# "Preprimed" Molding



## earle (May 6, 2009)

What do you do with molding "preprimed" from the factory?
Paint over that scratchy stuff or reprime with a primer designed for gloss enamel?


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## Marion (Mar 30, 2009)

earle, here n sw Virginia, the pre-primed trim we get sands very well. Normally, I spackle, sand then caulk. The trim the GC's use here slicks up real nice after sanding.


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## paintguy48 (May 1, 2009)

Hey Earle,

I usually give it a light sand and re-prime with PPG Seal Grip 100% Acrylic Primer Sealer. Its got great hold out for that porous crap they put on and powders nice for the next sand. Re-coat time on the prime is about 1 hour. Then I'll throw 2 coats of Pittsburgh Manor Hall S/G. Looks like butter. 

Good Luck


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

paintguy48 said:


> Hey Earle,
> 
> I usually give it a light sand and re-prime with PPG Seal Grip 100% Acrylic Primer Sealer. Its got great hold out for that porous crap they put on and powders nice for the next sand. Re-coat time on the prime is about 1 hour. Then I'll throw 2 coats of Pittsburgh Manor Hall S/G. Looks like butter.
> 
> Good Luck


Seal grip is good stuff


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## mistcoat (Apr 21, 2007)

paintguy48 said:


> Hey Earle,
> 
> I usually give it a light sand and re-prime with PPG Seal Grip 100% Acrylic Primer Sealer. Its got great hold out for that porous crap they put on and powders nice for the next sand.


Same as,,, but in the UK it's called Ultra Primer Sealer.


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## slickshift (Apr 8, 2007)

Unless I know the source (there is _a_ good one..and I mean one, out here with good pre-prime, but most pre-primed I see is so chalky if you strap it to the top of your truck to take it to the job, half of the alleged "primer" blows off on the trip), I always re-prime the pre-prime
The choice of enamel as top coat(s) would also lead me to want to use an enamel underbody (primer) anyway
So that's two real good reasons for priming that stuff


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## ParagonVA (Feb 3, 2009)

I carried a bunch of pre-primed OG home once on top of the van and got caught in a freak thunderstorm. By the time I got home, the primer was washed off . No good.

"Reprime the pre-prime", I like the sound of that


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

There was a thread either here or CT about primer must be "reprimed" if it is 60? days old. Can't quite remember the details.


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## EricTheHandyman (Jan 29, 2008)

Most primers, regardless of quality, need to be topcoated within 30 days. Even if the pre prime was of high quality (which we all know it isn't), by the time it sits at the factory for a few days, sits in a warehouse for a few days, gets shipped here and there, and is finally installed, way more than 30 days will have elapsed. :nerd:

TSP it and enamel underbody every time.


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## woodtradesman (Sep 22, 2008)

I do trim often and most painters tell me that they rather re-prime pre-primed molding.


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## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

Talk to the builder. Get it ordered raw and do your own prepriming. Show them the difference. They will never go back.


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## flowjo (Apr 25, 2009)

i mean if its production homes i generally just get the job dont fast and as best as possible in the time at hand so generally if it comes primed i putty, sand, dust and prime the putty and any spots that i know are gonna need 2 coats, then i sand quickly before final.

as for custom homes i do the works scrape, putty, sand, dust then prime the whole thing then sand nicely again dust off put on finish.


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

vermontpainter said:


> Talk to the builder. Get it ordered raw and do your own prepriming. Show them the difference. They will never go back.


This must be another of those regional things, used to be we only got raw, starting to see preprimed a little now.


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## StefanC (Apr 29, 2009)

I've been back to a lot of homes that I worked on ~10 years ago with preprimed molding, we just sanded, caulked, puttied and topcoated. Never saw any problems to this day, no peeling, no chipping, absolutely no durability issues. I'm not sure that I see a reason to re-prime the pre-primed stuff in most cases.


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## slickshift (Apr 8, 2007)

StefanC said:


> I've been back to a lot of homes that I worked on ~10 years ago with preprimed molding, we just sanded, caulked, puttied and topcoated. Never saw any problems to this day, no peeling, no chipping, absolutely no durability issues. I'm not sure that I see a reason to re-prime the pre-primed stuff in most cases.


 10 years ago I would not have made the statement:


slickshift said:


> ...most pre-primed I see is so chalky if you strap it to the top of your truck to take it to the job, half of the alleged "primer" blows off on the trip


Of course, 10 years ago we didn't have any Home Despots and Blowes around here either
There's still places that use an actual piece of wood, and actual primer
But, unfortunately, pre-primed can also be "sold as" a convenience (time/money saver), when actually the alleged "primer" is used to hide poor quality wood finger jointed every foot or two

Not Int. but...
*It Just Happened Again*
I just did an exterior last week
I knew some trim was orig., and some 2 years old
Up on the ladder, on some rake boards, I see something weird
On some sections I kept seeing those lines that appear on trim when it's been repaired only in sections, and not caulked

I'm looking at one spot and thinking, "Boy...they sure did a lot of spot replacements....they only replaced 9 inches of trim here...and 6 further down...and there's another 5" spot replacement....it would have been much, much, cheaper to simply rip off 12 feet and replace it"
Then I came across several 4-5" "replacements"

< light bulb goes on >
Duh....they replaced the whole rake board with one piece of crappy finger jointed pre-primed and didn't re-prime it
A couple of checks on the bottoms of said trim "boards" confirmed it

Fortunately, it looked bad enough from the ground to bid for a palm sand and re-prime anyway (which is not that good btw), so no biggie to me
But if they had re-primed the pre-prime 2 years ago...maybe it would have been merely a maint. coat


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## StefanC (Apr 29, 2009)

Exterior vs. Interior makes a huge difference I think.
I bet it really depends on where the trim comes from too. I got some home depot trim today and the primer looks decent, maybe I'll do some sanding and adhesion tests before I paint it just for the heck of it.


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