Is it necessary to prime a white wall that was painted a year ago before painting a new color?

We pucharsed our townhouse a year ago. Prior to moving in, the house was freshly painted by professional painters with a white or off-white flat finish. We were told the lady who used to live there smoked in the house; but we've never smelt anything from the day we moved in. The job, in our opinion, was quite professional and the walls are in great shape even now. Just the wrong color.





We are now getting ready to paint a light beige on the walls in the same flat finish. We have received different reports (including from the actual paint manufacturer) of whether we need to prime or not. The only ';bad areas'; are a wall that used to have shelves on it and now you can see the lines where they painted around. Do we need to prime all our walls, or just this one, or none of them? Any help would be great.Is it necessary to prime a white wall that was painted a year ago before painting a new color?
From my experience the white flat walls of paint you have now is just that. Primer only. If the walls have no smoke or oily finger prints on them, you should be able to just paint right over it with no problem. I would use a primer only after washing things down where there could have been kiddy fingers around the doors and door facings to be safe.





I would sand the area where the shelves used to be, prime it with a couple of coats of primer, then paint right over it.


Flat paints do not show up any imperfections in the drywall, however it is hard to keep clean and shows every scuff mark and finger print.


Eggshell is a bit better but does show bits here and there. Latex satin is a beautiful sheen but it does show up some imperfections should there be any at all in your case. Satin is easier to wash and keep cleaner than the others unless you go with oils. Not recommended though. Hope this helps. Just let the paint dry for a couple of days before you try to move anything close to it. Keep good ventilation and dry conditions as much as possible. Heat or the AC will dry the moisture faster for you. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and the colors you enjoy! Good luck! DonnaIs it necessary to prime a white wall that was painted a year ago before painting a new color?
You should be fine without priming. Priming is absolutely necessary when painting over old oil paint, changing the colour dramatically, or if the new colour is red. In this case I don't see any reason why you would do so.





Enamel is a good choice for trim, doors, cupboards, and other areas that get a lot of wear, but it's not necessary for walls.
Just lightly sand down the area where the paint built up..where they painted around the shelves. Make sure you can run your hand over that area after you've sanded it and it is totally smooth. Then you do not have to prime at all; as long as you are using a good brand of paint. Not cheap,cheap paint.
Definately no need to prime. Enamel is simply a term used to depict the hardness of the paint. You do not need an enamel on walls. You might want to spot-prime the areas where the shelves were, but even that is not neccessary as long as you lay the paint on thick enough.
No it isn't. If you were covering stains or a darker color or if you were painting a darker color then maybe but not for changing it a few shades.
no need to prime walls just give them two coats
Having purchased it, and knowing it will be yours for a while at least, I think it's a good idea to prime all the walls prior to painting. If it were a rental I'd suggest that it's no big deal. But for a nice looking finish that's durable and consistant it's always a good idea to prime first. Often times there can be blemishes on the existing finish that won't get noticed by the eye, but can certainly affect final product. Priming isn't a must, and isn't the cheapest way to go. But surely the safest. Happy Painting!