My neighbor Lou convinced me to skip primer on my garage walls

Lou from two doors down said primer was a waste of money and that two coats of paint would do the same job. I figured he'd painted plenty of garages so I went along with it. Fast forward six months and every spot where I leaned a ladder left a black tire mark and the drywall soaked up the paint unevenly. Now I have to sand everything down and start over which is going to cost me about $80 in primer and a whole weekend. Has anyone else been burned by bad advice from a neighbor who seemed like they knew what they were talking about?

3 comments

3 Comments

xenar144mo ago

Lou actually said primer was a waste of money? Man, I just... I don't even know where to start with that. Primer is like the whole reason paint sticks to drywall in the first place, especially in a garage where you've got dust and tire marks and who knows what else. I had a buddy who skipped primer once and his garage looked like a zebra with all the patchy spots from different drywall repairs. You got hosed by the worst possible advice, that's rough.

webb.jordan2mo ago

Did any of those shiny patches actually make the paint fall off the wall though? I've painted garages without primer for like 15 years and the only time I had issues was when I used cheap paint. You got burned because you used the wrong paint not because you skipped primer. A decent gallon of Behr or Sherman Williams covers drywall just fine in two coats and has enough binders to handle ladders and normal garage abuse. Primer is great if you're patching holes or going over a dark color but for bare drywall in a garage that's gonna get banged up anyway? Total waste of money.

the_skyler4mo ago

Yeah @xenar14 is right, that zebra look is exactly what I got on my first garage job too. I tried to skip primer because Lou down the street said the same thing, thought I was saving money. Ended up with these weird shiny patches where the drywall mud soaked up the paint way faster than the rest. Had to go back with a coat of Zinsser, which is like $15 a gallon, and it fixed everything in one pass. Now I primer every wall even if it's already painted, because that $15 saves you from wasting a whole weekend sanding like you are now.