Painting Interior Walls Stained With Nicotine

Madeline

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Apr 20, 2010
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Cleveland. Feel mah pain.
I'm getting ready to repaint in my bedroom, and I smoke. (Please don't go off on me...I'm aware of the risks to my health.) I last painted in there about six years ago with a high-quality latex over primer. The walls are plaster rock. (Don't ask...I have never heard of this before either. Basically it's impenetrable stuff.)

I'm trying to do this at the lowest cost and with the least amount of energy. I have washed the walls with muriatic acid but there's no difference in their appearance. After researching on the 'net and talking to the Sherwin-Williams guy, this is what I have decided to do:

Paint the walls with a tinted, oil-based primer, of good quality. Probably Cover-Stain oil based primer from Zinsser. The thought is, if the color is in the primer, no finish coat of paint will be needed.

I'm not looking forward to dealing with oil. Does anyone know of a latex based primer that would also work well? Preferably one with low VOCs?

Does anyone think I have to go to the extreme of painting with shellac based primer (B-I-N) first before painting the color on the walls? My Sherwin-Williams guy seems convinced this is not going to be necessary.

Thank you so much for any help...I'd rather not be out of my room for longer than necessary.
 
i would try the kilz on a area and then see how it works.

Oil based is a mess anyway and if you can avoid it you will be happy
 
I agree with the KILZ comments. Also, I would only use flat Latex paint on my walls - other than in the kitchen or bathroom. Paint has come a long way from what it used to be. I'm also a smoker but I find that keeping my windows and doors open as much as possible and using room spray on curtains, furniture fabric, as well as just generally in the air go a long way to help tone down the smoky odor.

Good luck with your project.
 
I disagree with the flat idea.

i put semi gloss EVERYWHERE in my house. It cleans off and flat comes off when you clean.
 
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I hadn't really considered the finish. I like eggshell for the bedroom, because it is smaller than I'd like and I think flat can make that seem worse. I agree, high gloss is wrong. Does primer come in different finishes?
 
I called my mom, and she said the only thing that will work if you couldn't get it off is Kilz which comes in a Latex primer. And then paint it with regular latex paint.
And trust me, my mom does this for a living. ;)
 
She also said if you couldn't get it out it is in the pigment of the paint, and Kilz will be the only thing that will work.
 
I have never had anyone even notice I use semigloss everywhere.

It cleans off so much better
 
I'm getting ready to repaint in my bedroom, and I smoke. (Please don't go off on me...I'm aware of the risks to my health.) I last painted in there about six years ago with a high-quality latex over primer. The walls are plaster rock. (Don't ask...I have never heard of this before either. Basically it's impenetrable stuff.)



Let me tell you about plaster walls. Plaster is what made the rebuilding of New Orleans a lot cheaper and easier than it would have been otherwise. When a home with plaster walls is flooded, the mold will grow only on the surface of the plaster. So you can scrub it down with bleach and such and remove it, and you're done. With sheet rock, the mold penetrates into the sheet and into the walls, so you have to remove all the sheet rock and replace it, which as you can prolly guess, aint cheap, and is a huge pain in the ass.


So if you live anywhere that you might be flooded - those plaster walls are a huge advantage.
 
BTW the best way to quit is gradually reducing your intake, and going "cold turkey" when you're down to 5 a day or so. The last few are the hardest to give up. Cutting down from a pack to half a pack is compartively easy.
 
I called my mom, and she said the only thing that will work if you couldn't get it off is Kilz which comes in a Latex primer. And then paint it with regular latex paint.
And trust me, my mom does this for a living. ;)

I will tuck this bit of advise away and will mentally thank you for it when the time comes.
 
Do not, do not, do not!!!! Paint your interior walls with oil based paint!!! Once that has been done and you or someone else (if you sell) wants to paint with latex the walls will have to be stripped or torn out and redone.
Hopefully the walls are not already painted with oil base. If so you will have to use an oil base paint to repaint.
The newer matte and eggshell finishes on quality paint cleans just as well as semi-gloss which I also would strongly discourage you from using on walls for reasons similar to the one stated above.
Kilz followed by a very good quality latex paint, I personally use Sherwin Williams and avoid Behr and Duron at all costs.
 
I called my mom, and she said the only thing that will work if you couldn't get it off is Kilz which comes in a Latex primer. And then paint it with regular latex paint.
And trust me, my mom does this for a living. ;)

Luissa, your mom is a painter? And she said KILZ will cover nicotine stains? That would be such a relief.....it'd be worth a test patch at least. Thankies so much for making the call. Very kind of you to go out of your way like that.
 
Do not, do not, do not!!!! Paint your interior walls with oil based paint!!! Once that has been done and you or someone else (if you sell) wants to paint with latex the walls will have to be stripped or torn out and redone.
Hopefully the walls are not already painted with oil base. If so you will have to use an oil base paint to repaint.
The newer matte and eggshell finishes on quality paint cleans just as well as semi-gloss which I also would strongly discourage you from using on walls for reasons similar to the one stated above.
Kilz followed by a very good quality latex paint, I personally use Sherwin Williams and avoid Behr and Duron at all costs.

Ringel, the Sherwin-Williams guy says you can repaint latex over oil (and vise versa) as long as the surface is protected from extreme changes in temperature. He says basically you can do any interior surface and some exterior ones (depends on the ambient temperature).

I'm pretty used to depending on Sherwin-Williams, but your comment has made me nervous.

 

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