primer or paint (bare plywood)

[Jay Sco]

Hey all, I'm wanting to paint (black) a wall in the garage that is bare plywood. Now I know that primer is the correct way to go, but I have none and funds are seriously that low. What I do have is more than enough flat white paint from the previous owner, enough to give it 20+ coats if need be.
So should I just keep rolling till it stops seeping in, or save up for a can of primer? It doesn't need to be perfect, in fact I hope to drywall it some time in the distant future.

 

[Boomer343]

I'd use the white flat paint and thin it for the first coat. Thinning will make it easier to sand down. Do another coat and then your black. Not like you are painting something critical but the black will show all imperfections so depending on how fussy you are....as I tell people you can be cheap, you can be fussy but then you will have to do the work...

 

[Jay Sco]

I'm not really fussy at all. And more broke than cheap, same thing right now. So flat white base it is. Thanks.

 

[7th Kahuna]

As you said, you have plenty of white paint. I think you'll know pretty quick if it isn't going to work. After the initial coat dries (and is sanded), paint a little of the undiluted white. Paint over a knot or two if you have them. If the paint stays on the surface and looks right, then proceed to black. If not, primer is cheap. I understand though that even cheap may not be cheap enough. Good luck.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Your flat white paint will act fine as a primer, No sanding needed. I would roll a thinned (10% H2O to paint) first coat of the white to allow it to better absorb into the ply wood then one more unthinned coat. If the paint you have on hand isn't too old you might want to take it to the store it was originally purchased at and ask the to squirt an ounce of black tint into the can. They will do this at no cost. Alternatively I would pick up a tube of black tint ($3.00) and tint it myself. Coating a white base with a black finish coat won't be so much fun...

 

[Jay Sco]

Thanks for the advice. I'll get some tint and see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get some paint up this weekend.