painting old unpainted drywall

snsaction@aol.c

I am about to paint my garage walls. the drywall is 10 years old and unpainted. some walls have not been mudded yet.

I was told to prime with a sealer 1st and finish with the drywall tape and mud after and prime again and then paint.

The walls are dirty with bbq smoke and some small water stain's.

Any way of cleaning this before priming??? The drywall paper has yellowed. not sure if this is a problem.

So do i finish the tape and mud first or prime and seal 1st.??

Brik

I would first clean. I doubt the unsealed drywall will wash. You could try a small area. Your best bet will probably be a broom or maybe a shop/vac to pull off anything loose like dust dirt, etc. Then tape/mud. As for stains and smoke. I would then spot prime any water stains with something like BIN or KILZ, they might bleed through otherwise. Then prime and paint as normal.

I would use a semigloss sheen paint I think. It wont hold or attract the dirt and is more easily cleaned. On the other hand a flat paint will better hide any imperfections in the surface. Hmmm.

My personal preference would be to put up slatwall but that's sick expensive.