How to Paint a Ceiling
A professional home painter shares his tips for painting both smooth and textured ceilings, with equipment recommendations and tricks of the trade.
Use a Stain-Blocking Primer to Cover Flaws
Overflowing sinks, leaky roofs, tobacco smoke, and big spills can all leave ugly ceiling stains or dinginess that can’t be concealed with paint. If you cover the stain with a coat of stain-blocking primer, your troubles will be over.
Shellac pigment in white is the traditional favorite. There are spray cans of pigmented shellac available, but it’s usually easier to brush it on. Don’t forget to clean your brush with ammonia or denatured alcohol. Paint over a yellow smoke-damaged ceiling with shellac before you paint it with latex.
Sand Before You Paint
Over time, and as paint layers accumulate, bumps and crud can get stuck to the ceiling. When sanding untextured ceilings, you should use 100-grit drywall sandpaper for a quick once-over. It ensures paint will stick better and the ceiling will look more professional. With a sanding pole, you can easily do this. To remove dust from the ceiling, wipe it with a wet sponge after sanding.
Rules for Painting Ceilings: Cut in Before You Roll
Rules for Painting Ceilings: Roll Both Directions
Buy Special Ceiling Paint
It’s generally best to use paint that’s formulated for ceiling applications, though there are exceptions. When painting a ceiling, you want paint that doesn’t spatter, dries slowly, and is flat rather than glossy. Ceiling paint usually has these qualities. In addition, if you would prefer a color other than “ceiling white,” you can have ceiling paint tinted.
Lap Your Cut-In Onto the Walls
If you’re planning to paint the walls too, lap the paint onto the walls a little bit. Then when you paint the walls, you can err on the side of leaving a little ceiling color showing when you cut in and it won’t be noticeable. Some painters like to skip this cutting-in step and save time by mashing the roller into the corner instead, but this method is sloppy, builds up excess paint in the corner and can leave runs or a thick paint line on the wall.
Don’t Be Afraid of Color
You may not want to paint your ceiling yellow, but don’t be afraid to deviate from plain old white. Painting the ceiling a color can make a small room seem bigger, or a room with a high ceiling seem more intimate. Plus, it’s just more interesting. Ask at any full-service paint store for help in choosing complementary wall and ceiling colors, or search online for examples of rooms you like.
You Don’t Need an Expensive Pole
You can buy all kinds of fancy—and expensive—extendable paint poles, but a simple wooden broom handle usually works just as well. The reasons are simple. They’re cheap and light and do the job.
Use a Thick, Premium Cover
Here’s a tip that applies to most paint jobs but is even more important for ceilings. You want to get as much paint on the ceiling as you can in the shortest amount of time possible while minimizing spatters. To do this, you need the best roller cover you can buy. The best choice is a 1/2-in.-nap lambswool cover. If you’ve never tried a lambswool roller cover, you owe it to yourself to experience the difference. And if you’re worried about the cost, keep in mind that lambswool covers are easy to clean and can last a long time if you take good care of them.
Roll Gently on Textured Ceilings
It can be tricky to paint textured ceilings. If the texture has already been painted over, it’s probably safe to paint again. In case the texture has never been painted, the water in the paint may loosen it and cause it to fall off in sheets. Texturing quality plays an important role. Try rolling some paint on a closet or other inconspicuous area to see what happens. Painting over the larger ceiling is risky if the texture loosens.
Spraying the paint will not loosen the texture as much as rolling. This is not possible in a house that is occupied. Avoid overworking the paint when rolling it on. Allow it to dry. Rolling the roller back and forth will likely pull the texture off of the ceiling. Wait until the first coat of paint has completely dried before applying another coat. Following the same careful technique, roll another coat parallel to the first.
Feather Out the Paint Where You Can’t Keep a Wet Edge
Large areas like ceilings, tall walls, or stairwells can’t be painted in one continuous stroke, so the best way to minimize lap marks is to feather out the paint along the edges you can’t keep wet. It will avoid the buildup of paint that causes lap marks with the thinner, feathered coat.
Roll the roller in different directions along the dry edge, feathering out the paint as you go, to paint a large section without leaving lap marks. Then, move on to the next section and paint over the feathered edges. After the second coat, reverse the direction in which you applied the paint. Using this crisscrossing paint application, lap marks are greatly reduced (if not eliminated).
Groove Textured Ceilings
Painting right next to rough-textured ceilings (also known as “cutting in”) is almost impossible without getting paint on the ceiling. Masking the ceiling is also not an option. What can be done? With a putty knife, remove the texture at the edge. Holding the knife at a 45-degree angle to the wall, run the blade along the edge of the ceiling. Blades scrape away the texture and leave a small groove in the ceiling. Use a duster or dry paintbrush to clean out the groove.
Whenever you cut along the top of the wall, the paintbrush bristles will slide into the groove, giving you a crisp paint line without getting paint on the ceiling. Also, the thin line of texture will be obscured by the paint brush bristles.
Avoid Paint Freckles
Rolling paint on the ceiling showers you with a fine mist. A baseball cap is essential, and safety glasses let you watch your work without squinting. To make skin cleanup easier, rub lotion on your face, arms and hands. At the end of the day, your paint freckles will wash right off.
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