How difficult to paint a ceiling?

[nameisme]

Hi all

Just wondering hiw difficult it would be for a total amature to paint a ceiling? Never painted before. What would I need?

I have been quoted £220 to paint it. Worried will make a total mess and have to get someone in to not only paint it but try and fix the mess I have made?

How many 5l bottles of paint would you estimate? Also need to do some of the walls as they have got some plastering on them. So yeah some wall too.

Please see photo.

 

[Koolpc]

What was it like being painted??

 

[nameisme]

What was it like being painted??

Autotype error. Corrected now

 

[Koolpc]

Autotype error. Corrected now

Lol

 

[nameisme]

Anyone?

 

[Mottie]

I’ve just had my ceiling plastered on Tuesday. It’s dried out now so I’m at the same stage. For bare plaster, you need to seal it first. Give it a light sanding all over then paint it using a roller with a 50/50 mix of emulsion paint and water. When that has dried you can give it a couple of coats of emulsion, letting it dry in between coats. Don’t know how big your room is but for just a ceiling and a bit of the walls, a 10 litre bucket of paint will be more than enough. If it’s a smallish room, 5 litres should do it. You can always buy more if you need it.

 

[nameisme]

That doesn't include the paint. I would need to supply it. They said they can do it all one morning. But how? It needs like 3 coats so don't you have to leave it for a few hours between coats.?

 

[Mottie]

That doesn't include the paint. I would need to supply it. They said they can do it all one morning. But how? It needs like 3 coats so don't you have to leave it for a few hours between coats.?

Depends how much suction in the walls and how warm/ventilated the room is but the first coat will dry almost straight away. Second coat will dry fairly quickish too. Should be able to do it in a morning.

 

[opps]

I am a decorator.

The ceiling will require a diluted coat, followed by 2 full fat coats of paint. It may then require sanding/filling.

7.5L of Dulux Trade white matt emulsion will be about £30. That means the labour is up to £190. Potentially, that might involve moving furniture and laying down dust sheets.

I have no way of knowing the size of the room. Equally, I have no way of knowing how good the decorator is.

Off the top of my head, £40 for dustsheets (if required), £15 for a decent 9" roller and sleeve, £5 for a paint scuttle, £30 for a decent extension poll, £15 for a decent brush to cut in the ceiling (plus a step ladder). That is £85 for tools only. Yeah, each of those can be used again.

A room with absolutely no furniture and obstructions, you could do all three coats in one day, assuming that no sanding or filling is required.

£190 for labour (when you factor in capital outlay does not seem unreasonable). The decorator needs to turn up (travelling time), shifting tools and then 30 minutes to clean the brushes/rollers. Sorry, it seems reasonable. As a decorator in London, I would charge more than that for a single ceiling. If I were doing the whole room, I would knock a bit off because of the logistics.

 

[phatboy]

Give it a light sanding all over then paint it using a roller with a 50/50 mix of emulsion paint and water.

No way! The tin usually has the bare plaster / mist coat instructions, and its 10-20% water in the first coat.

 

[phatboy]

A morning is very hopeful. The mist coat will dryfast, but getting the final coat on in a morning is risky, as the second coat is unlikely to be dry.

Unless they plan to mist coat, and then 1 very heavy coat to finish! Might work..... Seems like a situation where the 3rd coat might rip the rest back off, as it's still wet.

 

[endecotp]

See if you can borrow paint roller on pole, etc., from someone.

Wait until the plaster is TOTALLY dry.

Follow the experts’ advice here about how many coats, how diluted, what paint etc. to use.

Getting the ceiling looking OK is not very hard. The difficult bits are getting the edges where the ceiling meets the wall looking tidy, and not spilling paint over your floor, kitchen appliances, clothes, etc. Did you see the thread where someone was asking about how to mop his floor with a bucket of paint stripper because he’d knocked over so much paint?

Good luck!

 

[Mottie]

No way! The tin usually has the bare plaster / mist coat instructions, and its 10-20% water in the first coat.

Okay, maybe 50/50 will be too weak. Dulux say 25/75 for bare plaster. I’m sure I’ve done 50/50 in the past though.

 

[Mottie]

Just done my first coat on the bare plaster. Roughly 2 parts paint, one part water - I just mixed it up in the paint tray. Took just over 12 minutes (it’s only about a 10’x10’ room). The new plaster sucked it in and it’s practically dry already. Going to have a cuppa and give it the second coat in a minute. I’m going to water it down by about 10% and I might just have enough to give it two coats (I found just under half a tin of Pure Brilliant White in the loft). I find that you use less paint as the coats go on.

 

[johnny2007]

Look at this thread where I experimented different methods:

New shiny plaster: to sand or not to sand before painting?

This became a very heated argument yesterday between decorators working at my former customer new built. Plaster is dried for 4 weeks and it's very smooth and shiny. Some decorators want to give it a quick sanding before mist coat, others say it will ruin the perfect finish. Got to say, I've...

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