Painting - Color Changing Ceiling Paint

Hi,

I painted my living room ceiling with one of those paints that goes on with a tint of purple but dries white (Lowes "American Tradition). What a mistake!

After the first coat, I tried touching up a few places and it left what almost looked like water stains on the ceiling. Tried rolling over them again to see if spreading it out would help. Looked even worse. So I re-did the entire job and now the whole ceiling is splotchy. In small print on the can it says that the color can get "reactivated" when painted over and to avoid this, repaint with an oil-based primer.

Anyway, I've learned my lesson. I'm going to prime and repaint with a regular, high-quality paint. But I was wondering if anyone else has heard of this? This paint technology just seems like an incredibly bad idea.

John

Welcome to the diy forums John

I seldom use any paints from big box stores. Paint stores have a better selection of quality paints. I've seen the color changing paint advertised but have never used any. Generally if you apply a fluid coat of paint, there won't be any missed spots.

The advice on the label to prime with oil base prior to repaint may be a concern. It sounds as if fresh paint may cause something in that paint to bleed thru into the new paint. I'd suggest going to a real paint store like SWP or B Moore and discuss this with them. They should know more about this type of ceiling paint and if/what primer you may need to use first.

mark

This type of ceiling paint was originally developed by Ace Hardware in their own paint manufacturing facilities several years ago.It was and still is a popular product with a very good success rate.Since it's introduction, a variety of brands and manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon (something an Ace paint rep said would undoubtedly occur)and as is normally the case,big box versions are not performing well likely also as usual because big boxes pressure the actual manufacturers of their products to cut as many corners as possible to hold down costs thereby lowering the price point of the product.

The product was originally designed for home owners/amatuers who had little or no experience with painting and who were looking for ways to ensure that the painting or repainting of a white ceiling with white ceiling paint was complete.The better versions of the product do this job well.

Take your experience as a lesson concerning what happens when you fall prey to big box advertising and promotion and discover what you really get when you shop there.I assume you had either no or at best marginally qualified help when you bought this product.

I would suggest priming the ceiling simply to hopefully reverse your present situation.Then repaint with product you purchase from a store that offers quality products and qualified help to assist you.

uh oh--

I have some touch-up to do on a ceiling where I used Glidden's version of this stuff. Hope I don't have the same issues--will let you know. I didn't see any warnings about haveing to use a special primer if I paint the ceiling again. Darn.

I recently tried the Kilz version of the tinted ceiling paint. I do painting and always have excellent ceiling outcome-even my customers are pleased,lol- but thought why not try it. Well, I used it in my son's room and now I can tell you why not try it. It is terrible. At the very best, over lap marks only show with direct sunlight, others show with halogen or incadescent lighting.

I trashed the tinted and repainted with my old stand by Pratt/Lamb. ceiling paint and it is as smooth as silk. One thing I would advise, DO NOT paint using the patterns that you see on most of the DIY shows. With ceilings, stay with the old W or N pattern and keep you coverage consistent. Happy Painting.

Jeeper,

That W or N pattern stuff is nothing more than a lot of extra work. I suspect it exists because it might help cover up defects in bad roller technique.

If you want to save your arms a lot of strain, do what the pros (and at least this DIY) do...

Load up your high-quality roller (usually 3/8" or larger Purdy or Wooster) with high-quality paint, go forwards and back (or up and down) a single stripe. (For me, an 8-10' stripe.) Then backroll the previous stripe.

Refill the roller and repeat until wall/ceiling is painted.

The key to avoiding roller marks with this method, is to use that high quality roller, load it full, and then let the roller do the work. There should be just enough pressure against the surface so that the roller has complete contact with what you are painting; do not "squeeze" the paint out of the roller.

This is a heck of a lot less work then the W and N stuff...

SirWired