# Discouraged on painted ceiling



## EricIndecisive (Dec 2, 2016)

Hi everyone,

Recently I've put on 2nd (and now 3rd in some cases) coats on the ceilings that I have been working on, using Sherwin Williams Eminence & 1/2 in nap purdy white dove roller. I spent ages skim coating & sanding (they were swirl textured & popcorn in some rooms) and then primed with kilz oil based. The paint dried excellent for the first coat, very smooth. I'm thinking it took longer to dry because of the oil base coat. But I could see that it wasn't at its full "whiteness", so I decided to do another coat. 

Now I regret it, as it seems the paint absorbs very quickly and at random rates over what's been previously applied. Some areas now have heavier stipple than the original, and it's quite easy to see lap marks. I'm wondering if there is any solution, as I am pretty sad that after all that hard prep work the paint is what's making it ugly. I was thinking of trying the Benjamin Moore ceiling paint, but not sure if that would help. Any help is appreciated, thank you.


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

I'm a Sherwin fan-boy, but even I will admit Eminence is garbage. I like their Promar 400 for ceilings. I've been trying the Benjamin Moore 508 recently. That seems like great stuff, but I don't have so much experience with it. Usually not worth a separate trip when I can get Promar at Sherwin.


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## EricIndecisive (Dec 2, 2016)

Thanks mathmonger. I did read some not-so-positive reviews, but then others that were positive. Guess mine failed in the real world test!

I'm going to use my sander to knock down the paint texture on the stairway since it's quick to paint. I think I'll pick up a gallon of the 508 tomorrow and test it out. Looking at the fact sheets, sheen for pro mar 400 (I don't think I can get as I'm not a contractor) and eminence are both 0-5 units at 85 deg. while the 508 is 0-2 units. Whatever that means, it's half, so it must be flatter :biggrin2:. Hopefully all I'm out is a couple hundred bucks and a few hours of my time, the final result is all I care about.


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## cocomonkeynuts (Jan 12, 2018)

EricIndecisive said:


> Thanks mathmonger. I did read some not-so-positive reviews, but then others that were positive. Guess mine failed in the real world test!
> 
> I'm going to use my sander to knock down the paint texture on the stairway since it's quick to paint. I think I'll pick up a gallon of the 508 tomorrow and test it out. Looking at the fact sheets, sheen for pro mar 400 (I don't think I can get as I'm not a contractor) and eminence are both 0-5 units at 85 deg. while the 508 is 0-2 units. Whatever that means, it's half, *so it must be flatter *:biggrin2:. Hopefully all I'm out is a couple hundred bucks and a few hours of my time, the final result is all I care about.


Huh? but on the sherwin tech page it says "one coat coverage"!!!

Really though the 508 is a bit heavy and doesn't cover as well as regal but it is one of the best ceiling paints around for final finish. Its BM's _flattest_ paint.

BTW kilz is junk as far as primer goes.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

cocomonkeynuts said:


> Huh? but on the sherwin tech page it says "one coat coverage"!!!
> 
> Really though the 508 is a bit heavy and doesn't cover as well as regal but it is one of the best ceiling paints around for final finish. Its BM's _flattest_ paint.
> 
> ...


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## klaatu (Mar 9, 2015)

Junk primer and over hyped junk paint. That's your answer. In fact i kind of agree that Promar 400 would have worked better. At least it isn't $70 a gallon.


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## EricIndecisive (Dec 2, 2016)

Thanks for the responses. I picked up a gallon of the 508 and will try that tonight, will report back.

What are the characteristics of a good primer and what does the kilz oil based lack? Granted, even though I wore a respirator, it started burning my eyes in some of the tighter spaces. So I imagine there are nicer ones to use.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I wouldn't necessarily call oil base Kilz a junk primer but there are better primers out there. All solvent based primers/paints will have a stronger odor than their latex counterpart.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Even though Emminence is nothing to write home about, you should have had better results than that. I'll never know why SW moved away from making Classic 99 ceiling paint which was far superior to Emminence.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

I am not a SW user very much but what Gym said is absolutely true.


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## EricIndecisive (Dec 2, 2016)

Thanks guys, you're definitely right - I haven't done any painting project like this before and my lack of skill probably reflects worse on the product than it should. I think one of my other problems was using the same roller for the whole time. I was painting a kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway and stairway, which took me quite a long time and after a while the roller seemed to be a bit tacky, which I think was affecting the texture I was getting.

Anyways, I went to the small local shop (wish I found them before, they're actually even closer to me than SW). I bought the 508 and switched to 3/8 Arro Worthy rollers that they recommended.

This time I definitely made sure to load up the roller more often and not overwork the paint. Even still, the 508 is definitely a bit flatter and I feel like it had a more forgiving open time. I'll take some pictures this weekend. A pro would obviously get better results still, but I am happy enough with them where I don't directly notice any horrible spots.


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## ron45 (Feb 25, 2014)

I din't take the time to read all the comments.
If someone has already stated this I apologize.

A flat paint is not ceiling paint.

When painting a ceiling don't use a roller bigger then 9".

Roll out sections at a time. Roll one direction then immediately roll the opposite direction making sure enough paint is on the roller. When finished with the entire ceiling count that as one coat.

Always use at least two coats/overlapping or certain light and different times of the day will reveal all imperfections.

Just my opinion.

Never use any paint on the ceiling but "" Ceiling Paint"".
Never use an oil base paint on a ceiling.
Never ever put any gloss paint on a ceiling.

If you use a gloss paint on a ceiling you will have shadows everywhere.


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