I'm getting ready to paint and I need advice. My dog likes to get really dirty and rub up against the wall

Question

for some reason. The people that lived here before us painted with a flat based paint so wiping the dirt off isn't an option. I need to know if one coat of primer will cover up the dirt? I do bathe the dog, but for whatever reason he likes to rub his back under cars and roll around in the dirt. Since I am only going to be painting from the baseboard up to the middle and then putting some type of boarder in between, will the flat based paint still look good on top with the latex type paint I am going to get for easy clean up?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Tell him no when he is rolling in the dirt. Maybe if you have a back yard put him out there with food and water and toys. Then paint it, take some breaks to check on him.

OR

You can check him into a doggy day care center.

OR

You can loan him to a friend who has a dog and who you trust so the dogs can have a play day.

Answer 2

Flat paint is washable, so you can wash off as much of the dirt as you can, and you don't have to worry as much about damaging the paint job a little since you'll be painting over it.

Personally I would use an eggshell sheen for the new paint. I know it's only one sheen different, but eggshell is scrubbable whereas flat paint is only washable. But you have to use a high quality paint.

Good paint is not necessarily correlated to price. Kilz and Behr rank well in Consumer Reports. I just went to the Consumer Reports webpage to check on scrubbability specifically since that will be your main need. They both rank excellent as being scrubbable. (I think you need a membership to access that information, otherwise I would have provided you with the link.)

Kilz is at Walmart, and Berh is at Home Depot. Only high quality paints like these offer the eggshell sheen. The difference in look between flat and eggshell is not too much, so it will look great with the upper half of the wall being painted flat.

If you're going to be scrubbing your walls all the time, then you might want to consider satin, but DO NOT pick semi-gloss. People will tell you that it's the most washable and all that, but it looks awful on walls and shows EVERY flaw. Satin is every bit a scrubbable as semi-gloss, so no matter how many people might suggest it, don't do it! It wouldn't look good with your flat upper wall either.

Besides, it sounds like you'll just be washing regular dirt off the wall, which should wash off easily. It's not like you'll be scrubbing off permanent marker stains or anything like that.  A little Simple Green in a bucket of water works well to wash walls. I've done that a lot. Buy a gallon of it, and get an empty spray bottle and fill it with water and Simple Green, ratio 30:1 or 20:1 water to Simple Green. A little goes a long way. You can use the spray bottle and a damp cloth for spot cleaning or daily cleaning.

Whether you choose Eggshell or Satin, paint the chair rail a really high gloss. (You said you were leaving the upper wall as it is, so I assume you're going to use chair rail to separate the two colors. It would look the best.) The high gloss creates a gorgeous contrast to the wall, and it will make both upper wall and lower wall appear low-luster thus solving the problem of having two different sheens.

Regarding primer, since you mentioned it, if the dirt doesn't wash off the flat wall paint or if too much of the paint comes off while washing it, use a primer for you first coat. You can get tinted primer. Have some primer tinted close to the color that you're going to paint the wall, and you should be able to cover it completely with one coat of paint. Kilz and Behr both advertise one coat coverage, so unless you get a really bold or bright color, one coat of tinted primer and one coat of paint will do it.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Uh, wendy, Behr and Kilz are not premium paints, despite what wal-mart and home depot might want you to think!  As for consumer reports - Did they test Aura, California, or Miller?  Doubt it.  Kilz does make a great primer, once you've washed the walls, for the new coat.  All Behr is junk.  Oh, and you can get d**n near any paint in a satin finish, not just those two.  Good idea about the gloss chair rail and the 30:1 Simple Green, which also kills doggie germs while being safe for spot.

Use different colors; an intentional difference in color can look nice, but an almost-matches loooks terrible!

Paint is one of our family's businesses, one I am not involved in day-to-day, and as we sell only to the industrial markets I did not list our manufactured name.

Answer 4

Yes aaeon is correct beher is junk and kilz is only a primmer its not a finnish paint home depot must have slipped consumer affairs an envelope cause they are the worst paint when will you learn if someone goes on and on about how great they are they ARE NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cause if they were you would already know without them telling you. Go with oil based or semi gloss other wise it will rub off.For those of you who dont know all flat paint is primer have you ever painted windows outside and a few years later you have white stains running down the wall its because flat paint is only primmer and you never finished it cause some dumb *** said it was a finish coat.To get a professional paint job is in the prep work so if you prep it rite you can use high gloss cause there wont be any flaws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

If you want to do this properly, and only do it once, get some oil based paint and paint the areas the dog comes in conact with. This paint is for,ulated to stand up to repeated washings with no loss of luster or shine, which happens with latex based paints, regardless of type. True, the wall will take longer to dry, the cleanup will invove paint remover, and there will be an odor for a while, but that also might keep the dog off the walls too. But for areas that take a lot of abuse, are under higher than average amounts of humidity and moisture, we always use oil based paints. A decent can of semi gloss will also reflect a good deal of light as well as cover any wall flaws which may exist.

And yes, I would primer and patch any visible holes, cracks, etc.