Painting - Rolling a ceiling properly
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12-15-00, 01:22 PM
HELP! I had a concrete ceiling "plastered" smooth; I then primed it with a milky substance to decrease absorbancy. I tried putting a semi-glossy white latex on (2 coats), but it looked bad in the light, so I then put on flat latex over. The first coat looked almost OK, except for some skips and lap marks. The next coat looked worse. I am using top-of-the-line paint, lambwool roller, taking time to do it well. Why do I keep getting lap marks and skips? Is my technique so lousy? A local painter told me to start from the window end of the room and work across perpendicular to the light. The ceiling is about 210 sq. ft.
12-15-00, 04:02 PM
What are you useing to paint out of and are you useing a rolling pole? Maybe you are not getting the paint evenly on the roller and you are trying to roll too much at a time (dry rolling). You are useing a good roller if it is genuine lambskin, you didn't mention what size however, I would suggest 1/2 inch for general wall and cieling use.
I would suggest getting a wooden rolling pole (or unscrew a shop broom handle), a 5 gallon bucket and a roller screen that hangs on the inside of the bucket, it helps apply an even coat on the roller. Do as the painter suggested and roll wall to wall, or a couple of rows and go back and finish to the wall. Do this all the way down the ceiling, try to work fast enough where you are always working into "wet" paint to help stop lap marks. Don't "dry roll", apply enough paint to coat the ceiling good, but not too much, you can hear when the roller is out of paint and keep it rolled out even. Stay rolling the same direction, you can use a tight "N" pattern, but 1 roller full useing a rolling pole will cover about 1 1/2 rows(roller width) 8 - 10 ft long. Be sure to "feather" into the already applied wet paint to keep the coat even.
This is not easy to describe, I hope I didn't confuse you. What really needs to be done is show you first hand, it just takes practice and when windows (sunlight) are involved it is hard even for experienced painters to roll a ceiling without leaving a trace of roller marks. I hope all this made sence :),
I would suggest getting a wooden rolling pole (or unscrew a shop broom handle), a 5 gallon bucket and a roller screen that hangs on the inside of the bucket, it helps apply an even coat on the roller. Do as the painter suggested and roll wall to wall, or a couple of rows and go back and finish to the wall. Do this all the way down the ceiling, try to work fast enough where you are always working into "wet" paint to help stop lap marks. Don't "dry roll", apply enough paint to coat the ceiling good, but not too much, you can hear when the roller is out of paint and keep it rolled out even. Stay rolling the same direction, you can use a tight "N" pattern, but 1 roller full useing a rolling pole will cover about 1 1/2 rows(roller width) 8 - 10 ft long. Be sure to "feather" into the already applied wet paint to keep the coat even.
This is not easy to describe, I hope I didn't confuse you. What really needs to be done is show you first hand, it just takes practice and when windows (sunlight) are involved it is hard even for experienced painters to roll a ceiling without leaving a trace of roller marks. I hope all this made sence :),