How to Paint a Ceiling | Easy Professional Techniques
How do I paint a ceiling? Is a question you might be asking yourself if you are in the process of renovating your home. On the last post we talked about how to paint a room, the process and the tools needed to transform your home by giving your walls a fresh new coat of paint. Today we would like to talk about how to paint a ceiling using professional techniques that will make your journey a lot easier!
What Tools do I Need?
The tools needed are pretty much the same mentioned on the previous blog “How to Paint a Room – Easy Professional Techniques“, you would only need a few additional things to paint a ceiling.
Firstly, you would need safety glases and a full body suit to prevent the overspray from getting on to your eyes, skin, clothes, and hair. Also make sure to add some sort of respirator to avoid breathing in any particles that might float in the air if you decide to spray the ceilings. Futhermore, you might also need an airless spraying machine depending on how you decide to paint the ceiling.
What Type of Paint do I Need?
To paint a ceiling we recommend using flat finish latex based paint for best results and easier application. A flat finish helps to disguise uneven surfaces and make the surface more even and consistent which helps to create a seamless look once done. Adittionally, it will not be an eye sore or bother you when laying down and looking at the ceiling because it is too bright on those sunny days. Flat finish is the most forgiving sheen, it is easier to hide any mistakes made when painting than a glossy sheen would.
Cover Up!
One of the most important step is to cover with plastic any furniture, the entire floor, and if you are only painting the ceiling it is important to also cover the walls. This will protect all the surfaces from any overspray that might get onto them while painting and will also help to make clean up a whole lot easier when you are finished. You can cover up the floor with drop sheets, old bedsheets or if you do not have either of them you can use tape and plastic.
However, it is best to take any small furniture out of the room and the larger furniture can be pushed to the middle as it will be easier to move around with the airless spraying machine or roller.
Rolling or Spraying: Which is Best?
This really depends on many factors. For example, your budget and the type of ceiling you have. As professional painters we always recommend using an airless sprayer for the best results. However, we know that not everyone will have the equipment needed for this and will have to rely on using a roller. This is perfectly fine as long as you are careful when rolling the ceiling speacially if you have a textured ceiling.
Spraying the Ceilings
Using an airless spraying machine can be overwhelming at first but not to worry we will try to help you overcome this. You might think that adquiring such machinery would be very expensive but the truth is that there are many companies out there that rent them out for a very reasonable price or you can purchase one at an affordable price. If you have never use an airless spraying machine before it may be a good idea to watch some tutorials first so you know how to use one and how to properly use them.
This will be the fastest way to complete the job specially if you are painting more than one ceiling. Believe me when I tell you that rolling ceilings is the most tiring thing for a painter.
You will first need to set up the machine making sure that it is connected to electrity, make sure that the hose is long enough to reach every corner of the room and also make sure that it is well cleaned to prevent any problems while spraying. You will need to mix the paint thoroughly and then you can spray it on the ceiling using a 0.013-0.017 inch tip. To make sure that the pressure is enough you will need to adjust the gauge on the machine until you get the right pressure, you can spray some paint on a peace of plastic or cardboard to see how it looks and see what you need to do to improve it.
Once you start spraying the ceiling the spaying gun needs to be 8 to 10 inches away from the surface to assure to have an even layer of paint. Also make sure that there is enough space to move around the room without having to worry about bumping into any furniture or walls.
Rolling the Ceilings
We do not recommend rolling the ceilings because as mentioned before it can be very tiring but also because if you have textured ceilings there’s a chance of pulling the texture off the ceiling, making a mess, and leaving yourself with a ceiling to repair. However, we are aware that you might not want to invest in a machine that you are probably only going to use once. If so, you can paint a ceiling with a brush and a roller.
In the last post we talked how to roll the walls and the technique to use to avoid any back injuries. You can use the same technique for the ceiling but you would have to move the extension pole sideways.
You will have to start cutting the ceilings with the brush and after that begin rolling using the tecniques mentioned prior.
Cleaning Up
After you complete the two coats of paint it is time to clean up the area. If you have sparyed the ceilings wait to 10-20 minutes before removing the plastic just to make sure that any debris or over spary has settled. After that you can begin to remove the plastic carefully to assure that all the paint and dust is caught, this prevents paint from getting on anything in the room. You can also vacuum up any loose dust and debris that did not get caught in the plastic.
Trust Argenta
I hope you find these steps helful to make your painting job much easier. If you want to have a professional take care of your project instead, please call Argenta Painting as all of our painters have extensive knowledge and will be able to complete your home renovation in a timely matter and quality results.
