Patches made with traditional patching materials must be primed with a sealing-type primer before painting. Otherwise, the patched areas could show foggy spots throughout the finished paint job. But ...

When you install fresh drywall, it's tempting to jump straight to painting. After all, fresh surfaces are a blank canvas, right? Uh, not quite. Before that first coat goes on, primer is a must.

The next step the pros use is to prime and seal the drywall surface, as well as any adjacent moldings. One coat of a good drywall primer, like PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate), will give the paint a great ...