I just had new drywall hung, taped, and mudded in my basement. Now, it is time to prime and paint.?

Question

Is there anything special I need to do to the drywall before I prime? The walls are very dusty, I plan to brush them off with a broom but was wondering if anyone had any other tips or tricks. Thanks.

Answer 1

They make a primer that's specifically for new drywall, very reasonably priced too.

Answer 2

Vacuum them.

Answer 3

nothing special needs to be done.  just use a good PVA (poly vinyl acetate) primer and you're good to go.  if it's a big space, i would recomend a sprayer to apply the primer, and then spray on a good ceiling paint, as long as you don't mind a little overspray.

Answer 4

You will be much better off with a shop vac, even if you need to rent or borrow one. Broom dusting will just spread the dust everywhere (including the air) and the prime job will trap dust particles preventing proper adhesion.

Once you have properly dusted, a coat of primer followed by two coats of finish color will give you an fine surface.

Answer 5

That is because the mud is sanded, right?  All we ever did in any house was broom them down with a fine hair(black bristle- horse hair- push broom) from ceiling to floor....ceiling to floor -just like paint rolling but sweeping of the major sanding dust.

    Then the dust is swept to the centre of the room(because we were interested in the walls not the center of the room)   If you have to do the ceiling, then broom the ceiling to the walls and the wall down to the floor  and then sweep up the dust and get rid of it.

    Then you are ready for latex primer/sealer or latex sealer.      Give that a roll on the walls.

     I know you are thinking there is still some dust on the wall; that is minor and not a worry at this time.   I have seen rookies go and wipe the walls down with water wet rag(dissolving the drywall mud making a mess).

  Roll the walls with the sealer and brush in the corners, then leave it for at least 24 hours.  After the 24 look at the walls/ you are going to notice nicks, air holes, gouges and the like that the drywaller missed.    You can now catch those bits with spackle and let that dry.

         The wall if you rub your open palm down the face of it probably feels like rough sandpaper in spots.      That is the dust in the primer.   You now sand the walls with a pole sander(just like the drywallers did) except you do the whole wall, not just where the tape and mud was(use 120 grit) and go over a spot (up-down) and feel with the hand.....should be silky smooth which is what you want.   Do the entire room and pay attention to the spots which you had spackled. and make sure that the repair is now flat with the wall.

    You will not see any dust come off the pole sander while you are sanding the primer(you are not trying to sand thru the primer, just to knock off the dust, flies, snot, dirt c**p that somehow gets in paint when you put it on the wall.          There is basically no reason to sweep the wall either as most of THAT paint dust c**p falls directly to the floor(and a broom just carries alot of c**p with it). Use a large clean rag(like a sweatshirt) and wipe the walls down kinda willy nilly in the middle where hands are most likely to "feel the wall" and that is enough.

      Just leave the floor alone.  No use raising the floor dust if you don't have to by sweeping it(as it will land right on the walls you just cleaned).

    Now, you can roll on a color coat of latex(use 100% acrylic no other).  Wears better, lasts longer.       Paint from ceiling down(if the ceiling has to be painted, do it first.   Walls second, trim last.   Do not tape painted surfaces.  It will lift the paint.

  BTW  I normally put on 2 color coats for customers so for me that is a total of 3 coats.  Patching and sanding done on first 2 coats.  And there is no worries about misses.

But in my basement, it is still in primer/sealer 25 years later and still looks good.

Answer 6

use a tack cloth and dry wipe them down.

when applying the primer, go heavy on it, (thick)

this is setting the base for all paint.

if you sparingly use the primer than any color that you apply down the road will be splochy.

Answer 7

that dust is nasty, it will s***w up your lungs and the motor of a vacuum if you don't filter it out properly, so use a mask and you can use a carpet cleaner to get what you can't get with a broom... this will put the dust into water. Also use plenty of water to wash the dust down the drain so it doesn't eat at your pipes

as far a s wall prep, if you cannot feel a mark on your wall then you will not be able to see it either ,so use your fingers to tell the difference between shadows and defects.

Once you are rid of the dust, just tape/prime and paint...

there are tricks to that but that is beyond scope of your question