) and having 2 people it will take us 5-7 days to finish our upstairs paint job. Trim and cutting in can't really be rushed. However, the estimate to paint that space was incredibly high and its one way we can put time into it and get reasonably good results.

Last thought - after a full day of painting, a couple preventative ibuprofen makes it easier to get out of bed the next day :)