The Best Way To Repaint Already Painted Walls, Get It Right The First Time

Tired of your old paint job? Moving into a previously lived-in home? You can paint over the old color quickly and easily with a few tricks.

We are repainting a number of rooms in our home. Do we need to put primer over the existing paint? Are there any other "gotchas" that we need to prepare for before repainting the walls?

No Need to Prime, Unless…

If you're painting over a wall with a paint that is close to the previous color, then in general, you don't need to prime existing paint. To prepare for repainting:

• Wash the wall to remove any grease.
• Fill any holes and cracks with suitable filler, perhaps using flexible filler for cracks.
• Sand and prime the filled areas—priming will seal the filler and keep it in place. You might want to sand and reprime the whole wall to avoid a patchy look.
• Repaint the wall with at least two coats of your new color. If you're painting over a dark color with a lighter one, you might need more than two coats to stop the previous color from showing through. If that's the case, using a primer or basic white matte emulsion for the first coat (or two if it's really dark) is a more cost-effective option than using the more expensive colored paint for all the coats. Unfortunately, you don't always discover that in time.
• Finally, paint in full daylight—especially for the final coat—so you can see where you've been.

A Prep Tip 

If you want a really nice job, get a drywall pole sander and give the wall a quick going-over with 200-250 grit paper before priming, and before your final color coat. Remember to wipe with a damp rag (use the pole sander if you like) before applying any paint/primer.

Prime Time 

Priming is best. If you have to do two coats of paint to cover the old color, why not use a good primer or primer/sealer and one coat of a good paint? Most people will say otherwise, but primer will stick to old paint a lot better than new paint will. I recommend wiping the walls down with a damp cloth first, but it's a lot of work, and I've never done it to a wall that wasnt't obviously filthy. Use one coat of primer and one coat of paint. Never ask a paint to do a primer's job!

A Final Prime Time Tip 

You can mix some of your paint with the primer to tint it to the final color hue. This has always worked for me. It's a good method if the paint change is a drastic one.

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