If you have ever used stainblocker, sealer, or primer, then you’re probably already familiar with Kilz brand. You’re also probably smart enough to use primer rather than hoping a completely different color paint will cover the other color right up. More on that mindset later. What you may not be familiar with is their new zero VOC high performance interior/exterior water-based primer, sealer and stainblocker. Perfect for weekend warriors and professionals not interested in sucking in volatile organic compounds while painting. If you’re lucky enough to be reading this in July, you even have a chance to win not only a gallon of the Kilz Clean Start primer, but also a $100 gift card to the Home Depot (both generously provided by Kilz), AND six rolls of Frog Painter’s Tape!
Despite the zero VOC status and low-odor formula, the manufacturer says it still delivers “the quality performance expected from other KILZ brand primers.” In addition to its sealing and stainblocking power, starting a paint project with a quality primer like KILZ Clean Start primer allows for fewer top coats. As I alluded to earlier, I recently completed a painting project where I was testing Frog Painter’s Tape. I foolishly thought I could get away with painting a bright orange room (don’t ask) with white paint, sans primer. I thought I was saving myself the effort of priming, but instead of multiplied my efforts with many more top coats than I would have needed if I had used Kilz Clean Start primer. Many, many more topcoats. It’s funny how some home improvement strategies seem reasonable in the moment and then turn out to look completely mentally challenged by hindsight. Oh well, live (cry) and learn.
Clean Start is intended for use on most interior and exterior surfaces, including woodwork, drywall, plaster, paneling, masonry, brick, painted metal and properly prepared glossy surfaces. By properly prepared, I’m guessing they mean scuff sanded and clean. As a water-based zero VOC primer, Clean Start goes on and cures with relatively little odor. Clean up is also easy with soap and water. Kilz reports that despite the removal of some of the not so friendly ingredients, Clean Start still provides excellent adhesion and hide, and even sports a mildew resistant finish. Kilz Clean Start also blocks tannin bleed. Since it’s indoor and outdoor rated, it’s more versatile than some of its competitors.
In the interests of disclosure, Kilz also provided a gallon of Clean Start and a $100 Home Depot Gift Card to HomeFixated.com for providing the coverage and for hosting the July giveaway. If you’d like to win the same (along with six rolls of Frog Painter’s Tape), simply place a useful comment after the end of any HomeFixated.com article in July, 2010, and you’ll automatically be entered in the July 2010 Free Stuff Giveaway! KILZ Clean Start can be found at select retailers nationwide. Suggested pricing is between $21-$25/gallon depending on location.
I bought a foreclosure in December. The home had a beautiful paint job, perhaps 10-12 years ago. I am in the process of repainting and flooring – one room at a time. It’s slow going so any help with a primer like KILZ and this new, promising Frog tape would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for the great info and the offer
Sorry Jane, you’re about a year too late. . . this giveaway was in July of 2010. Visit our free stuff page in the upper right of our site for the latest monthly giveaway details.
We just bought a foreclosed HUD home the carpet spelled so bad of pet urine, we had to pull it up and use kilz on the floors. Every wall in the house was a different color, not anything light or peaceful. Bright, bold, colors. Kilz did everything we needed it to!
Thanks for sharing your Kilz experience. Pet urine is bad, especially indoors! Glad to hear Kilz did the trick for both the smell and the chromatically challenged former tenant issues!
I am very excited to cover up some knotty pine in my basement with Kilz Zero VOC Clean Start! My husband and I are expecting our first baby this January and are trying to remodel the entire downstairs with non toxic materials while sticking to a strict budget (not easy!). I was very excited to hear about the Clean Start product and have my fingers crossed that we’ll be big winners. 🙂
Thanks for the article. Very informative. I have been using Kilz prooducts for years with great success.
I just used kilz cleanstart on my living room/ play room which had tons of crayon, marker, paint, greasy finger marks on the walls. My first time painting so I can’t really compare it to other primers. It wasn’t completely odorless. I did give the walls a scrubbing before applying the primer but there was still a good amount of kid-related marks left. It covered most of them in one coat. There were a few places where I applied a second coat. Now I’m ready to paint! I will probably use this product again.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience Alice! We really appreciate your comment!
I have been wanting to paint my son’s room, but he being only 3 months old I did not want to use a traditional primer. This will be the perfect way to paint my son’s room with a good conscience.
I’ve used Kilz products before and I’ve been very happy with them. However is the Frog Tape worth the extra money it costs. Does it seal well on textured walls?
Thanks for the comment Russ! We try to answer that very question in our detailed Frog Tape Review. Check it out and hopefully it will better answer your question. As to textured walls, it really depends on the texture. There are some textures that are very mask-able, and other’s I would describe as nearly impossible to mask. We discuss this a bit in the review article as well.
I’m not associated with Frog Tape or this site whatsoever, but I ran across many good feedback about Frog Tape. Works better than the regular blue tape, and probably if necessary, combined with painters wipes, you should come out with a professional looking outcome
I haven’t used Kilz, but we used its sister product Binz extensively when we first bought our house. It had been owned by smokers for the previous 8 years. Tearing out all the wallpaper and painting everything with Binz made a huge difference. We’ve been thinking about repainting our living room, and since we now have a 7 month old, a zero VOC paint is a must. I will definitely give this one a try (though I might wait until next month in hopes of winning a gallon) 🙂
Whoops, I had it in my head the BIN & Kilz were from the same people, but I was incorrect. BIN is from Zissner, but they’re functionally more or less the same thing: a stain-blocking primer. I know BIN is shellac based, not sure about Kilz.
I was once told by the home depot paint guy that you can’t tint the oil based kilz product – which i’m not sure I believe, but that’s ok. I would guess, since this is both water based and low voc, you could easily get this tinted to prime with a color closer to your finish color. does the added pigment have any adverse affect on the sealing/mold resistant aspects of kilz?
I know their oil based primer works awesome as a stain blocker but I’m not so sure about this one. It seems that it’s marketed primarily as zero VOC and then that it performs the same. I’d love to see some side by side testing but I’m not sure how it would work on a short term scale. Stains take awhile to seep through inferior sealers.
Hi Jeff, you’re right about stain sometimes taking a while to seep through other primer/sealers. Maybe some other users of Clean Start (or the winner at the end of the this month) will drop by here with comments about their experiences with it. Kilz definitely has a pretty solid reputation in this product line, so hopefully what they’re known for still holds true in the Zero VOC lineup too!