Should I prime plaster walls before painting to avoid extra coats?

[Kenneth11]

I’ve just started painting my living room and the old plaster walls are soaking up paint much faster than I expected. After two coats it still looks uneven in spots, and I’m not sure if I should keep adding layers or if priming or sealing the plaster first would actually prevent needing extra coats.

[Ronald.R]

What’s throwing me off is how quickly each coat seems to disappear into the wall. It feels like I’m repainting bare plaster every time, and I’m unsure whether pushing on with a third coat makes sense or if stopping to prime the surface first would actually change the outcome.

[JosephMG]

Yep, plaster walls drink paint. The first coat seemed to vanish into the wall and left a kind of ghost color. I waited for it to dry and then tried another layer, hoping for evenness.

[Avery_W]

I ended up doing three coats in my living room and it still looked a bit blotchy in places. It was frustrating.

[AvaZT]

I tried a mist coat with watered-down emulsion on plaster once. It felt odd at first, but after that thin seal, the top coats behaved more like you’d expect.

[BrandonH]

In my experience the primer mattered more than I expected. A plain latex primer seemed to soak up color; a plaster sealer actually felt like it laid down more evenly.

[Sofia.B]

Oil based primer stank and took ages to dry, but it did block the thirsty surface better.

[StephenM]

If you know what kind of plaster you have, that might explain things.

[Ava16]

Meanwhile I keep thinking about the couch and the hallway light; I drifted away from the wall and then came back to check the color in different light.