Kyle Boatright wrote:
Obviously, I'm the world's worst ceiling painter. I use good paint (Sherwin
Williams), stir it well, apply it with the right equipment (3/8" nap
roller), keep a wet edge, and the ceiling still ends up with roller marks
despite my best efforts to apply an even paint film.

Suggestions?




I might rightly question your characterization for _I_ am the world's
worst ceiling painter. Sometimes the worst wall painter too. And let's
not even mention trim...

Ceilings are the worst IMHO because the seeing is often impossible there
since normal room lighting is meant to illuminate everything _but_ the
ceiling. Intense glancing light will make it much easier to see where
you are working although it can quickly turn even a large room into a
sauna. A 500W quartz work light on a stand placing it above head level
works for me.

Another thing I've found in decades of botched ceiling painting is that
there is often a layer of unseen filth there. Start painting and it
mixes with the emulsion and intensifies the streaking. A high-powered
shop vacuum and an extension brush can remove layers of grunge that,
because they were so even, were scarcely visible.

My last invitation to disaster is ceiling history. Last Autumn I painted
the white ceiling in my 40-year-old home's living/dining room: a 25X13
foot expanse of white swirled skim coat plaster. Using good-quality
paint and proper lighting I went over the area using the proper
equipment and technique only to find that the paint disappeared like it
was never applied. Applied a second coat - same thing. Went back to the
store to buy more paint and finally the third coat started to act
somewhat "normal". It appears in hindsight as if that old ceiling might
never have been primed or painted in all its history.

Have fun! In my next life I'm going to find a way to avoid paint
entirely or be rich enough to pay someone else to apply it for me.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com