# Zinsser Cover Stain Sucks



## Lovegasoline

Why is it about Zinsser Cover Stain oil base primer that sucks so much? I really want to like this product, but can't. 

First off, I have been a professional artist, oil painter for 20 years. I spend my time using sticks with hair. I have used many oil enamels in my time and a variety of oil paints. I have brushed and sprayed many materials in my time. I have also finished allot of wood furniture with a variety of brush and spray finishes. I can brush oil modified polyurethanes and shellacs all with impeccable results so it looks like glass and looks just as good as a superior spray job.

I am doing renovation work including labor insane intensive stripping of 80 year old wood doors, moldings, and door/window frames. I’ve got the wood sanded and prepped to silky smooth perfection. 

My first go round of priming bare wood baseboards, wall molding, and panel doors was using Zinsser 1-2-3 water base. It brushed on smooth. It laid down smooth. It leveled smooth. And dry, it looks so damn good it doesn’t need sanding and could actually never see a topcoat and still look impeccable. 

Then I made the mistake and asked some more questions and the advice I got was that Cover Stain was the ticket for bare interior wood…everyone chimed in. It wouldn’t raise the grain, blah, blah, blah.

Well, this crude product is like painting with tar. I cannot speak for spraying the stuff, but when brushed, I got such coarse brush marks that sanding it out looks to be a major production and I do not think I have the stomach for it…too much work. My application was correct. I made sure temps were perfect: they were. I made sure prep was correct: it was. Brush loading, methods of application, yadda, yadda. Tried everything. I bought another damn brush (white bristle brush) when I already had a premium Purdy black China bristle that has performed with other oil base products masterfully. Nothing I did yielded any improvement to the level that I came to understand Cove Stain was a superior product. Too many driers, or fillers, or something in the formulation. 

I tried Penetrol. Improvement in flow and diminution in coverage…doesn’t look so hot. And still brushes like crap, 

Can someone explain why this product is being recommended for high quality priming tasks on raw wood indoors as if it is a god send? 


I had originally bought the stuff to go over some doors that I didn’t want to strip all the way to bare wood and that had decades old oil paint which I wanted to prime, then top coat with acrylic/latex base paint. Everyone is saying “Use this stuff on raw wood!!!! “It’s the best!”. I have read exhaustively about how to apply the Cover Stain and tried so many ways to use it, I am pretty much disillusioned and think you guys must be smoking something. I am completely disgusted with this 2nd class product and I think I will return to the Zinsser 1-2-3 for bare wood. 

On that note, can any one recommend a high build, brush on, interior primer that is easily applied over to both old oil and acrylic paint, and which will take a acrylic topcoat: this is for baseboards and doors. Some of these are not stripped all the way down, example some baseboards are still somewhat heavy with paint (and likely lead paint) and I want to get a good primer build and smooth it out just a little bit.

OK, Rant off.

Any suggestions?


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## Rcon

Cover Stain is a fast drying alkyd that is best applied by sprayer. Any fast drying product should not be used for brush applications on bare wood, as the product has no time to level. A waterbased primer will dry slower but will raise the grain.

Also, if you're brushing bare wood and you're getting brush marks, you're probably putting too much on. Try thinning with mineral spirits. The product should absorb into the wood fairly quickly. Primer hide (i.e. appearance after a coat of primer) is of little consequence because it will be topcoated. The sole purpose of a primer is its sealant properties.


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## chrisn

I would stick with the 123 or BM's Fresh Start, I never liked cover stain for anything except over residual wall paper paste, even then I would go with any other oil based primer,cover stain just plain stinks,as in smells bad, and as you said never applied easily.123 or fs will go over old oil or anything else and stick with minimal sanding.


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## poppameth

Coverstain has it's uses. It's primarily for blocking certain types of stains that a water based can't block. For raw wood, it isn't the best product. A regular oil undercoater would work much better. In all honesty, oil is getting to the point that it all sucks. They are all so high solids and low solvent that they drag and don't level at all like they use to. I'm hearing a lot from a couple paint companies we deal with about the introduction of an extremely fine alkyd resin suspended in a water based system. I flows like the old oils and gets you most of the same benefits of the traditional oils. It cleans up mostly with water, is low VOC, and dries to recoat in about 15 minutes. I have a painter test a can of it. It actually blocked tannin bleed, at least for the first couple months it's been on. Time will tell the real story there though.


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## Lovegasoline

Does anyone have an oi/alkyd base primer they can recommend that will do the job AND also level out? 
I'm so aggravated at having to sand this molding back down to get the brush strokes out...there's grooving and fluting so any sanding is going to hit raw wood again. It needs to be re-primed. 

Yeah, it’s pretty demoralizing contemplating sanding out the brush strokes from the Cover Stain. Yesterday I primed the picture rail molding on one wall and one door frame. I think I am jumping ship on the Cover Stain (and yeah, it stinks to high heaven). 

I cannot understand how, when I was originally asking about for a raw wood primer, Cover Stain overwhelmingly was the recommended product for brushing these areas.

What other products would work here…I need more informed advice and recommendations than I’ve previously received. My situation is, it’s an 80 year old apartment that had lots of sloppy abusive layers of paint applied over the years. In some areas I have stripped off all the paint to raw wood. Other places, like many doors, I did NOT go down to raw wood, but only scraped off the top layers of latex paint which hadn’t bonded well to older layers of oil (and where likely no bonder/primer was used). Other areas are a mix of raw wood and old paint…still other areas have spots with Bondo. 
All these items will be top coated with BM Waterbase Impervo.

So I need a primer(s) for, 1) raw wood, and 2) a product to go over old oil/latex, and 3) Bondo. 
The objects to be primed are a)wall/picture rail molding, b)door and window frames, c) baseboards, d) interior window sills.
Probably all of this will be brushed on. 

Here’s what I have on hand now:
-Zinsser Cover Stain
- Zinsser BIN
-Zinsser 123


What about Zinsser BIN? Would that do the trick, flow out well, and seriously bond to various surfaces?


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## chrisn

already answered 123 will do it all


bin stinks even worse than cover stain


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## poppameth

BIN is not a monster you want to tackle. It's for extremely aggressive stains, like smoke damage. It stinks, is thin and runny, and a mess to apply evenly. It's a niche product that you use in specific situations.


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## Matthewt1970

Put a little thinner in the paint. Also make sure the store throws it on the shaker before you walk out. Most paints and pimers will gell up and get tacky after sitting still for too long. The only reason I recommend oil is that I have seen latex primers fail, and fail miserably on bare wood. When you start doing a lot of repaints where you know they used latex primer on the previous paint job, you will see what people are talking about.


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## Lovegasoline

Is there an oil primer for this situation that levels better than Cover Stain?


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## Matthewt1970

The slower drying ones will tend to level better. The catch to those is that you have to wait an eternity before they are hard enough to do any sanding if you need to as they will just gum up.


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## Lovegasoline

Oh well, seems there's no easy solution (except for going with the Zinsser 123, but I'd like to stick with oil). I still have a ton of baseboard and a dozen doors that need to be primed overtop of older paint...and I think they are going to have to get Cover Stain. What a fiasco this will be. Maybe I can spray the doors.


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## Matthewt1970

I think if you try a little thinner in the Cover Stain primer you will see a world of difference in how it spreads and lays down. 9 times out of 10 I will thin oil based primer. Use just a little bit. You can always ad more if needed.


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## Lovegasoline

I hit the Cover Stain again (I have a gallon to play with).

I tried it on wooden bookshelves this time (pine with some knots, primed a decade and a half ago: cleaned with ammonia and water, dried, then sanded with 150 grit on a ROS to scuff it). I had the case laid on its side so as to give flat horizontal surfaces to prime with. I used lots of Penetrol. No significant leveling change. I dumped in mineral spirits. Still not leveling. 

Are those that are offering advice offering advice for oil primers in GENERAL, or does your advice come directly from your use Cover Stain? 
I could probably turn it to the consistency of water, but it will lose all block-out function. I suspect there such a large quantity of aggressive drier in the formula that to thin it down to the point that it levels well will demand destroying the integrity of the paint film and blocking power. It seems counter intuitive to take a primer that has all manner of additives formulated to dry very very fast, then to counteract greatly in the other direction by adding yet more ingredients to slow it down. It seems like a backwards way of getting a smooth leveling brushed finish and a method that can do nothing but impair the integrity of the formula. 
I have to conclude either I am incredibly inept (possible!) or Cover Stain is meant to either be sprayed on and/or used in crude applications where a high level finish is not demanded (or a huge amount of elbow grease sanding it is part of the deal).


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## Sprayboy

I have only sprayed it on. It sprays like a dream with little effort and covers great! I try and avoid brushes as much as possible. :yes:


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## Matthewt1970

I am at a loss here. I have used it plenty and most times it is with a brush with great results. I even had a couple door frames done side-by-side with Coverstain vs. 123 and you could tell the 123 didn't penetrate as well. I think you should try a different brand.


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## PeterB26

I am having the same issues with Zinsser Cover Stain. The stuff just won't lay down worth a darn.

I tried a few test additives today and found that only turpentine seemed to help at all. Forget about mineral spirits or VM & P Naptha or Penetrol. It still isn't as nice as I would really like in the leveling, but adding the turps brought it a long way.

I used to be able to get Kilz exterior oil based primer and that stuff worked great. If it is still for sale in your part of the world throw away the Zinsser and buy yourself some Kilz. Kilz makes a lot of different primers so make sure you are getting the exterior oil based stuff. Around my part of the world I can still get some of their products, but not the exterior oil primer.

If you can't get the Kilz then try the turpentine in the Zinsser. From a web search I was able to find a list of ingredients in the Zinsser and it looks like it is a pretty straight forward mixture of petrolium distillates with pigments added, so I think the turps will not effect its longevity adversely, but only time and experience will really tell. Still, since it is unuseable the way it comes from the can, it is about your only option.

As for BIN, that is a shellac based primer and is thinned and cleaned up with denatured alcohol. It stinks to high heaven and if you are not in a well vented place you will soon have your head spinning from the fumes! It will not stand up long to tough environmentss, but it is perfect for spot priming over serious problem spots though. I dab a little on any knots or other bleed through problems before going over the whole piece with the Kilz oil based primer. This always got great results. Too bad I am stuck with the Zinsser for now!


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## Lovegasoline

I've tried mineral spirits, Penetrol, and Naptha. 
I'll give turps a shot.

It ain't easy to sand out the brush strokes either...and after 24 hrs. (w/some Penetrol & mineral spirits added) it's still too soft.

I may have to remove the doors and break out my spray rig...or move to another product.


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## chrisn

Just ditch the cover stain and get a gallon of this, you have gone through enough head aches already


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## PeterB26

I have tried the FS as a primer and it is O.K. over clean, well prepped, non-problem surfaces. It doesn't cover in difficult bleed through places as well as the Kilz did, and I hoped the Zinsser would. We use a lot of cedar where I am and the tannins will bleed through the FS as will knots and any other contaminates on the wood.

Also I have used various water based primers (including specificaly 123) in the past and found them all to be lacking because they all raise the grain and they all fail to really seal the wood. Once moisture changes with time and season the wood moves and the coatings fail. Also the wood can absorb enough water to support the growth of molds and rot. So maybe FS is good enough for some interior work, but it is not sufficent for exterior. I learned that the hard way!

Penetrol contains linseed oil which takes for freaking ever to dry. It is not a good choice for a fast drying coat although in a typical oil based paint top coat it would hardly be a problem. For priming purposes stay away from it. If you need to thin the Cover Stain use naptha which is fast drying and is one of the main ingredients of Cover Stain to begin with, though in my experience the naptha does nothing to help the brush strokes lay down. The turps is medium fast in drying but more importantly seems to lower the surface tension of the paint allowing the brush strokes to lay down better as well as to marginally improve the flow when applying the paint.


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## Lovegasoline

Good info on the Cover Stain. 
I had assumed Penetrol was an alkyd resin of some sort.

I have three different applications, all interior:

1) raw wood (doors, frames, molding). I already 'ruined' the one door I completely stripped to raw wood with many many days of ass breaking stripping work. The Cover Stain looks like a comb was dragged through it. 

2) 80 year old doors and molding (example baseboard) that's been painted thousands of times by various inept lunatics unknown to me..old layers are oil, topcoated with several latex layers, poorly bonded to the oil. Some of these I have stripped down to the oil layer, others I haven't stripped, some appathe stripped doors, the stripping isn't 200% immaculate. I need a bonding Primer and this is what was recommended. 

3)Pine bookcases alkyd(?) primed over a decade ago. Knots are showing through the primer. I will spot the knots with clear shellac, then prime...if I can ever get the Cover Stain to level out.


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## PeterB26

I didn't realize that "Fresh Start" was a name given to a whole line of BM primers. The only Fresh Start primer I ever tried was water based, so my comments were based on my experience with that. The product that Chrisn recommended is a completely different primer than the one I tried. I have no experience with that particular one.

You can get an idea of what some of the different formulations are from this web site:

http://whatsinproducts.com/informat...08&PHPSESSID=4963d2600a68715775b1b9d416476233

Go over to the "brands" button on the leftt hand side to search for various products.


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## Matthewt1970

Lovegasoline said:


> Good info on the Cover Stain.
> I had assumed Penetrol was an alkyd resin of some sort.
> 
> I have three different applications, all interior:
> 
> 1) raw wood (doors, frames, molding). I already 'ruined' the one door I completely stripped to raw wood with many many days of ass breaking stripping work. The Cover Stain looks like a comb was dragged through it.
> 
> 2) 80 year old doors and molding (example baseboard) that's been painted thousands of times by various inept lunatics unknown to me..old layers are oil, topcoated with several latex layers, poorly bonded to the oil. Some of these I have stripped down to the oil layer, others I haven't stripped, some appathe stripped doors, the stripping isn't 200% immaculate. I need a bonding Primer and this is what was recommended.
> 
> 3)Pine bookcases alkyd(?) primed over a decade ago. Knots are showing through the primer. I will spot the knots with clear shellac, then prime...if I can ever get the Cover Stain to level out.


Are you using a good brush or just something to throw away after you prime? A cheaper brush will tend to not leave an even surface so any spots or lines with lesser primer will surely soak into the wood leaving less for a uniform surface. If you go with a different brand Oil primer, have the store throw it on the shaker. If they won't, tell them you won't buy it. Be prepared to thin it a little no matter what brand it is. 19 times out of 20 I will thin down oil primer and paint so it flows better.

For the wood knots, Bin/shellac is the way to go. Latex won't do didly, plain oil based primer "Might" keep it from bleeding, KilZ Oil is a little better but can still bleed, but Bin is the sure thing.


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## chrisn

Bin is the sure thing. :thumbsup: For bleeding knots


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## Lovegasoline

Bleeding knots:
I have a gallon of BIN, unopened, but I’m going to return it. I have too much product here. I’ve never used BIN. I just mixed up a fresh batch of Blond Super Platinum dewaxed shellac flakes in a 2lb cut. I’ll use that to spot prime the knots, then prime with an oil primer. 

Cover Stain:
I have a very good brush. The first brush I used was a Purdy Black China bristle which has laid down flawless glass smooth polyurethane and shellac finishes. I’m an artist (oil painter mostly) and I have toyed allot with paint chemistry and mixes, and know a good bit about brushes. Yes there are better brushes, but it’s a pretty good brush and is capable of very good results. The Cover Stain with this brush left deep brush ridges…and that has been my experience with this product to one degree or another…prominent brush marks no real leveling…ever since. Right after the first go round with the Purdy Black, I bought a new Purdy White China Bristle thinking the brush was somehow at fault. No difference. It just does not want to lay down smooth. This is a very crude product for brushing. 
You know, I even tried a white bristle fan brush I have for blending oils. It’s a small brush used for paintings. I tried to use it on the picture rail molding. No difference in result.
I have a pretty wide background in painting and spraying both furniture and art. 

I still cannot see why the recommendations for this product are given. 


I’m starting to worry about other recommendations, like using Ben Moore Impervo acrylic enamel to topcoat the bookcases. I’m wondering if it is going to be too soft a finish for the weight of books and the wear/tear sliding books on and of the shelves. 
Maybe I need some really good tough enamel and a clear coat over top of it.


Peter, interesting website very informative.


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## chrisn

I’m starting to worry about other recommendations, like using Ben Moore Impervo acrylic enamel to topcoat the bookcases. I’m wondering if it is going to be too soft a finish for the weight of books and the wear/tear sliding books on and of the shelves.

I have used this on my book shelves with all my stero equipment on it with no problems, the 100 lb tv is another story.:whistling2:


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## bowton

best products for interior wood work that I have experience with:

1) benjamin moore 217 underbody alkyd primer. still needs thinning with a little mineral spirits and penetrol. but if you doctor it up right it will brush on smooth without dragging and will level out without brush marks.

2) Kelly Moore Flo-cote. knock off of the BM 217 cheaper and almost as good. 

key to all these primers is that they sand like talc. and you need to sand between coates to get that piano finish. you will not be disappointed. 

the other trade off is that you can only do one coat overnight. becuase it takes a long time to dry enough to sand again and recoat.

I would also agree that coversatin sucks. i only used it for priming sealing exterior wood where I don't care about the finish.

the primers i recommended are everything that the coverstain isn't


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## ritdavi

Nobody primes bare wood with water-based primer! I am a professional painter, wall-covering installer, licensed faux-finisher, and drywall finisher. I am a business partner in a full-service painting and decorating company with an emphasis on Victorian restoration. Zinsser makes great products. Cover-Stain is an excellent product that is versatile in both interior and exterior applications. Further, it has a quick turn around time being one hour for re-coat with either latex or oil top-coats. One more note: You are incorrect in stating that one coat of primer on bare wood doesn't need sanding. Any material applied to bare wood causes the wood to fur. You claimed your primed wood looked impeccable - in regarding that, I think you must have fairly low standards, at least sub-standard quality if you truly think furred wood is acceptable.


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## Brushjockey

On raw wood- in oil; I used to love Ben Moore's Enamel underbody. Now I use Zin PrimeCoat2 ( only from HD) . Both will level ( I add a splash of Min Spirits to the oil) , neither will cover well ( underbodys aren't for coverage) .
Both sand nice to prepare for enamel coats.
All else- prep right and 123 is great.


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## joes plumbing

Try the orange picasso paint brushes they are much better then purdy china bristle


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## chrisn

joes plumbing said:


> Try the orange picasso paint brushes they are much better then purdy china bristle


 
hey Joe did you see when this started?

11-19-2009, 07:02 PM


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## perrytradesman

To "cover stain sucks" feel bad for you and hope this helps I am new here (kinda) and don't post Advice much: In general when you do Interior painting and need to seal (prime) wood- you would use alkyd "enamel undercoater" that name tells you it is used for interior "priming" of most often raw wood or wood (can be used on other misc surfaces etc) Enamel undercoater= interior wood primer- if a can says primer on the label it is usually for Exterior wood priming- there is a difference the pigment(s) put in undercoater are ground up to a very fine powder, and when dry feels very smooth the second is it stays "open" longer because of the general nature of reg Alkyd Paints- cover stain is very gritty and I would almost never use it on a job like you described, sounds like "restoration work". Any primer/sealer should almost always be thinned Alkyd on raw wood I thin about 15% if it is hot 20%- Hate to say this to you but if you need to ask what product to use you probably aren't really an everyday journeyman Painter and maybe not qualified (sorry) the other points are- know when to stop using a product or technique if it is making work or "correction work" and the last one (1) is if you really think your brush work looks as good as spray work then you either do not know what to look for or have not seen a solid interior journeyman spray cabinets (I use only B-M Ironclad Alkyd Enamel) there is no way brush work covers edges, rounded corners large flat panels- And the time it takes playin with the paint I spray all my trim work fast and superior looking, anyway I am sure you have good brush skill and hope your job turned out nice it sounds like you do really care.

Perry.


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## chrisn

hey perry did you see when this started?

11-19-2009, 07:02 PM


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## Lovegasoline

Blast from the past.

OK boys, a followup:

I moved to Ben Moore Alkyd Underbody and fell in love. What a pleasure to work with! Goes on smooth and as has been mentioned here sands 'like talc'. I used it on the wood molding, wood doors, and wood bookcases that I refinished (top coated with Impervo Satin waterbase). 
I've also liked using BM's Fresh Start primer on the walls, although 123 has also worked well, as has some other products (the worst wall primer I encountered was Behr, there was a 5 gallon can of it here for free ... even with that price I decided to avoid it). 

Thanks for all the feedback on the thread, it was very informative.

I'd also made a connection with the technical advisor for a chain of paint stores here in NYC who has been in the industry a long time and has a deep knowledge of the product lines carried (past and present), chemistry, materials, substrates .... he knew everything about Ben Moore and changes in their products over the decades and he was a great resource in honing in on both the products and application methodologies to get exactly what I wanted.

The can of Cover Stain I believe I still have and it's occasionally come in handy as a step stool and door stop. 

YMMV!


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## Chowder

chrisn said:


> hey perry did you see when this started?
> 
> 11-19-2009, 07:02 PM


Google is still listing it in 2015. Perhaps the conversation is still worth having yet not starting again from scratch.


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## CyrusR

What did you want to discuss? Cover Stain still doesn't level or flow, and still smells bad. 6 years on from the start of this thread, and after who knows how many regulation-driven reformulations, Benjamin Moore 217 also doesn't level or flow very well, either.


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## GaryS58

*Zinsser Cover Stain*

First Question is were you using Cover Stain or Odorless?
Next is which state are you in? yes it does make a difference. EPA and State regs do not always match.

Now why do I ask these questions?
Being an artist does not always mean you can paint furniture, houses, cars etc. all these things have basically the same but some differences in what you need to do and pay attention to.

What is the difference between regular and odorless?
The same material that makes paint odorless is the same material that dries up paint. It makes paint thicker and will not spread the same. Put up with the odor use the real stuff.

State issues, products in some restrictive states will not be the same as those in states not having restrictions. Yes some products are made for specific regions of the country.

Surface prep! This is THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR PAINT JOB.
It does sound like you may have done well with your prep.
Never leave out first cleaning your surface. TSP or TSP Substitute scrub sand and tack cloth.
Why? Contaminants in the house no paint or primer will stick to wax, silicone, or oils.
So cooking oils, spray wax and furniture polish, mop and wax products, hairspray and other cosmetics, candles, all of these items and more can affect your paint spreading and sticking to a surface, even dust can be a problem. Paint will stick to dust, but dust will not stick to the surface, it just kind of hangs there.

So yes lots of things can be a factor, generally speaking oil primer is better and sealing and preparing bare wood; however, a lot of latex primers like 1 -2 - 3 work very well. If you prep metal then by all means use a oil based primer, if aluminum use only a special aluminum primer.

Good Painting!


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## akronpainters

Thanks gary. Awesome response on this post!


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## Gymschu

akronpainters said:


> Thanks gary. Awesome response on this post!


Akron, there is also a sister site to DIY called painttalk at painttalk.com where only professional painters post. Lots of good stuff over there as well.


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## getrex

I need to go there too.. I'm sure they need more cowbell.


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## Crudcutter

Lovegasoline said:


> Why is it about Zinsser Cover Stain oil base primer that sucks so much? I really want to like this product, but can't. First off, I have been a professional artist, oil painter for 20 years. I spend my time using sticks with hair. I have used many oil enamels in my time and a variety of oil paints. I have brushed and sprayed many materials in my time. I have also finished allot of wood furniture with a variety of brush and spray finishes. I can brush oil modified polyurethanes and shellacs all with impeccable results so it looks like glass and looks just as good as a superior spray job. I am doing renovation work including labor insane intensive stripping of 80 year old wood doors, moldings, and door/window frames. I’ve got the wood sanded and prepped to silky smooth perfection. My first go round of priming bare wood baseboards, wall molding, and panel doors was using Zinsser 1-2-3 water base. It brushed on smooth. It laid down smooth. It leveled smooth. And dry, it looks so damn good it doesn’t need sanding and could actually never see a topcoat and still look impeccable. Then I made the mistake and asked some more questions and the advice I got was that Cover Stain was the ticket for bare interior wood…everyone chimed in. It wouldn’t raise the grain, blah, blah, blah. Well, this crude product is like painting with tar. I cannot speak for spraying the stuff, but when brushed, I got such coarse brush marks that sanding it out looks to be a major production and I do not think I have the stomach for it…too much work. My application was correct. I made sure temps were perfect: they were. I made sure prep was correct: it was. Brush loading, methods of application, yadda, yadda. Tried everything. I bought another damn brush (white bristle brush) when I already had a premium Purdy black China bristle that has performed with other oil base products masterfully. Nothing I did yielded any improvement to the level that I came to understand Cove Stain was a superior product. Too many driers, or fillers, or something in the formulation. I tried Penetrol. Improvement in flow and diminution in coverage…doesn’t look so hot. And still brushes like crap, Can someone explain why this product is being recommended for high quality priming tasks on raw wood indoors as if it is a god send? I had originally bought the stuff to go over some doors that I didn’t want to strip all the way to bare wood and that had decades old oil paint which I wanted to prime, then top coat with acrylic/latex base paint. Everyone is saying “Use this stuff on raw wood!!!! “It’s the best!”. I have read exhaustively about how to apply the Cover Stain and tried so many ways to use it, I am pretty much disillusioned and think you guys must be smoking something. I am completely disgusted with this 2nd class product and I think I will return to the Zinsser 1-2-3 for bare wood. On that note, can any one recommend a high build, brush on, interior primer that is easily applied over to both old oil and acrylic paint, and which will take a acrylic topcoat: this is for baseboards and doors. Some of these are not stripped all the way down, example some baseboards are still somewhat heavy with paint (and likely lead paint) and I want to get a good primer build and smooth it out just a little bit. OK, Rant off. Any suggestions?


 Tell you what...companies have long hidden behind titles first off... CoverStain for instance is 2 words of the 100 word Title, it gets people to know, in the ballpark, what they might be purchasing and working with. More title details are necessary even because now there is a "'low voc' cover stain" very different but not because of lower voc % which is only 29% instead of 29.7%. The other thing going on is the contents of the product. My opinion, the Low VOC cover stain by rustoleum/zinsser sucks because it eats up the sinus membanes in a less organic way (opinion). There are apparently more ingredients, the smell is actually more difficult to work with due to from my experience. I experienced more of what I would describe as a higher, thin, poisoning, nauseous pin needle sinus sting VS. a deeper, slower, subtle burn. The ingredients list is on both cover stains but read both labels and see that The other(more original) cover stain boasts 'high-hide' The newer cover stain option removed high hide from the label only to address the topic in another lower location on the face label by boasting "hides dark colors". These companies are very tricky and sly perusual. For now...there are deeper issues at stake here...


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