# Free 5 gl of Behr Primer: Why Shouldn't I use it?



## Lovegasoline (Sep 11, 2009)

I have three rooms to paint (I do not own, I am a long term apartment renter an will live here a long time still and like a nice looking place) and the contractor working for the owner has left me a new five gallon bucket of Behr Primer Sealer for New Drywall to use. The primer is free. 

The walls are all skim coated with mix of joint compound and plaster. Top coat will be two coats of Ben Moore Regal paint in flat or matte.

I know everyone hates Behr paint. But what about the primer? I am low on funds and still have to buy Ben Moore paint for 5 rooms. I would prefer NOT to have to buy many gallons of Ben Moore primer at $30 a pop. Again, the Behr is free.

I primed the hallway here with a high quality roller, Ben Moore 5/16" microfiber and the primer went on well and looks good. Didn't brush so well, but I was able to roll close to the edges with good technique and it looks good to me.

Again, other than GENERIC Behr bashing, why should I refuse the free 5 gallons of Behr primer and spend my own money on another product? What SPECIFICALLY about the primer is problematic so as to be avoided? If you claim it sucks and will fail and effect the topcoat, please post specific examples of this occurring. 

And if you absolutely are opposed to Behr Primer: can you recommend a decent primer suitable for this job and cheaper than the BM?

Thanks.


----------



## ArmchairDIY (Oct 21, 2009)

For the price (free) I would use it myself.


----------



## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

Just keep an eye on it that it doesn't sag like thier paint does.


----------



## Chazbe (Jul 19, 2007)

Hi,
I want to respond to both of your posts here. The first thing that pops into my head is "WHY THE HECK ARE YOU BUYING THE PAINT AND SUPPLIES???"
You are a renter. Your landlord should be buying the paint. I understand that you would want to do the painting, it makes it more convienent to do things at your pace. 
The Behr should be ok as long as the plaster content isn't to high in the skim or if it has dried for at least 30 days. Smooth plaster is a real b#@*h to have anything to stick to but that goes back to the original problem. If the paint system fails your landlord should be fixing it. Not you.
Hope I am not sounding to harsh, Just wanter to let you know how I feel
Chuck


----------



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

You may be alright but the finish coat can only be as good as what is under it and Behr just isn't good stuff. Your going to the dance all dressed up nice but are going to be wearing dirty underwear.


----------



## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

You're right in that a lot of pros here bash Behr paints - but I haven't heard them quite as opinionated over the primer...may be just me, but they seem to knock Behr paint because of the properties it has in terms of the finish paints. On the other hand, to some degree, "primers are primers" and are really just cheap PVA resins and a lot of fillers...not meant to look nice just to be slapped on. No expensive pigments, neither any other ingredients that affect the rheology...

In fact, that's why there _is_ a knock on Behr finish paints -they look like primers!...cheap PVA resins, a lot of fillers etc etc. and bad rheology. IMO, that's also why there's a knock on the primer-and-finish-paint-in-one-can: heck it's hard to screw up a primer formulation. Sort of like macaroni-and-cheese to a paint chemist. So why try to incorporate _that_ into a paint...?

No, for a renter, for a one-off application, for his price of a the pail - go ahead and use it. To me it's either a primer like that or an acrylic and unless there's a specific need for an acrylic, then any primer will do. 

Having said that every pro has a primer they like more than others; that's a different story.


----------



## Lovegasoline (Sep 11, 2009)

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I am footing the supply bill is the LL uses Behr primer and paint, thus offers it for free. I've heard _so much bad_ about Behr paint, that I am just avoiding it figuring on not having to learn my lesson the hard way.

Btw, the skim coat is mostly pre-mixed joint compound with just some plaster of paris added: definitely no more than 1-4 or 1-3 plaster-to-compound. 

Because I'm using BM Regal, I'll be paying for it...yes, it costs and the gallons add up, but I've lived here quarter of a century and the place has _never_ had quality repair and/or painting...just chump repairs by unskilled monkeys. Now finally a mini-renovation of sorts has taken place including real plumbers to fix chronic leaks & several rooms have been skim coated. Finally(!) I have some flat glass smooth planes for walls/ceilings instead of a patchwork of orange peel surfaced ghetto looking walls. 

In the past the LL has used whatever was the cheapest off brand watery paint he could buy (_magnitudes_ worse than Behr) applied by monkeys with ADD [drips, spatters, runs, streaks, paint over door knobs, paint cabinets shut...who cares!*]. I want this paint job to last and look nice, so I'm willing to pay for a higher quality paint and do the job myself, carefully. 

*OK, I'm using the Behr Primer.*
I too have not heard as many hate stories about the primer and you guys confirm my own intuition that the primer can't be as bad as the paint. 
I'll use the Behr primer. 

I also have Zinsser BIN 1-2-3 and Cover Stain for some trim and other areas. 


*Yes, the landlord _should_ fix the stuff, but the landlord is the problem here. In fact, the reason the apartment is getting a serious makeover is the City sued the landlord for failure to maintain the apartment including some life threatening hazards: actually a very serious and involved lawsuit and the landlord lost. Landlord's fixing stuff now (finally) to avoid further, extremely expensive consequences.


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Lovegasoline said:


> Thanks for the replies.
> 
> The reason I am footing the supply bill is the LL uses Behr primer and paint, thus offers it for free. I've heard _so much bad_ about Behr paint, that I am just avoiding it figuring on not having to learn my lesson the hard way.
> 
> ...


Good luck


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

All right, I think I've been awful patient and have waited long enough for an answer....

SO??? HOW DID IT WORK????

....or did the primer eat the walls and the building collapsed?

(uh-oh.... did I dredge up an old thread? lol)

DM


----------



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

OLD? it's all relative, I guess:laughing:


----------



## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

I was getting all ready to post a reply! The Orig Poster is long gone. People rarely stop back to check up on an answered question.


----------



## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

DangerMouse said:


> (uh-oh.... did I dredge up an old thread? lol)
> 
> DM


There's still room on the tree right next to IceT.:laughing:


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

heh heh heh heh

DM


----------



## Lovegasoline (Sep 11, 2009)

Update:

As I posted up thread, I did use some of the Behr primer in a hallway. I seems to do the job.

However, for the most part I went and bought my own primer. I was finding that the application quality of the Ben Moore All-Purpose Acrylic Primer and the Zinsser 1-2-3(and a couple other Zinsser primers, I believe Zero and Bullseye?) was more satisfactory, so I was determined to use them. With careful shopping, I was able to find some local deals on both of those products at various times so the cost was deeply discounted. The Ben Moore primer goes on pretty matte (whereas the Zinser 123 has some sheen). I have one room here with the ceiling top coated with BM Muresco, but the walls are only primed with the BM Acrylic and are awaiting the top coat (to be done at a later date when ALL repairs/moving furniture is nearing completion): the walls look _quite_ nice as is and could pass for having been top coated in fact they could be left as is. I do not think I could have achieved that quality of application with the Behr primer.

I have no regrets spending my own money to pay for both the primer and the paint for walls I do not own. The skim coating came out fantastic (I ended up redoing many areas of the skim coat as the owner's workmens' job failed in several places due to adhesion problems, and in the process I became a solid 'intermediate level' skim coater... my work was not fast but it was good and it has not failed now a year and a half later).

All the topcoat paint was Ben Moore Regal. The better quality paint and primers are just easier for me to work with and easier to get repeatable high quality results with, present less of a struggle, and there's no need to _fight _the product to get it to do what I want or to have to learn and adapt new tricks and techniques to lay it down. I'm also confident in the quality of the ingredients so I have piece of mind that the paint job will endure and perhaps there's economy in that with respect to savings of labor and the inconvenience of having to repaint earlier.

In fact, there's another area of my place scheduled for construction shortly and I'd like to have the time to do the painting and priming myself in which case I will avoid the Behr products altogether.
The Behr primer does work and I'll use the rest of it to paint closet interiors or other non critical areas.

YMMV


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Thank you for the update! Ya gotta admit, we've been MORE than patient with you.... :laughing:

The wife picked up a few gallons of your basic white for me the other day. I opened one and started rolling it.... but nothing happened.... like rolling water.... no white??? It LOOKED white in the darn bucket!! I stirred it up again.... same thing!!! So... I read the label.... base coat... needs tinting.... NO **** SHERLOCK!!! 

In the very least, they need better stock boys at that darn store.... 
The REST of the paint (she got from that shelf) was the right stuff.... :laughing:

Oh well, back to the painting....

Thanks for the update, inquiring minds want to know.

DM


----------



## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

LG- Your post right there should be a sticky. About half the questions asked here, you just answered by hard won experience. 
To all the DYI- use good stuff. All paints were NOT born equal. It matters!
:thumbup:


----------



## Lovegasoline (Sep 11, 2009)

Brushjockey, I agree with you regarding quality of product.

The _quality_ primers I've used (and by the way it's possible to find good deals in the $12-$15/gallon range) performed magnitudes better than the Behr. I'd state it like this: an expert professional painter with a lot of experience could probably get the Behr to behave, taming it's fickle nature with his years of experience. For the amateur or intermediate painter one has to fight the primer all the way and even then it just doesn't flow and behave like a quality primer ... and that fight unfortunately is going to manifest in the painter's frustration, the extra time the job takes, areas that need to be redone or double coated, and the final look and quality of the primed surface telegraphing and communicating with the topcoat. In my humble opinion and experience, an aspiring painter who has a little experience under his belt and has acquired the basic skills to achieve a pretty decent paint job - and is undertaking a project in which he cares about the quality of the finished job - would be better served by a better handling primer. And he'll also likely have a more enjoyable time doing the priming. 

I still have much of that free 5 gallon bucket of Behr primer left. 
It's just not that easy to identify a surface that is so unimportant as to qualify to be primed by it. Even on something as lowly as closet shelving, I want to minimize my hassles and still do a halfway decent job, so I reach for a respectable quality product line.


----------



## marianlibrarian (Mar 5, 2011)

*Bizarre*

Primer seals a surface, sticks to it and thus provides an optimal surface for paint to adhere to. They will all do the job, at least all national brands, if you match the primer to its intended use. They'd go out of business otherwise. But if you sleep better at night knowing your new paint is resting on the very best primer, sweet dreams. I'd use the free stuff myself.


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

marianlibrarian said:


> They'd go out of business otherwise.


It's been known to happen.

Having said that, Behr isn't going out of business any time soon.


----------

