We are now living in our newly renovated house, and I am priming the fresh drywall on all three floors as quickly as possible. My question is this - is it more efficient to give all the walls a single coat to seal them and then go back to give them their second coat, or can I give each daily section its second coat, then move on?
The question revolves around having to move the (minimal) furniture twice in the first scenario, and leaving a greater surface area unsealed for a longer period. The drywaller was adamant that I had to get everything sealed as soon as possible, as the humidity goes up with people in the house.
You who know home reno, what say you?
How long is the recommended drying time? How many people are doing the painting?
If you had two people, one could be X hours ahead of the other (where X is the drying time). You could do something like: paint for X hours on separate floors. Then let Person 2 start the second coat where it had been drying for X hours. Person 2 then ‘chases’ you all through the house, putting on the 2nd coat.
If you only had one person, I’d paint two floors; then go back and 2nd coat the 1st floor; paint the 3rd floor; then 2nd coat the 2nd and 3rd floors.
I should think the 1st coat would add some protection, thus having everything ‘sealed as soon as possible’. Did the drywaller speak to that at all?
Any way you slice it, this is going to take you several days. Well, depending upon the size of the areas to be painted.
It depends.
Yes, getting everything primed quickly (minimizing the time unprimed surfaces are exposed) is a good idea. The face paper in drywall is absorbent and can react with the moisture over time. You don’t want that.
But, primers need to fully dry before taking a second coat of anything, more primer or topcoat. Oil based primers sometimes need a week or more to properly cure.
So, what to do depends on what kind of primer you’re using and how much time you’re thinking of taking to do the job.
By the way, two coats of top quality oil based primer can produce excellent results, but might be slight overkill. You might consider brush priming only the mudded areas with the first coat, then fully prime the entire walls with the second. That’ll give all the advantages of two full coats but use less primer and go quicker.
Many thanks for your responses.
NinetyWt The drywall sealer/primer that I’m using has a recommended drying time of 4 - 6 hours, which coincidentally is the average amount of time per day that I have to devote to this project. I am, for the time being, working alone.
sunacres I’m using a latex product which dries much faster and cleans up very easily. At present, the cielings will have nothing on them but the two coats of primer, and as such, they look much better with two complete coats. My time frame is as quickly as possible, realistically looking at completion in two to three weeks. Painters and handy-men consulted before Christmas were too busy, and I have no tolerance for sub-standard work (and that includes my own)! I still hope for some assistance on the project, though I don’t know when.
The first coat is by far the most time consuming, as it is the one that involves brushing and then vacuuming the walls, moving and/or covering anything underneath. On the upper two floors I at least have the advantage of working on one room at a time; the open concept main floor is a little more problematic as I can do about one thid of the area in a day. For some reason, the kitchen is in constant use.
And speaking of which, I’d better get at it before my wife and kids get back…
The point of primer is to ‘prime’ the walls which prepares them for a topcoat. Typically primers have a much shorter cure times them paints. The longer a primer cures beyond the recommended cure time the less effective the become for that purpose. Though you don’t need to think about it as an urgent thing. Priming then painting a couple weeks to paint isn’t going to make the prime worthless but if you wait a couple months on the other hand it would be just like you painted the surface rather then primed it.
The good news is that walls won’t fall off the studs if you don’t get this done in 48 hours or whatever.
Realistically, you can’t do everything in a day, or even three. Very well, start and see what you can get done in, say, 4 hours (or whatever you can realistically spend on the job at a time) and do that much but do it well. I’d say cover the most humid rooms first - bathroom and kitchen. You are correct that if the ceilings will have only primer they will need two good, solid coats. Doing the primer right is important for getting the final look right AND for protecting the underlying drywall. Once the bathroom and kitchen are done work outward from those areas.
I’m not sure where your location is, but this IS winter in the northern hemisphere and the least humid part of the year for most of us. The bathroom will be the worst offender for humidity in most homes, do that one first.
I wouldn’t worry too much about how much humidity is being produced by the people in the house. The primer and paint will produce way more humidity while drying than a couple people could ever hope to.
So that being said, I’d agree with the recommendation that the bathrooms and kitchen take priority – get those sealed with primer ASAP and then worry about the other rooms at your convenience. I think you’ll find that just sticking to one product – in this case the primer – and doing all of that first before moving on to your finish paint, will make your life easier overall. Also, once all the surfaces have something on them, you no longer have to worry about humidity, mould, etc. If you’re time frame for completion is two to three weeks, you need not worry about the primer overcuring, so I agree with boytyperanma in that regard.
Have fun! 