# Latex paint over oil primer - did I mess up?



## wrighter (Oct 21, 2008)

Greetings all,

I just started painting a bedroom in my new-to-me old house. The walls have old wallpaper on them that has been painted over before, but probably not painted in the last 30 years. There was smoke staining and marred areas where the furniture bumped against the wall. 

Anyway, I tried washing one of the walls with TSP, but it didn't seem to clean anything, just push the grime around and made it streaky and ugly. So I just wiped the rest of the walls down with a damp cloth. I didn't do anything to the ceiling. 

I bought some True Value oil-based primer enamel, and used that on everything, including the ceiling, trim, and crown molding. Then I bought some Valspar flat and semi-gloss latex paint. After letting the primer dry over night, I used the flat on the ceiling and the semi-gloss on the trim and crown. It looks good, but only after I finished did I realize that the latex was "soap and water clean up." Uh oh, methinks, oil and water typically don't mix. 

Is my paint going to peel off because I used an oil based primer? Is there any way to test it? Just see if it wipes / peels off? I just did it yesterday, so perhaps it is not fully dried / cured yet. Neither of the cans say anything about compatibility on them. 

I was going to paint the walls today (blue flat latex), but wanted to get some input first. I don't want to have to do this all over again. 

Please help. Worried.


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## jamiedolan (Sep 2, 2008)

wrighter said:


> Greetings all,
> 
> I just started painting a bedroom in my new-to-me old house. The walls have old wallpaper on them that has been painted over before, but probably not painted in the last 30 years. There was smoke staining and marred areas where the furniture bumped against the wall.
> 
> ...


The oil based primer isn't a problem to paint over with latex. 

I've always been told that your nor suppose to paint over latex with oil based. 

My thought is that if the oil based paint is adhering well to the surface, then you are going to be fine to put on the top coat. 

I just did some searching online and did read some thing that say if the surface is preped well that you can use oil over latex and it is fine. 

So if it is dry now and looks good, then I suspect that your going to be ok to paint on the next coat. I try to stick with the same type of paint or use BIN shellac, it has high hide, and sticks to everything and dries really quickly. You can paint over shellac with just about anything else. Only draw back is it is a bit expensive and it is a bit different to work with because it is so thin.

Jamie


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

You couldn't ask for anything better to have latex paint stick to than oil based primer. 



jamiedolan said:


> I've always been told that your nor suppose to paint over latex with oil based.
> 
> I just did some searching online and did read some thing that say if the surface is preped well that you can use oil over latex and it is fine.
> 
> Jamie


That is the rule I live by. You can get away with putting oil over latex, but you need to completely prime it with oil based primer first. I still wouldn't do it, but if you are going to, that is the way to do it.


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