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Fri 11 Feb, 2005 06:59 am
Hi everyone, I live in a 1980 double-wide trailer with a rather ugly ceiling, which I've recently started to paint.
The ceiling is a sort of plastic (I think). It's a lightly textured set of panels with wooden slats (already painted white) every 4 ft or so, & plastic flowers every foot or so to hold it up. It's supposed to be white, but has yellowed with age. So I'm trying to paint it white.
I did one bath with ceiling paint...the brand was Enterprise Interior One-Coat Latex Flat Ceiling Paint. One coat left all kinds of dark stains showing through, although the staining was only really bad over the tub. The staining is from rust in our water supply (a well). Did 2 coats, and changed paints to a high-hiding wall paint. The 2 coats worked OK.
Then did the dining room with the high-hiding wall paint, the brand was American Traditions by Talspar Interior 100% Acrylic Ultra White Flat, more expensive than the original kind. Still had spots showing through. The spots aren't all that dark in the first place, just sort of yellow-ish, so I thought one coat would do it....NOT! The spots look like the paint is too thin in some places. Looked fine when I put it on. Looked OK after another coat.
I started with a paint roller, and found it way too hard to use. Had to go over & over each part, and the roller flicked bits of paint all over the place. Then went to a painting pad with an extension rod, which worked better, but I wore it out pretty quick. So I plan to get more painting pads. Maybe a thicker pad would be better, because of the ceiling's texture? The ceiling isn't like popcorn, rather smoother than that, but still with a sort of grain.
Please tell me there's a paint I can use that only requires one coat! My neck is killing me!
My usual solution to this problem is to move. Or go with lower lighting levels.
Not very helpful I guess...
BorisKitten- If there are water stains, you may need to put a coat of primer on before you paint. We had a leak in our ceiling that left a godawful brown stain. The painter primed first, then painted. You can't see hide nor hair of the stain, now!
You also need to know what was the original surface. Sometimes, latex won't work well over oil based paint. In any case, you need to get the best concealing paint, if you want to save your neck. Good luck!
Primer is a good idea, particularly if you have water damage / mildew stains. "Kilz" brand primer is excellent for preventing stains from showing through. I've only ever used a roller on the ceiling; maybe confirm with someone at your paint store that the roller you tried was the right texture/thickness/etc. for ceiling painting.
Try painting the spots that have bled through with "Kilz". No need to do the whole ceiling over again. Make sure it's mixed, it tends to seperate.
In the future, if you have a spot that looks like it might give you trouble, go over it with Kilz, let dry, then paint.
Works for me.
Darn, I was afraid I'd have to go with primer first! It's so damp here in Florida, I think a lot of the marks are just from 25 years of dampness....
I tried 3 different kinds of rollers. 2 of them were for rough surfaces, and I didn't think they worked much better than the flimsy one that came with the pan. They always come off the metal thing, which then scrapes the ceiling, even if I wrap masking tape on the metal thing to make it fatter. Blick! Pads were a Godsend.
Moving isn't a bad idea....my sister used to move when it was time to clean the oven! Actually I'm partly doing this since we DO plan to move, and have to sell the place.
Ow, my neck!
Hey, maybe I COULD just start with "Kilz" on the darkest spots before painting? At least I wouldn't have to do the whole thing twice!
BorisKitten- You are in Florida, where you can cut the humidity with a knife???? Hi neighbor!
Take yourself to a Home Depot. The people who work there are very knowledgeable. I have a vague recollection of a brand of paint made in Florida, that is designed to curtail mold that is prevalent in this climate. For the life of me, I can't remember the name, but I will look around, and get back to you if I remember.
You know I got this stuff at Lowe's, a lot closer than our local Home Depot. But I didn't see any Florida stuff at Lowe's, and the salespeople didn't seem to notice me at all, even when I exchanged one paint for another.
Home Depot is about 25 miles away. Then again, if I only have to do one coat, it's probably worth it.
I've lived in Florida since childhood. I love swamps! Really! So brim-full of life. Wouldn't move up north for anything.
Cripes, I never knew Scott Paint was a Florida company, even after living in Sarasota, their home town, for 10 years...duh!
Great stuff on their website, esp. since next I might paint over the yucky dark wood paneling. Thanks, Phoenix!
Grab some high-hide primer. Binz is one of the very good brands.
You really need to prime with the kind of conditions you've described, BKitten.
Phoenix, OMG! I spent more time at Myakka than I can even remember! Still have such fond memories of it. You don't actually work there, do you? Oh, Paradise! Beautiful Oak-fringed roads! Swamps galore! Used to put on cowboy boots just to slop through them, happy as a clam.
I used to go down the road a bit, past the park (that is, coming from town, can't remember North/South), and there's a little bridge. I'd park by the right side of the bridge and, if conditions are still similar, you can see more Alligators than you ever imagined you could see in the wild. I saw maybe 30-40 at one spot, all just kinda looking at me. Frightening!
On the same side of the road there's a gated area marked "Wildlife Management Area," where I used to sneak in. Used to be a cow pasture, and it's the only place I ever found Raccoon bones. Nobody ever goes there, and it's high & dry. I never took anything, just walked all over. Such happy memories!
One of the reasons we moved here (Citrus county, biggest town is Crystal River) was to find more places like Myakka. We did! Way cheaper to live here, you can easily get acreage for what it costs for a regular lot in Sarasota county. TONS of Wildlife Management/SWIFTMUD/State Forest areas, more than you could believe in one county.
Sandhill Cranes live around here, we can see maybe 30-40 flying at one time, and they dance in the yard....hubby once saw six walking down our road, I thought he meant mechanical cranes blocking the road, not "real" ones(!) We also have Red-Shouldered Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Barred Owls, Red-Breasted Woodpeckers, Ahingas, Great Blue Herons, White Herons, Louisiana Herons, Egrets, Vultures, Bluebirds, House Wrens (nesting in shed), Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Robins, even a Wild Turkey once, all in our yard....I love it! Many unknown migrant birds, too.
We bought 2 1/2 acres with a trailer, and now want an even more remote place. Think: shack in the woods.
The downside: Way less places to work here, too.
OK, sorry, Stop Bubbling About Florida Flora/Fauna.....We had this Alligator in our pond.....oh wait, Stop the Florida Stuff....
I got some KILZ ceiling paint at Wal-Mart this afternoon, tried it on part of one room, and it seems it WILL cover in one coat! I slopped that stuff on like mad, thinking I may as well do it in one coat rather than two, and it actually worked! Such a relief!
Please don't do that again, BorisKitten. Two lighter coats will give better coverage than one heavy sloppy coat - if you care what the end result looks like.
<voice of home reno experience/doom>
Oh ehBeth, I WANT to do it right, the only question is whether I'm too LAZY to do it right!
Actually, so far the "test" with Kilz looks OK, but I'll have to see it in daylight to really know. (Crossing my fingers....)
That Kilz paint worked! Looks OK even in the day! I'm So Glad I won't have to paint ALL the ceilings twice...just the ones I've already painted with a less-hiding sort of paint...as it turns out, that's about half the trailer.
The good thing about a 25-year-old trailer is you can hardly make it any uglier than it already is. Previous owners had spot-sprayed water spots on the ceiling, over-spraying at the tops of the walls. Blick!
Now for the fantastically ugly carpet, wallpaper, panelling.....
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