“ Primers are one of the most overlooked components of a paint job.” —JASON PHILLIPS, PHILLIPS HOME IMPROVEMENTS
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JASON PHILLIPS
“Primers are one of the most overlooked components of a paint job,” says Jason Phillips, who started Phillips Painting in 1997, now known as Phillips Home Improvements, and focuses on residential repainting in the Dallas area. “Typically, what we’re dealing with on interiors is water stains, so we need something that’s going to block those out,” he says. His go-to products are Sherwin-Williams FastDrying Primer and their Multi-Purpose Latex Primer. Both, he says, are great for covering stains and giving you a good surface to work with. “If we have some stubborn stains, we like a natural-whitepigmented shellac,” he adds. “The synthetic shellac primers, for the purpose of blocking out smoke and odors, don’t perform as well as the natural. We learned that the hard way.” His pick is Sherwin-Williams White Pigmented Shellac Primer. For exteriors, Phillips, who works mostly with wood and wood-composite substrates, turns again to the Fast-Drying Primer. And for priming over rust (such as on window lintels), he recommends Sherwin-Williams KEM KROMIK Universal Metal Primer. “It’s a red oxide primer,” he says. “There are oxide primers in white, too, but I use the red because it’s easier to tell if your painters used the right primer.”
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inPAINT | June 2018
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BILL LOEPP
Shamrock Painting, Inc. in Denver specializes in office/ commercial painting, and their primer picks are substrate-dependent, says Bill Loepp, the company’s Director of Operations. Their most commonly used primer for drywall is the Sherwin-Williams ProMar 200 Interior Latex Primer, a PVA primer that he says is great at hiding flaws to give a smooth surface. Touch-ups are easy, too, he notes. “Most of the metal we paint comes to the project shopprimed,” he says. “But if not, we like Sherwin-Williams KEM KROMIK Universal Metal Primer. It’s really good for protection from moisture, it’s rust-inhibiting, can be topcoated with epoxy or urethanes, and it’s easy to sand down for a smooth substrate.” When a client has a need for a high-performance coating with lots of durability—such as exposed beams in a loft space or an industrial setting—his painters like Sherwin-Williams Macropoxy 646, a polyamide epoxy, for its durability, adhesion, fast dry time and high-build properties. One thing, Loepp notes is that it’s important to monitor your re-coat window, and “be sure to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on when to recoat, and follow the systems put together by the product manufacturer.”