What says the forum: Paint and primer in one?

[steve...]

Or one coat of primer followed by one coat of regular paint?

I bought three of these windows (less than $90 total) for a back yard project and want to paint them a dark green:



They are bare wood so naturally painting first with primer would take more time. I have a feeling that priming first is probably better.

What do the experts think about this paint and primer in one business? TIA


Edit: Another option I considered would be to mask off the glass and use spray paint, which I think would do an excellent job.

[rgG]

The primer in the paint and primer just helps the paint adhere better.
It is NOT a good substitute for a real primer on bare wood.
Give them a coat of real primer and top coat with whatever paint you want.
If the wood is pine or a wood that has knots that might bleed sap, use a shellac based primer.
Since you will be going with a dark top coat, get the store to tint the primer a little towards the final cover, to make coverage easier.
If it is a really dark green, plan on a tinted prime coat, then two coats of the top coat.
Since this is a exterior project, a proper primer is even more important.

Edit: if you prefer to use spray, there are also spray primers, then spray the top coats.

[Markintosh]

I have yet to find anything that say one coat will work that actually works. In particular on bare wood, I would go with a good primer and still expect two coats of paint for best results.

[lost in space]

What they ^ said.

[NewtonMP2100]

.....always prime.......the pump.......

[Filliam H. Muffman]

For spraying bare wood trim for long term exterior use, I would paint two coats of primer and two coats of finish.

[Michael]

I just bought and used a Rustoleum spray product ("2X UltraCover Paint and Primer"). I noticed they also had the same product in just a primer and the primer can said use the primer while the regular can didn't. I went ahead and got the primer because I was spraying some chairs that we had painted with latex semi-gloss years ago and that had gotten some non-removable shoe marks on them. I used the primer and then the other paint in semi-gloss. They turned out great.

I'd use primer for your project. And I'd seriously look at the Rustoleum. It says it can be used for multiple surfaces, including wood.