It seems the paint industry and TV commercials are all abuzz with claims of self priming paint. What exactly is behind these claims, and do they make any real practical sense? I will attempt to open a dialogue on this topic and encourage anyone with any comments or experiences to participate.

My opinion on the subject is that there are a few reasons to use the same paint as a prime coat and there are many reasons not to. In general this marketing strategy feels like the decades old trend of dumbing down the painter trade and making everyone who can hold a paint brush feel like an expert. The truth is that painting can be a very complicated affair, and attempts to make it seem otherwise could end up making the situation far worse. Just ask any one of the sales associates that work at G&R Paint how complicated the questions are that they face on any given day. The pitfalls are many and the consequences can be expensive…I digress!

Just as an experiment I recently took four equal pieces of pine trim board and coated them three times with four premium satin acrylic products that we sell at G&R. One of these products subscribes to the self-priming marketing strategy while the other three do not. I left a portion of each coat as it was so that after the final coat all three coats could be observed individually and collectively. It was obvious that all four products were self-priming to the same extent. None of them exhibited qualities that would be sufficient for a two coat only job. Even after three coats (all put on in equal amounts with the same brush), it could be observed that the results would have been superior with the use of a primer to adequately seal the bare wood.

Let’s talk about why we use primers in the first place. There are three primary reasons for priming. The first is to promote adhesion to the substrate, the second is to block out difficult stains and dramatic color changes, and the third is to seal the substrate so that the topcoat sits on the surface and performs to the best of its ability. Historically there have been different specific primers to do any of the three functions outlined above. In recent times there has been a movement within the paint industry to cover all three bases in one primer. All purpose primers as they are referred to, do many things well, but might not be the best primer for any one individual situation or problem. In addition to all of these there is the need to sand between coats on many projects to give the best possible finished appearance. We actually sell a primer called “Sand-able Acrylic Primer”. Now the fact that it has great adhesion is a plus, but not the primary attribute that we are looking for. Pigmented shellac has always been the best product for covering difficult stains from fire and water damage, in addition to being an odor barrier as well. Try using a self priming paint in a room that has been occupied by a heavy smoker, or one that has either water or smoke damage. I think you will quickly come to the conclusion that self priming as a concept is inherently limited in its scope.

So when does it make sense to use a self priming paint. Surely there must be some situations where this is a valuable tool. In general I would say that this is a plus on lower quality work where the finished result is not expected to be the very best it can be. If I had a single window ledge or other small project to complete in a hurry,  I might opt to use just one brush and one self priming product to get it done.  Here there is some real value, but low expectations. One exception to this rule is direct to metal products, (DTM). These are industrial coatings that are designed to go directly on metal substrates. Many of these types of products can be just as good as using a primer and topcoat system. This is by far the exception not the rule when it comes to self priming paints.

I could talk all day about the benefits of the many different types of primers available on the market, and on any given day I usually do. There continue to be good reasons to use these products in conjunction with a high quality topcoat to achieve superior results. Let’s not be lulled into a false sense of security by marketing that seeks to exploit our inherent desire to take the easy way out. At the end of the day, (or the end of your paint job’s lifespan) we are still better served by doing things the old fashioned way.