# Exterior oil primer preference



## pmoorepaint (Sep 10, 2012)

Hi all,

doing an exterior. owner wants bm freshstart moorwhite oil primer or something similar to this. usually always use coverstain oil. is there a huge difference between all the oil brands. previously painted house little bit of scraping. wants full oil and two coats of latex. curious if other contractors think really big difference between exterior oil primers. always had good luck with coverstain but big difference in price. double the money for the moorwhite freshstart. thanks for any advice


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

pmoorepaint said:


> Hi all,
> 
> doing an exterior. owner wants bm freshstart moorwhite oil primer or something similar to this. usually always use coverstain oil. is there a huge difference between all the oil brands. previously painted house little bit of scraping. wants full oil and two coats of latex. curious if other contractors think really big difference between exterior oil primers. always had good luck with coverstain but big difference in price. double the money for the moorwhite freshstart. thanks for any advice


 Charge according to what they ask for. If they ask why so much, tell the customer that if you substitute materials it will be less exspensive.


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## pmoorepaint (Sep 10, 2012)

thanks for advice. job priced already. wondered if you think there is a big difference between all the different oil primers out there really or just good marketing. thanks for help. wan to use the best but always used coverstain with good results. curious if really big difference with the oils.


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

Sorry I allways use latex outside.


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## We Fix Houses (Aug 15, 2007)

Is this a conventional alkyd primer ? Sounds like it is. 

I use a good bit of cover stain. Its a top product and dries fast, penetrates well. 

Alkyd oil primer is a different animal. Its slow drying so it has more time to penetrate / adhere to the substrate. Fortunately in the now mild weather it may dry in 8 - 12 hrs. A bit colder it could be 24 hrs until dry.

Alkyd undercoater / primer and 2 coats premium latex is about as good as it gets. The HO sounds like he's on the beam. I'm assuming you have old beat up siding / trim or Masonite siding ?

Addl - Previously painted house ? What's on there now, oil or latex....the HO may know on this one ? If its chalking on your hand be glad for the oil primer specified.


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## shesbros (Jun 15, 2005)

The BM Fresh Start and the Cover Stain are not the same thing. Cover Stain is kind of an all around primer inside and out, stain blocker, jack of all trades so to speak. We use a ton of it inside but none of it outside. 

The BM Fresh Start quick dry is pretty good just make sure you thin it (although they say not to. you need to) with at least 1/2 pt+ per gallon. Just add thinner or terps until it flows like the old oil primers. IT wil have much better adhesion and stain blocking than the cover-stain. 

However being from Ma. I would try to get your hands on California's new Storm oil primer. We have switched to this even from the Storm Stain Troubleshooter which was our go to once Valspar bought Cabot and turned Problem Solver into garbage. The Storm has California's new Alkyds and solvents in it so it does everything like the old oils without any quick drying/slow drying agent problems.


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## pmoorepaint (Sep 10, 2012)

it one of the bm freshstart brands. i guess there is 3. one is long oil, multipurpose and then a fast drying oil paint. they want the long oil or moorwhite paint or something like this. the house is in really good shape and has been painted before with oil and i think a topcoat of latex. thank for your advice. i just wanted to see if the coverstain oil was good enough or if i needed to really upgrade to another one. sometimes i think its all just good label marketing on these brands and that oil is just oil no matter what.


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## pmoorepaint (Sep 10, 2012)

hi shesbros thanks for the advice. I usually use california for latex exterior; i like the product. I know they have two exterior oils, pacific and then troubleshooter. do you think there is much difference; i know the troubleshooter has linseed oil on the tin but i thought this was a no no. its hard and turns yellow. Sorry to bother you again. thank you for giving me your advice.


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## PatsPainting (Sep 22, 2010)

Benjamin Moore 100 long oil is best for raw wood as it will penetrate the wood and give a little life back to it. Not necessary to use this if the surface is sound. the 094, 024 and N024 are all good and should adhere good, but if the substrate is good and not chalky then the wb freshstart 024 or 046 would be my choice.

Pat


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## shesbros (Jun 15, 2005)

I would definitely go with the Trouble Shooter rather than the pacific. WE have had some issues this year with it and have boiled (no pun intended) down our exterior oil primers to two. WE use both California and Ben Moore regularly. IF we are using Ben Moore we use the Quick Dry Fresh Start Oil (purple Label), and the New California Storm Oil Primer. If California is out of Storm we will use the Trouble Shooter quick dry but have to thin it down. 
Yes thinning it down is a no no but you have to if you want it to work like the old stuff.


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