PDS Painting Birmingham share there tips on painting smooth and textured ceilings, with advice on equipment and trade tricks.

Using a Stain-Blocking Primer to Cover Defects Roof leaks, overflowing drains, cigarette smoke and massive spills may all leave nasty ceiling stains or dinginess that can not be covered with plain old paint. But cover the stain with a stain-blocking primer coat and your troubles are over.

White pigmented shellac is the conventional choice. You can buy a spray can of pigmented shellac, but it’s typically easier to brush it on. Just don’t forget to take some ammonia or denatured alcohol to clean your hair. If you paint a ceiling with yellow smoke, spread a shellac coat over the entire ceiling before painting with latex.

• Sand Before You Paint 

Over time, and as layers of paint build up, bumps and rough will stick to the ceiling. On un-textured ceilings, it’s a good idea to start with a fast one-on-one sanding with 100-grit drywall sanding paper. This helps ensure a perfectly smooth work of painting and improves the bonding of paint. The best way to do this is by sanding the post. When you have finished sanding, clean the roof with a moist sponge to clear the dust.

• Rules for Painting Ceilings

Cut in Before You Roll Cut In Before You Roll Allows you to cover most of the brush marks with a roller. Carefully brush a portion at a time around the edge of the ceiling. Cut in about 10 linear feet, then roll the segment. This technique has a few advantages over cutting all rooms simultaneously. Firstly, before you roll, the cut-in portion stays damp, so that it suits better. Moreover, alternating between cutting in and rolling is actually less boring.

• Painting Ceilings rules: Roll Both ways

The smooth, clear paint on the ceiling can be achieved with a couple of tricks. First, work 5 or 6 ft. square in sections. Moving quickly from section to section to make sure you don’t dry the paint on the edge until you roll the next segment. This is known as “holding a moist tip” and it is the way to prevent lap points. By rolling every segment in a right angle to your first roller direction as you go, you will get the best coverage.

Although there is difference, usually you can get the best performance with a paint designed for a ceiling use.

• Buy Special Ceiling Paint

You want a ceiling that does not spray, has an extended period of time (dry slowly) and is smooth rather than sparkling. These values are produced in the majority of ceiling paints.

• Lap Your Cut-In Onto the Walls

If you intend to paint the walls, put your paint a bit on the walls, then you can have a tinted ceiling if you want a color other than a “ceiling white.” Then you will make mistakes when you paint the walls on the side, when you are cut, to leave out a small ceiling color that you do not see. Some painters prefer to save time by pushing the roller into the corner, but this is a clumsy way to produce an extra paint in the angle, which can leave a thick paint line on the wall.

You may not want to paint your ceiling yellow, but do not hesitate to step away from plain old white.

• Don’t be afraid of color

The color of the ceiling may make a small space appear larger or a space with a high ceiling look more intimate. Moreover, it’s more interesting. Ask any full-service paint shop for assistance in selecting additional colors for the walls and ceilings, or find examples of rooms you want online.

You can buy all sorts of fancy and costly extendable paint sticks, but a basic wooden broom handle typically works as well. The explanations are clear. They’re cheap and light and they’re doing the job.

• Use a Thick Premium Paint

Premium Covering paint this is a tip which applies to most paint work, but is even more essential for ceiling applications. You want the full amount of paint on the ceiling as you can, thus minimizing spreads. You need the best roller cover you can buy to do this. The best choice is to cover 1/2-inch lambswool. You should feel the difference because you have never used a lambswool roller cover. And if you are worried about the cost, remember that lambswool coverings are easy to clean and will last for a long time if you care about them.

• Rolling on Textured Ceilings

Gently paint a bit of a crapshoot on textured ceilings. If the texture is already painted, it is probably safe to paint again. If the texture has never been painted, the water in a painting can loosen the texture and fall into sheets. Everything depends on the nature of the job. If you have a closet or other unexpected location, roll on some paint and check what’s happening. When the material looses, it is dangerous to paint over the wider surface.

• Spray on the paint

If necessary – it will release the texture rather than roll. But spraying is typically not practical in an inhabited building. The best method to roll on paint is to prevent paint overworking. Roll on and quit the pigment. Do not go back and forth with the roller, because the material is possibly pulling from the ceiling. If the ceiling needs another layer, wait until the first layer is fully dry. Then paint another coat perpendicular to the first with the same meticulous technique.

You can’t cover wide areas such as floors, extra-high walls or stairs in single continuous strokes, and the only way to reduce rope marks on such surfaces is to fill up the paint around the margins, where you can not keep clean. 11 Feather out of the paint Where you can’t hold a clean border. The thinner, fed coat of paint avoids the accumulation that creates the lap mark.

To paint a wide part without leaving any lap marks, roll the almost dry roller in different directions along the dry edge and cover the paint as you go. After the whole wall or ceiling is done, switch to the next section and paint over the edges. Apply the paint in the opposite direction for second coat. This application of the crisscrossing paint reduces (if not eliminates) lap marks dramatically.

• Groove Textured ceilings

Without getting painted on the ceiling, it is almost impossible to paint right next to rough-textured ceilings (a process called “cutting in”). Tap the roof, either, does not work. The answer, right? Knock off the bottom of the layer with a putty knife. Stick the knife to the wall at an angle of 45 degrees, and push the blade around the ceiling bottom. The blade cuts the material away and leaves a small groove in the ceiling. Clean the groove with a duster, or a dry paint pin.

Now the paintbrush bristles should slip into the groove as you cut in along the top of the wall, giving you a clean line of paint without having paint on the ceiling. So you’re never going to find the thin line of missing texture.

• Stop Paint Freckles

Rolling paint with a fine mist on the walls. A baseball cap is a must, and safety glasses allow you to watch your work without squinting. For better skin washing, apply lotion on your neck, arms and hands. Your paint freckles will wash off at the end of the day.