# Primer Peeling Off Blue Board



## rivera2419 (Apr 10, 2021)

I had 3 walls of a walk in shower finished with blue board. Because of a problem with communications the contractor's helper mudded and taped the joints. The problem is that I was going to use Kerdi membrane on the blue board shower walls and I knew, from watching YouTube videos, that the Kerdi All Set compound would not adhere to the finished joints and screw holes. I called Kerdi-Schluter and they told me to use any reputable water-based primer on the walls and then apply the Kerdi membrane. I primed the walls with Kilz 2 All Purpose Primer waiting 4 days between the 2 coats. 2 weeks after the final coat I started to cut the Kerdi to size and used painters tape to fasten the membrane pieces in place as I cut them to fit. When I finished cutting all the pieces I started taking them down from the walls and was shocked to see that the tape had pulled the primer off the blue board! I called Kerdi and their customer support said they had never heard of such a problem. I called Kilz customer service and they asked me if I had thoroughly cleaned the blue board before priming and I told them I had done so. The Kilz rep told me that I should not have used it on blue board and offered to reimburse me for the gallon of primer. 

I'll add that the primer in some spots adhered to the finished joints and screw holes but not the blue board itself. I tried to contact the manufacturer of the blue board, American Gypsum, with no luck.

I have spent considerable time and energy scraping and sanding the 2 primer coats and now I'm back to square one. what do I use for primer? I went to Lowe's and asked the paint department manager and he suggested Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 water based primer. Before I go through the exercise of priming the walls again and and having another failure can anyone tell me if they have any experience with Zinsser on taped blue board? Any suggestions, ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated...


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