Zinsser Primer Improves Paint Jobs
There is no situation where “buying quality pays off more than in painting. The difference in price between quality and “bargain” paint is minor compared with the labor and benefits involved.
But even if you buy high-quality paint, you can sometimes end up with peeling, blistering, recurring stains from water damage or mildew, and other problems.
In most cases, priming the surface before applying the topcoat will guarentee better and longer-lasting results. Pimers, and in particular, stain-killing primer-sealers, are formulated to seal porous surfaces, block outn stains, promote adhesion of the topcoat, and hide unwanted colors. They make paint jobs look better and last longer.
Finish paints (topcoats) are formulated to go over sealed, stain-free, smooth surfaces. They are not designed, for example, to work well over surfaces of varying porosity, to seal off stains on previously painted walls, to prevent tannin bleed on exterior cedar and redwood, or to adhere well to hard-to-stick-to materials. Such surfaces call for a stain-killing primer-sealer, an all-in-one type of product that prevents and/or solves these common paint problems.
On a porous surface like new wood, a primer-sealer penetrates and fills the pores, binding the fibers as it seals the surface. When the topcoat is applied, the paint film lies on the surface with a proper balance of resin and pigment. If it’s a high gloss paint, it dries to a uniform high gloss finish; if it’s a semi-gloss, it dries to a uniform semi-gloss finish. The topcoat maintains the appearance and performance qualities it was designed to have.
In contrast, if the topcoat is directly applied over an unsealed surface, its resin soaks in, leaving too little binder for the pigment on the surface. The result is poor and uneven gloss and color, poor color retention and scrubbability, and shortened life for the paint job. This is particularly important when it comes to exterior work.
Primers function similarly on the other porous surfacew such as new sheetrock, cured plaste, stucco, old painted surfaces and masonry. Finish paint applied over a properly sealed gypsum wallboard, for example, will be uniform in color and gloss, with no “highs” or “lows” caused by variations in porosity, and no spackled areas or marks showing through.
On dicolored or stained walls and ceilings, or knotty wood surfaces, blemishes are apt to bleed through even multiple coats of finish paint. The job may even look fin at first, only to have knots pop out when the heat is turned on, or tannin stains, under prolonged wet or moist conditions, bleed through and discolor the paint on cedar and redwood fences, gates and siding. One coat of a top-performance stain-killing primer blocks out these and all kinds of stains--including those from water, graffiti, grease, marking pens, crayons, nicotine, etc. -- so they can;t bleed into the topcoat to ruin the job.
Finish paint may not adhere well, if at all, to hard-to-stick surfaces like gloss enamels, Masonite®, vinyl-coaated wallcoverings, galvanized metal, plastic laminates, PVC pipe, ceramic tile, polyurethane-coated wood, and glass. Primer-sealers, like those from Zinsser, are formulated to adhere tightly to such materials, allowing virtually any topcoat to stick to them. The topcoat securely anchors itself to the primer; it won’t chip or peel over time.
Hiding unwanted colors with paint can be time-consuming and expensive since multiple coats are normally required. You can avoid this problem with one coat of a high-hiding primer. Even dark colors, you get a bright white base for the finish paint. By tinting the primer to the topcoat color, you get even better coverage, often needing only one coat of topcoat.
There are three types of stain-killing primer-sealers which differ in formula and properties. Wm. Zinsser & Co. manufacturers all three types of primer-dealers under these trade names: B-I-N (shellac based), Bulls Eye 1-2-3 (interior/exterior water based), Cover-Stain (fast-dry interior/exterior oil-based), and H2Oil-Base ( a special oil-based primer that cleans up with either soap and water or mineral spirits). Zinsser also manufacturers Shieldz Universal Pre-Wallcovering Primer (water-based or oil-based) and a blister-proof and peel-proof self-priming interior paint, called Perma-White, which reduces maintenance needs maintenance needs through its unique 5-year guarantee against mildew.
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