Question about paint primer?

What should paint primer look/feel like when applied to a wall? A bad construction company did work on my bathroom and am finding all kinds of things wrong. They said they primered it, but the primer comes off with a wet rag? It is also easily scraped off with a finger nail..you can also see the old color quite clearly through this. Is this really paint primer? If not, what is it?Question about paint primer?
After it has been allowed to set up for a couple of days, you should not be able to peel or scrape the coat of primer off a newly repainted wall. Preperation and the use of quality paint is always the key to a good painting job. In your case, the old bathroom walls should have been thoroughly cleaned and lightly sanded before the primer was applied. Today, bathroom walls are usually painted using a semi-gloss finish coat. That may or may not be the case in your bath. In any event, the constant cycle of high humidity followed by drying means that all kinds of airborn particles stick and build up on the walls. Hence the need to wash them.





A light sanding of the old painted surface, making sure that the dust is then removed, gives the wall ';tooth';. This gives the new primer something to stick to and prevents it from peeling off. The next step is to apply a coat of stain blocking bonding primer. This primer is especially formulated for applications such as yours. ';Kilz'; is one common brand. Although it takes a couple of days to fully cure, the finish color can be applied sooner.





If your contractor failed to complete any of these steps, or used the wrong primer, the problems you describe can crop up.





In the end, there is no way for me to give you a definitive answer without seeing the problem first hand. Hopefully, the information provided will give you something to go on.





Good luck with your bathroom remodeling project.Question about paint primer?
A correct primer is designed to stick to the surface to which it is applied. To do this, the surface must be clean and free from oil, grease, wax and loose particles such a dust or dirt. If these things are on the surface to be primed, the primer will not grab. If previously printed, it should also be sanded to remove any loose of flaking paint.





A primer should not wash off with a wet rag. It may let the underneath color show through but not to the extent you have described.





If it has not had time to fully set and harden, it might scrape off with a finger nail but not without some effort.
From lLarry M, I've painted for 40 years for a living, and giving it some thought, a primer paint serves two purposes, first, to adhere to, or penetrate the surface to close the pores of surface to be finished in a top ,protective coating. The purpose would be to seal the raw , unpainted surface, to stop any stains, or leaching of the subsurface contaminates to be exposed to the finish coat, which is normally added to protect the subsurface, and beautify, which is optional So, think of primer as a primer, sealer, between the subsurface and finished protective coating. If the finish coat is influenced by the subsurface in any way, it's not properly sealed, or primed. Have a good day, Larry M.