The Advantages of Tinted Primer for Paint

Reduced Labor

• Tinted primer reduces time and labor when painting deep base colors, such as red paint over white walls. Primer, with an added tint similar to the final paint color, contains a minimal amount of white pigment, forms a solid base coat and eliminates the hassle of applying multiple coats of paint to achieve solid coverage. When painting a darker shade of red over white, primer is often tinted to a shade of gray. Gray primer can save a minimum of two coats of paint.

Reduced Paint Expense

• Tinted primer prevents multiple paint coatings, which in turn, significantly reduces the expense of a painting project. Darker paint colors often fall into the deep base, or ultra deep base category,and these paints are typically only sold for special products, which cost more per gallon than typical light-colored paints. Unless you are only painting one or two accent walls, the paint expense could accumulate quickly without the use of tinted primer, since certain deep base colors are known for their poor color coverage.

Color Definition

• A base coat of tinted primer reveals the true color and vibrancy of the new paint color on top. This is simply because the tinted primer closely matches the color of the proceeding paint, and the primer blocks the old paint color from showing through the final coat of paint. A coat of paint on top of tinted primer appears uniform once completely dried. The overall sheen of the new paint over tinted primer reveals its full potential.

Surface Sealing

• Primer's are often sold in a primer sealer combination. A tinted sealer primer is useful for sealing brand new drywall, while creating a solid base coat at the same time. Tinted primer sealers also seal porous surfaces such as wood, preventing the old stain from bleeding through the final coat of paint. Primer sealer is available in both water-based and oil-based products. Oil-based primer is recommended for sealing highly stained walls, crayon marks, nicotine stains and water stains.