I’m getting ready to paint the inside of a house that hasn’t been painted since the late 80’s. The question is should I scrub the walls before I prime? And if so with what? The bedrooms are not so bad, but the kitchen and livng room look like there might be some cigarette smoke residue from years back. I’m getting mixed advice. Most say a good primer (like Kilz) will take care of everything.
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Unless the previous occupant was a little old lady who ony used the kitchen on Easter, you should at least wash down the kitchen.
And if the smoke residue is from candles rather than cigarettes then you need to wash down the living room too.
And if the smoke residue is from candles rather than cigarettes then you need to wash down the living room too.
Whether the smoke residue is from candles for cigarettes, the walls may or may not need to be washed down depending on how much residue there is. The walls I've seen in homes with heavy smokers have always been worse than the walls in homes where people burn candles, so I don't understand your comment.
For the OP, Kilz is a brand and I don't know which product you're referring to, but if I were dealing with a room where smoke residue was obvious, I would wash it down to get the heavy stuff off (don't go nuts because you'll never get it completely clean anyway) and then prime it with something like Kilz Original (which is oil-based) or oil-based Zinsser Cover Stain.
Don't skimp on the primer unless you can wipe the wall with a clean white cloth and see no evidence of smoke residue.
The problem is that the candles deposit wax on the walls.
paint prep
It's not candle residue, so we are ok there. The smoke residue is old, because the smoking stopped 15 years ago.
We will wash down the kitchen and then use the clean cloth test from there. Man I hate to wash walls. I know that there is
food residue in the kitchen too...so it has to be washed for sure. Thanks for the help.
I don't know -- I've heard of paint failures due to the wax, but it may be that no washing was done first. In any event, the concern is not bleed-through but actual paint failure.
(This used to be a bigger problem in the 60s and 70s when a lot of people were really heavy into candles.)
TSP with a sponge mop. Wipe the whole place down.
TSP will 'prep' the old paint to accept the new, and you'll remove most of the grease / oil / soot / grime / whatnot that has accumulated over time.
Follow with a decent primer, to seal in anything that might want to bleed out. Don't be afrain to press the roller into the wall.
As you might guess, I'm not a fan of the "it's both a paint and a primer" products out there.
As for primers, you have a few different types to consider. I can imagine situations where you might want to 'prime' more than once, using different products.
First are the BIN / Kilz / shellac-based types. These are superb at locking in odors and stains. These are almost certainly what you want to use.
Then there are the "drywall" primers. These help patches and repairs blend in by adding a slight texture to those shiny places where you sanded the joint compound. If your walls have a variety of textures, many repairs, or was painted using paints of different 'gloss,' then this primer will help.
candles, cigs, cooking grease ....it is all VOCs and soot particles that interfere with a good bond. Painting over it with a sealer like a Kilz can seal it in, but may still have a poor bond that results in flaking/peeling later.
With any hint of the above surface contaminants, I wash surfaces down with tri-sodium phosphate and rinse before painting. This not only cleans, but etches the surface with microgrooves to provide a mechanical "tooth" bond in addition to the chemical bond of the new paint.
Washing also makes it less likely you will need two coats of paint.
Wasco,
I would suggest you NOT use TSP, as it requires rinsing prior to painting. Instead use "Dirtex" by Savogran.
It requires no rinsing and can be painted or primed over as soon as it dries. It is an excellent degreaser and all-around cleaner.
Follow the directions for mixing and clean from the bottom up to prevent streaking on walls.
Geoff