Painting over bulders grade paint

yea you could do it . but imho i would go 2 coats of the ben moore tan you talked about.boxing in the old paint will not hurt, but you run a risk of doing 3 coats ,your boxed coat ,then two tops of tan. any who ,do 2 coats of tan eggshell and be done

FixerMom, The builder's grade primer on the surface now has already sealed it. Why not just apply two coats of new, quality eggshell over it? When you intermix paints, they should be the same product from the same manufacturer. If you want to use the old paint, is your attic painted?

I did a brand new/builder's flat townhome a few years back, and I used BM Super Spec Eggshell. I wasn't happy with the final sheen look and color when done. A week later I went back to touch up and bang, the touched up areas sheen and color popped. I called my trusted BM guy and he told me that previously BM had sent a memo to all dealers recommending a full prime/seal over all builder's flat. Mr. Paint, it's not the drywall needing sealing, it's the builder's flat. Apparently, it wasn't until the third coat, the touch up, that the surface was fully sealed, the builder's flat was so dry and abosrbent. And it was pretty drastic.

Depending upon how much area you have you may want to do some sample areas to determine if a base coat will increase the appearance.

Just a hint- Gardz is great at sealing up builders flat to go to a med sheen paint.
For those who wanna know...
Fast- and , well, fast.

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like I won't be doing any harm, except maybe more work, and I just don't want to waste my expensive topcoat on the thirsty builder paint.

I know that everyone has their own prefs, but I really prefer sticking with flat paint. Although it is less durable, it is SO much easier to touch up. I always have issues when touching up paint with a sheen. Just my 2 cents.

The way light hits a wall or ceiling makes all the difference in being able to touch up any paint.I have touched up flat that showed terribly because of the light.I always say....whatever paint brand you use,always buy top quality paint.Cheap paint will work you to death trying to get a good finish.And Fixermom you are right, it won't hurt anything as long as it is rolled on smooth and you wait for the proper recoat time. Why not buy Gardz, put on a coat then top it with two coats of your finish paint and you will have a really nice finish with flat,satin or eggshell.

I've never used gardz. I'll look into it before my next project.

Its only gonna save you what a PVA primer would cost you. Pva's aren't too expensive and that all you need. then two coat your top coat. Or use the mixture as the first topcoat after getting some colorant from your supplier to bring it closer to your color.