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Why is it important to apply a primer to painting?
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Primers contain a binder that generally has better adhesive qualities than the binders used in paints. That's because the primer's job is mostly to both stick like glue to the substrate and provide an easy-to-stick-to surface for the top coat.
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In what applications is the use of primer necessary?
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Generally, you only use a primer when you are painting over a BARE substrate, like bare wood, bare plaster, bare drywall, bare metal. You paint over paint. There are cases where it may be advantageous to apply a coat of primer over a coat of paint, such as using an oil based primer over an oil based paint before top-coating with a latex paint, or to get a head start in changing the colour of a wall by using a tinted primer, but the general rule is that you prime over a bare substrate and paint over paint.
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What type of primer can be used to cover oil-based paint?
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If it wuz me, I would use an oil based primer to cover an oil based paint. And if I wanted to do the best job I could, and it was a semi-gloss or gloss oil based paint, I would dull the gloss of the paint before priming just to be certain it stuck well. That would involve either cleaning with TSP and/or a green Scotchbrite scouring pad.
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Is there a primer that will hide smoke stains on my living room wall?
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Yes, I think ANY oil based or shellac based primer would do that job, but you can also clean the smoke staining off the wall. You can remove much of the smoke staining simply by cleaning the wall since nicotine and tar are soluble in water. Just doing that will remove about half of the discolouration. Now, dilute bleach with 10 parts water and then clean the wall with that dilute bleach solution. The bleach will penetrate into the porous paint and break up the molecules that cause "smoke stains" and that smoke smell. The fragments of those molecules won't absorb certain light frequencies like the whole molecules did, nor will the fragments react with the olafactory glands in your nose the way the whole molecules did. The result is that you won't be able to see or smell the "smoke staining" any more because the molecules that caused that colour and smell are broken into pieces inside the paint.
Not more than a year ago, I had the two worst chain smokers in the world move out of my building. When they vacated, not only could you see by the smoke staining where pictures were hung on walls, you could see where furniture was located on the floors, including carpeted floors. The advice I got from my local paint store was to use an oil based primer over the whole mess, and I consider that to be lousy advice. In my opinion, the smoke staining was so bad that it would have prevented proper adhesion of the paint to the wall. So, I cleaned the walls with a sponge mop and clean water first to remove about half the staining. Then I went over those walls and ceilings again with a 10:1 diluted bleach solution, allowed time to dry, and repainted. That suite is now rented to two non-smokers, and neither one even suspects that the previous tenants were smokers.
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What type of primer should I use on my new drywall?
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Typically, they recommend a "PVA" primer for drywall. "PVA" means "polyvinyl acetate" and it's the plastic used to make both white wood glue and inexpensive latex paints and general purpose latex primers. So, any general purpose latex primer should fit the bill.
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