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Drywall installation and finishing are essential steps in many construction projects.  But the success of a proper drywall installation is as much the result of a great prime coat of paint as the drywall finish itself.

Painting new drywall is different than a repaint of existing drywall.  Existing drywall, even if it is smooth finish, has a "texture" to it.

Understanding how to properly paint new drywall ensures that you get the best finish.

Before you paint, you need to understand the different "textures" of drywall.  In most drywall finishes (aka a "level four" finish), some of the drywall is mudded and sanded and some of the drywall is untouched or "raw" drywall.  

Here's a brief comparison

1. Raw Drywall vs. Sanded (Mudded) Drywall:
   •   Raw Drywall:
     •   This is simply the gypsum board itself without any finishes. It's the gray or beige board that you see before any mud (joint compound) has been applied to the seams or screw holes.
     •   Raw drywall is typically NOT smooth.  The paper surface has some "stipple" (little bumps) due to the paper surface
   •   Sanded (Mudded) Drywall:
     •   Once drywall is hung, the seams between boards are taped and covered with a joint compound (commonly referred to as "tape" and "mud"). Screw heads are also covered in mud.  This mudding process fills in gaps and creates a seamless appearance.
     •   After the joint compound dries, it is sanded down to create a smooth surface, ready for priming and painting.
   •   How Raw Drywall Feels versus Sanded (Mudded) Drywall:
   •   It is important to understand the texture difference between raw drywall and sanded drywall as this is where the most problems with drywall occur.
   •   Here's a good visual of how to describe the difference between raw drywall and sanded (mudded) drywall:
     •   If you run your fingers across the raw drywall, it has a feel like cardboard. You will feel little bumps (aka stipple). 
     •   If you run your fingers across sanded (mudded) drywall, it feels super smooth – there is no little bumps or stipple.
     •   Why is this significant: Prior to prime, one part of the drywall, the sanded (mudded) part, feels like smooth and the other part, the untouched drywall, feels rough like cardboard. The two surfaces are inconsistent.  Painted over or painted incorrectly, these inconsistencies will be highlighted by the paint and the drywall will look very bad.  This is often called "flashing" where you see all of the drywall screws and/or all of the taped joints.  What you are actually seeing is the difference in texture between the mudded areas and the unmudded areas.

How to Reduce Problems with Drywall:  Prime Properly

Priming the drywall is the way best way in which to get the proper texture match between the untouched areas of the drywall and the mudded areas of the drywall.

The goal of priming is to get the stipple between the raw drywall and the mudded/sanded drywall to be as close of a match as possible. If the stipple does not match, you are more apt to see imperfections in the drywall because getting matching stipple minimize the imperfections.

Here are the steps to maximizing your prime for a successful drywall installation:

1. Upon completion of drywall, the drywall should be primed as soon as possible.

•   The prime and/or paint creates a seal on the drywall.  Priming is best done within a week, or at most two weeks of drywall sanding. 
•   Drywall is porous. Until it is primed, it continues to absorb moisture from the air in the building. 
•   As the building dries out after construction, this moisture will leave the drywall but could cause drywall seam, screw pop issues and even delamination in the worst cases.

2. Importance of Good Priming on Newly Finished Drywall:

• Purpose of Primer:
  •   A primer is designed to provide a consistent base for paint, ensuring that  the paint adheres well and dries to a smooth, even finish.
  •   For new drywall, the primer also seals the porous surface, so the paint doesn't get absorbed unevenly.
  •   Using primer is especially critical on mudded areas, as they absorb paint        differently than the rest of the drywall.
  •   As previously mentioned, from a drywall perspective, getting the stipple to match between the raw drywall and sanded/mudded drywall is critical. Getting the best match is completely reliant upon doing a good job of priming the drywall.
  •   We recommend a PVA primer from one of the major paint manufacturers

3. Best Methods for Installing Primer

•   Best recommended practices method(s) for priming:
  •   Since spraying the primer on does not create stipple, only spraying the prime is not an option for new drywall. 

                    But there are two options:

•   All rolled-on primer. This is a great option to create the base coat and prepare the walls and ceilings for drywall. The problem is that rolling the paint on is a laborious process, depending upon the size of the space to be painted.
•   Spray the paint and then “back roll” the areas that were mudded. This is the standard new home construction method as it is the fastest method for painting, but also provides the appropriate level of stipple on the sanded areas to allow the drywall to have a consistency across the entire wall and/or ceiling.
•   Other Key Prime Installation Notes:
•   EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:  Important installation notes: Use a heavy nap 1" roller.  This helps ensure that is a good stipple across all the walls and ceilings.  Using a light nap roller fails to create the same similarly between the raw drywall and the sanded (mudded) drywall.
•   After the drywall is sanded, there is typically dust on the walls.  DO NOT vacuum or sweep this off.  This dust helps create the stipple on the sanded (mudded) drywall to help even the stipple across all areas of the walls and ceilings.

Given the different absorption rates of the drywall paper surface and the mudded areas, it's crucial to use a high-quality PVA drywall primer to ensure an even and consistent finish when painting.  

Some quality control tips:

· If you can still see the color of the drywall after you have finished priming, or if you can clearly see the areas that were mudded versus not mudded, you probably need to re-prime the entire area as there simply is not enough primer to do a proper job. 

· At any time after prime, if you close your eyes and run your fingertips across the drywall and you feel a difference (i.e., like glass versus cardboard as previously described), you probably need to re-prime the entire area as there is a mismatch of texture which will get more and more pronounced as you add the finished paint

· Do not water down the prime.  This will only hurt the drywall installation.

· When reviewing the drywall installation itself, the PDCA Painting Contractors Association standard is "it shall be examined without magnification at a distance of thirty-nine (39) inches or one (1) meter, or more, under finished lighting conditions and from a normal viewing position."

As always, if you have questions and/or comments, please feel free to reach out via email at service@multidrywall.com or call 734-432-5000.