Pro Spotlight: Nick Slavik

May 11, 2021

KILZ^® Brand products have been trusted by professional painters for over 40 years to deliver quality, long-lasting results. But you don’t have to just take our word for it! Today on The Perfect Finish, we’re excited to share a Q&A with professional painter Nick Slavik. He’s been in the business from a young age and if anyone knows about how to properly prep for and complete a paint job, it’s Nick. Born into a painting family, Nick is on a mission to improve the industry one painter at a time. His company is built on mentoring new painters with five core beliefs: Trust, Constant Improvement, Putting Forth Effort, Discipline Equals Freedom, and Quality Always Wins.

Novice painting professionals and DIYers alike, get ready to up your painting knowledge with this primer-focused interview. Let’s get rolling!

Why is KILZ your go-to primer brand?

It’s one of those things, if it doesn’t fail, keep using it. And it’s been 13 years of my own business. We just don’t stop using it. The only thing I need to think about is, “Will they have enough at the store?”

Where do you use KILZ 2^® All-Purpose Primer the most?

Exterior on barns and some historic homes that are wood. It almost feels like it amalgamates the wood and goes deeper than a super heavy-bodied primer. For interiors, one of the best uses is for breaking color, going from a deep color to a light color or vice versa.

How does KILZ 2 All-Purpose Primer spray?

So, because of its consistency, very well. Honestly, I would be perfectly comfortable with buying a five-gallon bucket, putting a sprayer in it and just spraying without straining, just because the chance of it clogging is going to be very, very small. But as a standard operating procedure, we strain all our coatings before spraying anyway.

How fast or slow should you move with a sprayer?

Spraying is filled with variables that are personal preferences. Knowing that nobody is going to use a wet mil thickness gauge: don’t get a sag and make sure you cover the surface. Somewhere in there lies the truth.

What sprayer settings would you recommend for KILZ 2 All-Purpose Primer?

The two main tips that we use are sort of double tipped tips where it goes through one orifice, atomizes it, and then hits another and atomizes it again. And those are magic tips. They produce the best efficiency, the least overspray, the best finishes you’ve ever seen in your life. Everybody always asks, what pressure do you put your sprayer? And the answer is super unsatisfying, most of my sprayers don’t have a dial indicator on them, so we actually don’t know what pressure it’s at, but if you spray and you get those kinds of little tails, or arms, or feet on the outside edges, you just bump the pressure up until they come in [to the main line] and you get a nice fan. And that’s it.

*This post is a paid partnership with Nick Slavik.

Always remember to refer to our website kilz.com or product back labels for additional information on which primer is right for your project and detailed instructions on how to apply our products.