Customer Reviews for Zinsser Cover Stain 5 gal. White Low VOC Classic Oil-Based Interior/Exterior Primer and Sealer

Worked like a primer over wallpaper but omg this stuff smells soooooo bad! Even with windows open I was gagging and ready to throw up

I needed this to prime my wall after I stripped off the wallpaper before painting the wall. It worked very well for that purpose. I was very happy with the low odor aspect of this product.

Two yrs ago I bought a paint from Home Depot that contained a primer. It sounded like a great idea and would save me time. No so. It peeled off in sheets. This time I used an oil based primer then applied two coats of latex paint. I hope this lasts. I’m getting too old to climb ladders.

Was not happy with paint—has very strong odor.

Bonds to anything a creates a good primer. Recommend quick sanding afterwards to get a smooth finish. The smell will kill anything in a mile radius so use a P95 rated mask, goggles, gloves and adequate skin protection and ventilate well.

Little thick. Had to water it down. But works great.

way better than shellac based primer

Raises the standard, not the grain! This stuff is amazing! My go to primer.

I needed an oil based primer for my job (recommended for use over wood treated with penetrating epoxy). Seems the stuff is hard to find right now because the new low VOC rules in CA. Anyway, was glad to find this stuff. But it has been horrible to work with. Goes on way too thick and it leaves terrible brush marks. If you try to smooth out the marks, you just make more. I'm going to try thinning it and see if that helps. Pretty ironic that they have to remove the volatile stuff to make it comply, but you have to add it back yourself to make the stuff manageable.

The oil based "biggest competitor" that normally KILLS it was not available. Noticed this stuff made by Rust-Oleum, figured I'd give it a shot. Seems to have worked well. Took latex paint very well with only a quick follow up coat needed

I'm painting a 1960 2 story home in the California Desert. I've painted professionally and have owned several airless paint sprayers. Some of the eves on this house were boxed in with stucco but an earthquake years ago knocked the stucco loose so I removed it all. That left me with very old wood that's never been painted. I pressure washed all of it then experimented with every water based primer Home Depot sells. The tannins in the wood bled right through even with 4 coats. I really didn't want to spray oil based primer but I was going to try in. I sprayed one coat and it kept everything from bleeding through. I was amazed. That's the good, now for the bad. This stuff is loaded with solids. when I cleaned my airless I was really surprised at how much solid material was left behind. I've gone through 7 gallons so far and I about 1/2 way done. My stucco has the color in it and has never been painted, I I've had to mask every thing off. With water based paint, it dries really quickly, but this oil based dries much slower so you have to mask everything. I had an old professional airless (Airlessco) and thus stuff is so thick and full of solids that my sprayers motor burned up. I bought a new Graco X7 to finish the job and I'll be surprised if it lasts long enough to finish the job. I've been cleaning it out with acetone but found out today that the seals are not designed to be used with Acetone. Graco support told me that I can used Mineral Sprits but I doubt if that will clean this primer out of the airless. Oh, and I've gone through 6 gallons of Acetone so far. So, with all this trouble, why 5 stars? Because it works, it covers the stains where nothing else did. oh, one last thing, I've been watching the weather closely because if wind. I prime this morning at 7AM hoping I could put the final coat on after 2 hours, but no way. Another's have said, this skins over in two hours but it's definitely not ready for the final coat until the next day. I had to pull all of the masking down ( because it's going to be windy tonight) and remask tomorrow.

It covered the wall well enough

Covers stains from water or knots very well. Dries fast. Stinks alot. We use it to cover efflorescence on CMU in dingy basements alot and it works very well

This product did not cover the stains, or the knots, or the simple grain colorations….I request a refund asap!

Cans were in poor condition

So far so good. Only has been a week or two but it looks like one coat as primer will do to prevent redwood bleed. This weekend I will put on top coat.

This Primer worked well but was very smelly. We had to air out the room for a good three days after. But overall a great product

Horrble smell and would not recomend for indoor use. Did cover tannin bleeds.

excellent stain blocker primer.

water base primer isnt going to last outside...period

Could not use as the odor was overwhelming. Returned all 3 gallons

Covers great but too thick to flow properly. A little thinner helps and it still covers well and adheres nicely.