Drywall primer/surfacer

[green.bubbly]

Got most of my drywall hung on my house. Spent the last couple of weekends taping, mudding and sanding the guest bedroom and master closet. Being a drywall novices, my wife and I wanted to at least attempt to float it ourselves and decided to try these two rooms as a test.

Had a couple of places where I did not embed the tape deep enough which made the job a lot more harder than it should have. Anyway, this morning we sprayed Sherwin Williams Builders Solution Interior Surfacer and we were pretty darn impressed with the final results. Had two spots where the tape bubbled but other than that, we could not have been happier with the out come.

My problem.question is that the SW product was right at $100.00 for a five gallon bucket. We pretty much used the entire five gallons to do a 15x15 and a 7 x 16 room. Has anyone used another product with good results for a little cheaper price? It really did a great job sealing and coating the drywall making a nice uniform texture and finish but at that rate, I might go broke using the stuff.

FYI, I sprayed the stuff with a Wagner paint crew sprayer with a 519 tip. It was suggested by SW that I needed a sprayer that had at least 3200psi and a .19 to .21 tip. The little Wagner was quite the trooper being that it is rated at 2750psi and a max tip of .015. It had a little trouble getting primed but after that, it was good to go.

 

[mml665]

Well according to the PDS on the SW website it should cover 400 sq ft per gallon. Now of course fresh mud and drywall absurd more material, but it also states 64 sq ft per gallon at 25 mils. With a sprayer you will have overspray loss to factor in. Maybe try one area with a brush and roll application to see material use?

 

[Daedalus]

The surfacer is going on thicker than regular primer/paint. Assuming 8' walls you're getting about 170 square feet per gallon. Primer/paint should yield at least 250 square feet per gallon, and possibly upwards of 400 square feet. Consider finishing with mud and smooth sanding, then using just a regular primer. Also, the paint crew isn't doing you any favors with how much it wastes at cleanup time. I've had one for almost 10 years now and have recently switched over to HVLP spraying. Less overspray, much less cleanup. But yeah, not as nice a finish. But I textured my walls when I did them, and it hides a lot of flaws. I would never dream of smooth-finishing my walls the way this place is framed.

 

[trbomax]

I dont think you will find a comparible product for less. That stuff is really nice! Ive started useing it maybe 3(?) yrs ago and would not do a room w/o it. I rolled it in the shop because I wanted the light texture that results. I sprayed it in 2 beedrooms at the house,2 coats,then sanded it with 220 after a couple weeks dry/shrink time. Its well worth the price IMO.

 

[green.bubbly]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I actually did pretty good coverage wise from what I just figured.

15x15x9 bedroom:
Four walls 9x15 = 540
One 15x15 ceiling = 225

7x15x9 closet:
Two 9x15 walls = 270
Two 9x7 walls = 126
One 7x15 ceiling = 105

Total of 1266 square feet divided by 4.5 gallons equals 281sqft per gallon. Less than the yield stated on the can but that is typical I guess. I have been reading a little more and USG Tuff-Hide is a similar product and is available at one of my customers that is a drywall distributor. I will have to check on their pricing.


mml665, I might try rolling a room to see what the texture ends up looking like. I actually would not mind a little texture. We will experiment on a scrap piece. There was surprisingly very little over spray. I have used the paint crew to spray paint before and it fills the air with paint. With this stuff, there was very little that did not end up on the walls.



Daedalus, I was watching some youtube videos on skim coating and I don't think my knife skills are good enough. You are right about the pint crew wasting a lot of paint. Hopefully when I begin spraying again, I will have the entire house to spray and I can get it done with just a couple of cleanings. I just hope I don't kill the thing trying to spray this stuff.


trbomax, why did you sand after spaying? From looking at my walls, it was pretty darn smooth except for a couple of globs my gun spit on the wall. I agree in that it is really some good stuff. I was really impressed with the outcome and as I said, I am a novice at mudding.

 

[trbomax]

I sanded to eliminate dirt specs and some pinholeing.Thats why its called "surfacer"
The texture is almost like orange peel. Maybe I can take a close in pic of it tomorrow.I did use a long knap roller (5/8") and you have to be carefull that you keep it directional.

 

[Daedalus]

LOL I forgot about the ceiling.

 

[mml665]

To the op I am a second generation painter and have only used a sprayer once and that was to solid stain a shadow box privacy fence. Brush and roll for this guy, makes more sense for me since 99% of what I do is residential repaints. So how smooth is the finish when applied to the surface?

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

I'll go against the grain here. I will start by saying that I love SW paints and use them almost exclusively for my finish coats. I do some very high end remodeling for my clients (Better Homes and Gardens magazine is currently considering a recent project of mine for an upcoming article) and consider myself quite gifted at drywall finishing. To me all a primer is supposed to do is seal the surface so that the final color coat will be uniform and not show the tape joints and screws below. I use the absolute cheapest PVA primer I can find for the job of priming. It is usually a Glidden product and costs around $8 a gallon. If I am going with a dark topcoat I might consider tinting the primer. I am also with mml665 in that I prefer to roll my paint as it yields a far smoother finish IMHO.

 

[green.bubbly]

LOL I forgot about the ceiling.

Don't feel bad. When I first picked up the five gallon bucket, I read that it will cover 1,800sqft. I was thinking sweet, my house is 1,800sqft, Two buckets should be more than plenty.

 

[green.bubbly]

I'll go against the grain here. I will start by saying that I love SW paints and use them almost exclusively for my finish coats. I do some very high end remodeling for my clients (Better Homes and Gardens magazine is currently considering a recent project of mine for an upcoming article) and consider myself quite gifted at drywall finishing. To me all a primer is supposed to do is seal the surface so that the final color coat will be uniform and not show the tape joints and screws below. I use the absolute cheapest PVA primer I can find for the job of priming. It is usually a Glidden product and costs around $8 a gallon. If I am going with a dark topcoat I might consider tinting the primer. I am also with mml665 in that I prefer to roll my paint as it yields a far smoother finish IMHO.

That is where we differ.

 

[green.bubbly]

To the op I am a second generation painter and have only used a sprayer once and that was to solid stain a shadow box privacy fence. Brush and roll for this guy, makes more sense for me since 99% of what I do is residential repaints. So how smooth is the finish when applied to the surface?

It is pretty darn smooth. Maybe just a tiny hint of orange peel.

I hate painting though spraying is not too bad but I have only sprayed in empty new rooms. No way could I see spraying in a kitchen full of cabinets.

 

[mml665]

Did you backroll? That may take down the orange peel effect. Just so you know you will always have some stippling on walls and ceilings, they type of sheen, wall condition and roller cover nap are big factors

 

[trbomax]

Its hard to get a good pic that shows texture,but this aint bad.

 

[FlyBy]

I just use standard SW primer on new drywall and have never had an issue. Two coats of finish paint (depending on the color) and boom, it's done.

 

[green.bubbly]

Its hard to get a good pic that shows texture,but this aint bad.

Where I sprayed, there is definitely not nearly that much texture.
I kind of like the way yours came out. I would imagine as you said, the rolling should be done in the same direction.

Thanks for the pic.