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Painting accoustical ceiling?

BillHartmann | Posted in General Discussion on August 15, 2008 08:03am

I am looking at a job on a 12 YO home where a coulpe of seams in the ceiling have opened up.

It is a couple of small areas where tape is loose. The ceilings rise from 8 to 14 ft and then flat. All of the problem areas are where the angles or.

The ceiling has a a blow textured ceiling. It is about 12 YO so it has small fiber “pellets” and not the older “blister texture” that was more like popcorn. And it is fairly light (in density)

I can easly match the texture. Hopefull at 14 ft up and without direct light the color will be OK.

But it might require painting the whole ceiling.

The question is how are it that to paint with a roller and latex paint. I know that it is somewhat water sensitive. And I am assume that some bits of texture will come off. But that it won’t blister like some of the older and thicker textures.

I was thinking about a “quick” coat trying to limit the amount of rerolling over a spot and not worry about skips.

Then after it dries a 2 nd full coat.

Does that sound like it will work?

.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
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Replies

  1. rez | Aug 16, 2008 07:44pm | #1

    bump

     

  2. BUIC | Aug 17, 2008 04:16am | #2

      If the material is water sensitive, why not first coat with a good shellac based primer, then a latex top coat.

      Should look great ...buic



    Edited 8/16/2008 9:16 pm ET by BUIC

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Aug 17, 2008 04:23am | #3

      That should work, but I am not sure if I want to use that BIN. I have done a couple of small ceiling that had pealing wallpaper to seal it..
      .
      A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

      1. mikerooney | Aug 17, 2008 04:29am | #4

        It would be cheaper and easier to spray it.''Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.'' Plato

         

  3. mrfixitusa | Aug 17, 2008 06:29am | #5

    This is an article that recommends spraying a light coat of paint on acoutical ceiling rather than rolling it

    It says if you roll the paint on too heavy, the weight will cause the texture to fall off the ceiling

    http://bigrehab.com/painting-acoustic-ceilings-use-an-airless-sprayer-not-a-paint-roller

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Aug 17, 2008 05:24pm | #9

      I have seen some ceilings that have large globs are the popped popcorn size and stagmites that would put a cave to shame.Some of those I think would fall if you breathed to hard on them.But this is very light coating. 1/32 to 1/16" particles and maybe 30% coverage. So I am not worrying about getting it wet enough to fall, but rather "washing" it off..
      .
      A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

  4. ponytl | Aug 17, 2008 04:44pm | #6

    look for a product called "dryfall" has to be sprayed but as the name says whatever falls to the floor is dry by the time it gets there... covers stains  seals out smells (used in fire resto alot)

    p

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Aug 17, 2008 05:18pm | #7

      Googling it appears that dryfall is a characteristic an not a product.There are dryfall product in latex and oil and flat and glossy.But I don't have a sprayer and don't want to get one for just this job.And this is a completely finishedd and occupied house. Not sure where dry fall help that much. The walls would still need to be masked and the total floor covered..
      .
      A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

      1. rez | Aug 17, 2008 05:19pm | #8

        So what are you going to do?

         

        inquiring minds want to know 

  5. paintguy | Aug 17, 2008 07:36pm | #10

    I did a house with a 70's texture that looked like Stalagmites in a cave. We have used dryfall paint while doing commercial jobs but in a house with finished hardwood floors and walls that were not going to be painted it wasn't practical.

    I roll over the entire ceiling with a used roller that you will throw away. It will break off the higher points and allow you to roll a top coat without clogging up your finish roller with these tips.

    I used an oil flat from Benjamin Moore. Not sure if it is still available. It covered great in one coat and left a perfect finish.

    Good luck,
    Jon

    "There is no good answer to a stupid question"
    Russian saying
  6. Dave45 | Aug 17, 2008 08:24pm | #11

    First, you'll need to fix the loose tape spots - and be prepared to find more as you work.  IME, the noticeably loose places are trying to tell you that the rest of the seam is probably marginal and just waiting for an excuse to come loose. - lol

    Spraying will probably be the only sensible way to paint the ceiling.  Many of those acoustical ceilings were never painted and will suck up your paint like you wouldn't believe.  I've seen people roll them and wind up with large amounts of the "stuff" on the floor.  Even if you spray, you need to take your time and not saturate the texture.  I've seen some fairly good sized "bubbles" appear a few days after a ceiling was painted because the paint was applied to heavily and the texture loosened.

    Yes, you'll probably have to paint the entire ceiling.  After 12 years, there's no way that your new paint won't show up against the old.

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Aug 18, 2008 01:05am | #12

      I worked on one 30-40 YO house that had several major problems. Ceiling fans hanging lose from kids jump up trying to catch the pull cords or whatever they could catch and rotted bathroom floor from flooding tub.I was not doing the final painting so I was not concerned. But several of the rooms have water damage from roof leaks and some missing texture. So I spoted the stains up an can of spay ceiling blocker. And then used a texture touchup in a tub. This has a binder and styrene bits in it that you can dap around with a brush to get as much or as little as you need.I was surprised at how well it looked. But it was could still be seen when you look across it towards a window. But it was up to the HO to do all of the painting so I have no idea how much texture might have come off in the end.But the bathroom was so bad that I just scrapped that and skimmed it.However, for the job that I am asking about the ceilings rise from 8 ft to 14ft with the roof and then are flat.All of the problems are where it gos from the slope to the flat. No direct light and no looking across it. And since it is in the angle and 14 ft high there is a fair change that the slight difference in color or sheen won't bee seen..
      .
      A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

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