When you are painting your home, you will think about how you should paint the walls or even the exterior of the house, but rarely does a person consider the ceiling.
As the ceiling can often be more difficult to reach, it is almost inevitable that you will run into some fairly common mistakes that come up in the process of painting it.
With that being the case, here are seven mistakes to avoid painting your ceiling in Prairieville, LA.
1. Underestimating How Long It Will Take
It happens too often that people will look up to the ceiling and think that it can’t possibly take all that long, and just start the project right away.
The problem is that often they will not think about things like how long it takes for ceiling paint to dry, and so they end up wasting time because they haven’t put aside enough of it to properly make sure the ceiling is ready for the next step.
Make sure you fully understand how long each step of the painting process lasts and what each step is before you start.
2. Using The Wrong Kind Of Paint
For the people who will tell you that paint is paint is… paint, you can know that this is not the case and that there are numerous kinds… including the kind that is better for your ceiling.
True, all paint does drip to some extent but ceiling paint tends to drip considerably less and in any case it is a bit more flat and better suited for your ceiling.
Don’t get a paint that is meant for your interior walls (or even your exterior walls) for painting your ceiling.
3. Leaving Your Furniture Where It Is
If there’s one thing that’s key to a successful ceiling painting job it’s having room to maneuver around — and furniture being there is going to get right in your way.
The better thing to do is to remove the furniture from the room before you begin painting, and thus be able to get around the room where you are painting.
4. Stacking Beams To Make Scaffolding
There are two general ways that people will get up to the ceiling — a ladder or some scaffolding system that is put together.
The former is good for easily moving around the room and accessing the ceiling, and the latter is better if you are staying in one general area and may have more things that you want to keep up with you.
What you should absolutely not do is to try to make your own scaffolding system by stacking things on top of one another and then putting down a wooden beam and hoping it works — as it is quite dangerous and difficult to move.
5. Not Cleaning First
When you look up at the ceiling and are thinking about how you can paint it, the first thing you have to do is to clean it well.
The reason this is the case is that if you try to paint over top the dust that exists on the ceiling, all you’re going to get is a dusty mess.
Better to clean the ceiling prior to painting.
6. Not Protecting The Floor
It’s understandable that some would not think to cover the floors at all when painting the ceiling, thinking that it’s just the ceiling and what could possibly happen?
What is not understood is that even the best ceiling paint will drip a bit, and when that paint hits the actual floor you will find it quite difficult to remove from it.
7. Using Too Little Paint On The Roller
When you use too much paint on the roller, there’s a greater tendency to get drips, true, but too little paint can also cause issues.
Specifically, it’s entirely possible that you’ll get big gaps in the paint coverage and streaks, meaning that you’ll eventually have to go back and correct those areas with more paint.
Nathan Rust is the Managing Partner at Prestigious Painting. He is passionate about service and gives back through his business with “Paint it Forward” and the “Young Entrepreneur Scholarship”. Nathan is married to his wife, Amanda and they have two children, Elijah and Grace.
Nathan founded the Rotary Club of Southeast Baton Rouge with 24 other local leaders in February 2020, and served as Club President from 2020-2022. He also serves as the Charter Organization Representative to Pack 15, where his son is a member as a Cub Scout.
Nathan was elected as the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board Representative for District 6 on November 8th, 2022. In this new opportunity, Nathan aims to strengthen our school system by ensuring every child in EBR has access to high-quality schools, regardless of where they live or their economic status.
