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I'm painting my kitchen.

Some areas of the walls had to be repaired with spackle.

Do I need to do a prime coat before I paint? I'm painting the same color. Although I'm changing the finish from eggshell to semi-gloss. Paint is Benjamin Moore Atrium White-- if that means anything.

I'm thinking maybe because it's a kitchen and the repaired area is near sink-- that it might make sense to prime.

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up vote 9 down vote accepted

My dad and his dad were both professional union painters. They taught me that for small spots of spackle on the wall, all you have to do is put a quick layer of regular paint over them with a brush while you're doing your cutting-in brushwork. The spot over the spackle will be mostly dry when you go back over it with the roller later. I know from personal experience that this works. Also, there's no reason to prime if you're repainting a similar color.

I also know from personal experience that if you don't pre-paint your spackle as I described, you will be able to see it after the paint job is done. The color may hide it just fine, but where the rest of your wall is covered with a slight texture from the roller, the spot that was spackled will be smooth. It stands out like a sore thumb. Hitting the spackled spot with your brush while cutting in and then rolling back over it later is all that is needed to fix that problem.

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This is what I do. I do use primer on bigger repairs though. –  Evil Elf Mar 29 '13 at 18:10
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Rule of thumb answer: always use primer.

These days, however, you can buy paints that claim to be 'primer and paint all in one'. I tried some on the flat paint on our kids' walls and it seems to work good enough.

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Just came across this product, it neatly answers your question. Browsing through a few reviews sites, it seems to be well accepted. Its on my "To Try" list.

enter image description here 3M patch plus primer

Disclamer: I have no financial interest in 3M, its subsidiaries, assignees, unless they have a refer-and-get-rich program.

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