Primers and undercoats for outside

Outdoors, the primer does half the work: it is what bonds the topcoat to the surface, blocks rust and tannins, and gives the colour its depth in two coats instead of four. Outdoors, two primers are all you need. On wood and metal, our water-based, plant-based Multi-Surface Primer comes in white and ten tints: every Mylands colour names the one that suits it on its product page. On powdery masonry, render, mortar or limewash, our Stabilising Primer binds the surface before Masonry Paint goes on. Our Wall Primer is for interior walls only.

One rule: prime all bare wood, all brushed metal and every new surface; on sound old paint, a sanding is enough.

Recommended finishes

Wood & metal

Multi-Surface Primer

Masonry & lime

Stabilising Primer

Interior walls

Wall Primer

Our advice

Choosing the right primer for outside

Wood, metal or masonry: each surface has its primer, and each colour its undercoat tint.

White and ten primer tints: the one for your colour is named on its page.

Choose

Wood and metal: the tinted Multi-Surface Primer

Doors, windows, shutters, gates, railings, garden furniture: on all bare wood and all exposed metal, one coat of our water-based Multi-Surface Primer can be overcoated after 3–4 hours, the same day. It comes in white and ten tints; choose the one your colour's product page names: white under whites and pastels, light grey under stones and mid greys, dark grey under deep blues, greens and blacks, red under reds.

The right undercoat tint makes all the difference under a deep colour: two topcoats instead of four, and a colour that keeps its density on the edges, where paint wears first. On iron, apply it the same day you wire-brush, before rust returns.

Stabilising Primer on any chalky render, before the Masonry Paint.

Choose

Render, brick and stone: the Stabilising Primer

An outside wall that chalks under your hand, lime render or mortar, porous brick or never-painted stone drink the paint and let it flake away with the dust they carry. Our Stabilising Primer soaks into the surface, binds it and evens out its absorption; Masonry Paint then covers in two even coats.

Apply it with a wide brush or a long-pile roller, on a clean, dry wall, in dry weather, and let it dry completely before the Masonry Paint; on lime it also gives the adhesion, since Masonry Paint is not breathable. On a sound, previously painted façade it is unnecessary: wash, fill, and go straight to colour.