Do it yourself paint job.

Nylonathetep

Hi, I recently moved into a new apartment and all the walls are painted white. I need to remedied this problem.

1) Do I need a Primer to paint a wall if it's been painted already?

2) I got some left over latex paint that I'll use to repaint the walls. Something tells me that Using Latex paint on Oil paint/primer is bad. What's an easy way to tell if the paint that I'm gonna paint over is Latex or Oil base?


P.S. It's bought.

ahava

First, before you do anything, are you renting this apartment, or did you buy it? if you're renting the apartment, then obviously check your lease/landlords to find out if you're even allowed to paint the walls.

From there, I leave it up to the other smart people on this board.

defreak

1) Yes. Even if the old color is white and you don't have to worry about it bleeding through, using primer simply gives you a better result. We skipped primer when we repainted our laundry room, it did not look good at all, ended up priming and painting it again. Also, there's paint with primer mixed in, it worked alright, we still preferred priming and painting separately.

2) Latex on oil may or may not work, it just depends. The best way to go about it is to give it a light sand, then prime, paint. Depending on how old the apartment is, it's very likely the walls are latex. Usually only the wood stuff are oil, like trim and baseboards.

ihmmy

You may want to use a primer if you're doing something like a red paint, which is notorious for going on lighter than you want if you put it directly on white walls (and you may need multiple coats, even with a primer)

WildEEP

Easy solution - Lowes or Home depot..they've got a selection of ULTRA-PREMIUM paints. What that means is that the paint is really good quality and its already got the primer mixed into it. Its more expensive per can - but its worth every penny. Otherwise you're gonna buy twice as many cans of the cheap stuff because you have to do multiple coats.

Also - get good rollers. The paint guys there can point you in the right direction - if you get crappy ones, they'll leave little hairy bits behind on the wall.

wmelon

WildEEP wrote:

Easy solution - Lowes or Home depot..they've got a selection of ULTRA-PREMIUM paints. What that means is that the paint is really good quality and its already got the primer mixed into it. Its more expensive per can - but its worth every penny. Otherwise you're gonna buy twice as many cans of the cheap stuff because you have to do multiple coats.

Also - get good rollers. The paint guys there can point you in the right direction - if you get crappy ones, they'll leave little hairy bits behind on the wall.

After having just painted almost every room of my house, I'd recommend skipping the lowes or home depot brands. My wife and I painted 2 rooms with the house with Lowes' ultra premium paint and even with 3 coats it didn't fully cover the primer. We took it back and replaced it with Sherwin Williams and had no problems covering anything even with 1 coat. Sure it cost a bit more, but it was worth the time it saved us.

Grid System

Nylonathetep wrote:

2) I got some left over latex paint that I'll use to repaint the walls. Something tells me that Using Latex paint on Oil paint/primer is bad. What's an easy way to tell if the paint that I'm gonna paint over is Latex or Oil base?

I don't know how reliable this is, but if you can peel a chip of paint off the wall, you can test its composition by trying to bend it; latex paint should bend easily, while oil paint should just snap.

Nylonathetep

Thanks for all your advice so far.

I asked a family friend who's also a contractor. Most new apartment use Latex paint in the first place so it's fine.

No need for Primer. Currently every wall in the apartment is painted White.

I also got some used paint from him for free, but I will need another color for my room.

I'll start this DIY project on Saturday. Wish me luck!