How many coats of paint will it take to cover up terrible stained walls from ciggarette smoke?
Question:We moved into an older house. Apparently the woman who lived here before us, smoked so much and so long that the walls are a really dark yellow, and almost brown. It looks terrible! How many coats of primer and paint (dark paint) will I need to use to cover these nasty walls?
Answers:
DO NOT PUT PRIMER OVER THIS WITHOUT CLEANING FIRST! You need to clean these walls with a TSP SUBSTITUTE FIRST..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/trisodium_p...
Then once cleaned rinse with fresh water..clean again, rinse again.then only one coat of Kilz will do..make sure it is the oil base "original" kilz" for the latex kilz is crap for covering stains.Now Kilz is a pigmented shellac type product..it is not made to cover but to seal out stains so paint will cover..You only need 1 coat of kilz...I apply the tsp substitute with a common sponge mop..then clean the mop..rinse same way..and do again..this is alot better..and quicker than multiple coats of kilz..which you really don't need!.scroll down to the "Nicotine stains& residue page here..
http://www.macintyrepainting.com/gallery...
Never prime over nicotine withoput cleaning it first..it will bleed down the walls later on you...
“Water-base products should be used to cover oil-soluble stains, like handprints or kitchen grease,” says Tim O’Reilly, Zinsser’s primer product manager. “Oil products should be used to cover water-soluble, stains such as nicotine. That’s one of those fundamental rules that many people don’t realize.” Managers in facilities with smoking areas need to be particularly aware of these issues and avoid water-based paints and coatings where nicotine stains are present.
above from this link here..
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/ms/article.
Use a coat of Kilz primer.
That will keep ANYTHING sealed.
Then paint.
well you should paint them white first. might need two coats of that. then add the colour of oyur choice over the white. but it will take at least 3 days. but its worth it.
Go ahead and use the killz primer, it should take about 3-5 coats to cover the stains. If you use a dark color on top of the killz, I would say 1-2 coats will do it.
P.S. The killz helps with mold too.
i would not even start with paint, I'd wash all walls carpet, cupboards, wash anything washable, buy new curtains or blinds, after washing, everything will smell great!then if still yellowing, I'd buy stuff called kills, id buy a lot and ask guy or woman at paint counter how much you'll need to cover the area you have, then use a primer, then paint, and it will feel and smell like a new house.good luck, those dang smokers don't Belize how much damage there doing???
2-3 coats of paint. each applied only after the previous one dried fully.
dont compromise on paint quality. get a good one.
By all means use a primer, but don't be surprised if one day it comes through.
My grandmother smoked several packs of 20 a day. No matter how much my mother tried to stop her. When she died, my parents had to remove the plaster on the ceiling and walls and replace it in the end. No matter what they had tried to use to stop the stains from seeping through, Primer, sealants and the rest, eventually the tar and stain came through.
But this was 20 years ago, so the sealants may be better now.
Good luck.
first before u paint u have to wash the walls down with a product called T.S.P. You can buy this ( @ Home Depot) in either liquid form or powdered, they also have a substitute T.S.P. that works just as well and isn't quite as corrosive. just follow the instructions . its pretty easy , just make sure that u start at the bottom of the walls and rinse twice.
then the rest depends on what color u are painting with and what color u are painting over.
Sherman Williams has some great paint now that actually really does cover with one coat!
O.K, from the professional, first clean the walls, your best to use sugar soap, , or any good strong detergent, just follow the instructions from the manufacturer. Now , I don't know what Kilz is, but in reality any good quality purpose manufactured stain blocking paint/sealer should b e used first, once this has had the required time to dry then you should apply two to three coats of quality latex interior wall paint, note that some darker shades may require more coats ,or even a specific undercoat to get a good coverage.
Another tip as cigarette smoke stain contains particles that either breakdown in water or in solvent it will pay to use a solvent based sealer and then the latex finish coats, this is called double blocking and should help reduce the chances of any "bleed thru".
Just like previous answer, Water base Kilz primer will take care of it then paint. If it is extremley bad or old paint had an enamel on it, use oil based kilz primer. You can purchase it at Lowes or Wal-Mart.
Believe it or not - I used a foaming bathroom cleaner on the walls first ,THEN kilz = it made a lot of difference
Guess you could wash them with soap and water before painting.
If you have a way to do it,wash the walls with vinegar and water first.You will be surprised at how much comes off with the washing.I done it when I smoked my walls while cooking.Wiped then all was well.
I would wash the walls first with a good prepainting solution your hardware person can direct you there. Then I would use Kilz primer as others have suggested,I would suggest the water base formula the oil base fumes are very strong. If the place is as bad as you say, maybe two coats of primer are in order. After all that one coat of good paint should cover. Preperation is "job one".
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