Thanks everyone, especially demarpaint and pandus13, for the advice. It seems like the common theme is to prime (more) with an oil-based primer before moving forward. Got it.
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I would ditch the 123 primer and use this
Cover Stain Primer. You have bleed through, while latex primers make claims to hold back bleed through, they often don't. Which is what you're seeing here. Cover stain will hold it back, and can be applied over and under latex paints. The downside is it smells, open up the windows and use a fan. It dries in about an hour, I'd give it about three hours.
How are the ceilings? is there any bleed through? The reason I ask is with my monitor it looks like the prior owner might have been a smoker, if so I would prime everything with the Cover Stain. If what I'm seeing is just shadows then all you have to do it prime the walls to kill the bleed through from the prior paint job. FYI purple, reds, yellows and a few other colors often bleed. One good coat of Cover Stain is all you'll need, it can be tinted to get close to the finish color. I usually top coat it with two finish coats.
Going forward use Micro fiber rollers,3/8" or 1/2" work great. Forget about cleaning the roller used in the Cover Stain, wrap it in foil if you plan on painting multiple days then toss it. For latex paints wash them with soap and water. Use bristle brushes for the Cover Stain primer and a nylon [type] brush for the latex.
HTH
Thanks, I appreciate the advice. No bleed thru on the ceiling. I will pick up the Cover Stain after work this evening.
Originally Posted by pandus13
The Critic,
I'm just going to piggy back on what others said already or explain the terms for you.
First, since you are using plastic as drop cloths/floor covering, have a towel/old-t-shirts at the exit door, outside the room, in case you carry paint drops on your socks/interior shoes.
Second, cut in (with a brush or small roller and paint with regular 9" roller) Never Slap paint on the wall (paint that starts dripping on the wall)
Keep a "wet edge":
-brush, (cut-in) for ceiling/on top of boards, start from 2-3 inches into the already wet paint, get it on the wall, then comeback with a finishing stroke to kind of get rid of the brush hair marks
-brush, corners, make sure you don't get a lot of paint slapped into the corner, because is going to drip.
Rollers: it is a 2 phase:
-get the paint on the wall (I up and down, M/Z/W/whatever pattern on the wall)
-than, you spread the paint on the wall, with top to bottom, bottom to top, fine and constant and over-lapping roller touch. If you do it right, your arms and shoulders should not hurt, because you are not fighting pushing against the walls.
It is actually a very calm and calming activity.
Next, you start getting paint on the wall, next to your already done 1-3 feet wide batch, than you start spreading that paint on the wall on a "wet edge", from 4"-1/2ft into your already previous batch painted on the wall.
-depending on your speed, one wall at the time: cut-in, then paint on the "wet edge" of the cut in
-dip the brush in can/small recipient about 1-2 inches, than don't scrape but tap to sides; this guarantees your not dripping paint from your brush
-don't let you cut-in dry; otherwise lines
-make sure you don't have boogers (globs of paint), fuzzies (pieces of roll material)
-do not squeeze the roll dry
-do not have the wall with orange peel texture: it means you have not spread the paint enough on the wall
-do not let your roller get "dry"
-do not bump the ceiling/boards, left-right walls: it leaves a rough texture
-do not hurry: it is the recipe for a lot of drops flying from your roll all over the room and over you
-don't step on the paint tray
-make sure you are aware where your roller is and where your feet + tray are
I had good results in some rentals with Zinser 1-2-3 (RED, Blue, Purple, Orange, polka dots, kitchen), but my finishing was a contractor grade egg-shell (just enough shine to wipe the walls clean, but not super shine if sun outside) with lots of solids in, which guaranteed good coverage.
P.S. keep roller and paint brush in grocery bags in the fridge if you don't finish in one day
P.S.2: bottle of cheap vegetable oil/baby oil helps with paint stuck to hands.
Thank you - great tips.