I’ve started painting our basement this weekend using paint from the Mythic, who promote their brand as a non-toxic, ultra low odor paint. I have to admit that they have kept their promise on that end, but how well does its application really perform? Read on as I give my thoughts on the performance of this paint in my two part review.

Mythic’s Interior Drywall Primer can be applied to both bare drywall and painted walls. It is available in 1 or 5 gallon buckets. My basement is approximately 14×40 and I used roughly 4 gallons — 3 coats on the walls and 2 coats on the ceiling.

The First Coat The drywall is clearly visible after the first coat of primer. I was expecting a less opaque layer, but this is my first time ever applying primer to drywall, so I can’t fairly make a comparison to other brands. But at roughly $50 a gallon, multiple coats will get expensive.
The Second Coat The wall appears to be much more even. Up close the drywall is barely visible, if not at all. This is closer to the surface that I want before applying color, But there is still traces of (as the pro’s call it), photographing or joint banding — Meaning that the mud is “showing” through due to the difference in texture between drywall paper and joint compound, as well as the different absorption rates between the two. It’s not as visible head on, but it’s evident at low angles. There are some solutions to this, but at this point I’ll chalk it up as lesson learned.
The Third Coat Not much of a difference from a distance. Here the white color is much more solid than the second coat. There is still some joint banding in some areas, but I suspect that the this is partially caused by the mud being slightly uneven.

Afterthoughts
In hindsight, I think I should have tried skim coating the drywall. This involves covering the entire surface with a thin coat of joint compound, leaving a film thick enough to fill imperfections in the joint work, smooth the paper texture, and provide a uniform surface for decorating. Another option is to use specially formulated paints that act in the same manner as skim coating. But that would defeat the purpose of my no VOC painting.

As an added note to support Mythic’s claim to no odor, my father was over recently and was surprised that I had only painted a few days before and that there was no odor.

Continue with top coat application review: Mythic Paint Hands On Testing – Final Coat