[gilcarleton]

I will be painting the inside of my new house (new to me but has been painted before) soon before I move in. I have tile floors through out so I will be masking them and putting down some paper drop cloths. The ceilings are popcorn even though the house was built in 1990. Anyway, I plan on shooting the ceiling with and airless using a satin or eggshell finish. Then I want to change tips and shoot the trim, doors, and so on with a semi-gloss. Then I plan on rolling the walls.

The question is, can I shoot the semi-gloss on the trim letting the overspray hit the walls and have them look normal after I roll them with a satin finish? I am not sure if it will show or not. I may have to mask the walls but if it will not make any difference it would be easier not to. This is my first time using an airless inside so I would appreciate any help.

 

[Brushjockey]

If you don't load them up and have drips should be fine.

Why are you using a sheen ( not flat ) on the ceilings? Might not want to draw attention to them with a sheen..
And it depends on whose paint you are using, but Ben Moore's satin is a higher sheen than eggshell, and typically used on trim.

And have you sprayed before?

 

[gilcarleton]

I have sprayed several houses on the exterior but never inside. One problem I have with flat paints and popcorn is that they are both hard to clean if you get anything on them. Even dirty cobwebs can make a permanent stain on flat. Most of the satin I have used does not have much of a sheen but would be easier to clean if one had to. Down the road, I will probably re-sheet rock the ceiling again to get rid of this stuff. It will probably be a one room at a time project. Maybe an eggshell would be better on the trim. It currently has a flat on it and it makes it look so dull.

 

[joecaption]

You would be much better of doing all this by hand and not using a spray gun inside.
Your going to spending as much time masking, cleaning up all the overspray and cleaning the gun as it would take to paint the whole room by hand.
Only time it makes since is when there's no finished floor, no trim and the house is empty.

 

[gilcarleton]

Well I decided to do this just because of the Popcorn ceiling. It would be a real pain to roll so I would need to mask the floor anyway. I could shoot the trim without having to mask the walls, then masking the floor is all I would have to mask other than dropping some plastic from the kitchen cabinets. It would not take long to mask the floors then I could shoot the ceiling and trim in one day and start rolling the walls in a couple of days.

 

[user1007]

Just make sure to mask everything you do not want the spray to hit. And don't forget to turn off the HVAC when you are spraying!

If it is empty, I certainly cannot argue with you spraying popcorn ceilings. I too would remind you that the higher the sheen, the more surface defects and variations show. I have nothing against ceilings with sheen to them if appropriate and some know I am on a crusade to discourage people from automatically painting white box tops on rooms.

As for sprarying the trim? I guess but have a nice 2.5 angled sash brush handy to chase the spray. I personally would do them with a brush but that is up to you.

You should not experience any major problems cutting your walls with the satin sheen in to the trim unless you were to spray on a thickness of trim paint that would show through your two finish coats. I usually painted trim first with semi-gloss and cut walls in to it.

Obviously, make sure you caulk, fill and spot prime trim if need be.

If your plan is to cover or get rid of the popcorn and you are doing this room by room? Why not get rid of it now? It is hard to clean no matter what you spray on it and most of the crappy stuff just gets worse with age and starts coming off in sheets when you touch it. Remember most of it amounts to little more than the worst of ceiling paint with texture sprayed over non-primed and non-taped and mudded drywall.

 

[gilcarleton]

I agree with you about color. I am painting the walls with color that has a little more pigment than Ivory and I thought I would shoot the ceiling with an ivory. Pure white is too stark for me. If I were only painting a couple of rooms I would use a brush but it is a 1700 sq ft home and that is why I though of using the airless. If we did not have to move in and have a place to live right now I would have the ceiling sheet rocked but I just cannot see doing that with Christmas coming. Maybe I will check with a contractor. I am too old and slow to do it myself but I may be able to get a good deal since I am only doing the ceilings. What size tip do you use for your trim? I cannot find one that I think is small enough. I think the smallest has a 6 inch spray at 12 inches and that would give me a lot of over spray on the baseboards.

 

[Canarywood1]

"have a place to live right now I would have the ceiling sheet rocked "


Why not just remove the popcorn insted of sheet rocking the entire ceiling????

 

[user1007]

"have a place to live right now I would have the ceiling sheet rocked "

Why not just remove the popcorn insted of sheet rocking the entire ceiling????

This was my thought as well. Unless you have ceilings that fall into something like 1 percent I have ever encountered that were popcorned properly, I think you will find the removing the popcorn goes fast. Wet it with a tank sprayer, scrape it with a wide drywall knife, contractor bag it, and have it over and done with? Will be a lot easier with the home empty?

I guess depending on the vintage of the home you might have to have some asbestos concerns but most was just polystyrene or similar texture.

I didn't spray much as most of my work was on antique homes with people most often living in them. I don't think I ever sprayed trim or had it sprayed. It would have taken me longer to mask it all off for spraying than painting with a brush. Your situation is different so hopefully someone will chime in with a tip suggestion.

 

[chrisn]

Remove the popcorn ,NOW, before painting them. After you paint them it will be next to impossible to remove.
As to the sheen on the ceiling, how many times are you up there cleaning ceilings?:whistling2:

 

[gilcarleton]

I suppose I could give cleaning a try but the ceiling have been painted at least once and maybe twice so it seems like a daunting job to scrap them. I have never done this before but from my research it sounds like a long and messy process. Maybe I will give it a try and see how it goes. I wonder what it looks like under the ceiling. I will probably have to put on at least one coat of topping over the tape to smooth things out. I don't think asbestos is going to be a problem since the house was built in 1990. It is strange but every house I looked at in Foley, Alabama had popcorn ceilings. I have never see this in relatively new homes in any other part of the country.

 

[toastandjam]

I suppose I could give cleaning a try but the ceiling have been painted at least once and maybe twice so it seems like a daunting job to scrap them. I have never done this before but from my research it sounds like a long and messy process. Maybe I will give it a try and see how it goes. I wonder what it looks like under the ceiling. I will probably have to put on at least one coat of topping over the tape to smooth things out. I don't think asbestos is going to be a problem since the house was built in 1990. It is strange but every house I looked at in Foley, Alabama had popcorn ceilings. I have never see this in relatively new homes in any other part of the country.

Run a shopvac over the popcorn ceiling to help such up most of the dirt/cobwebs/etc first.

Popcorn ceilings helped hide imperfections and quick and dirty work. They fell out of favor in the late 1990's during the popcorn revolution led by Martha Stewart and the faux finish coup d'etat. Shortly after that, the rise of the Brushed Nickle King took place ousting the House of the Polished Brass.

 

[gilcarleton]

I realize that but it seems to me it would be easier to finish sheet rock correctly than to pay for the popcorn texture I think all they would save is the topping coat.

 

[toastandjam]

I realize that but it seems to me it would be easier to finish sheet rock correctly than to pay for the popcorn texture I think all they would save is the topping coat.

One would hope, but factor in labor experience to do it and the costs, it was easier mud/tape and spray the popcorn on and be done.

 

[Brushjockey]

To make a smooth ceiling look good takes a bit of work. Depending on light , it can be harder than walls. So that is why they textured.
Around here, a knockdown text is replacing the popcorn, but for the same reasons.

Unpainted popcorn is fairly easy ( but messy ) to get down. Spray it wet and it almost falls off. Then you need to sand whats left smooth, prime with a penetrating primer (Gardz is great) to hold down whats left- and touch up or even skim with mud. Sand, reprime and paint.

 

[gilcarleton]

That is what I wonder about, how easy this will be to get off since it has been painted. So far with flat latex. Maybe I will try one room and see. That is why I thought of just re-sheet rocking. Knock down is fine. I have usually shot an orange peal and it breaks thing up enough for me but I never tried it on a large room like a living room, only bedrooms and halls.

 

[Brushjockey]

If it has been painted, the water won't penetrate as much. I usually dry scrape the best i can then, seal, skim coat ( usually at least twice) , sand , prime, look over with a light, fix as needed and then paint with a very flat paint .
Sounds like a lot- but if you know how to mud pretty much routine.

 

[gilcarleton]

If it has been painted, the water won't penetrate as much. I usually dry scrape the best i can then, seal, skim coat ( usually at least twice) , sand , prime, look over with a light, fix as needed and then paint with a very flat paint .
Sounds like a lot- but if you know how to mud pretty much routine.

Curious, why would you seal before you skim coated? I would think it would adhere better if you just put the stuff on. That may be an option. I may even be able to straighten a hoe and scrap from the floor. I think it would still be a little rough but maybe do a knock down on top of the skim coat. This is an idea worth pondering. Do you think two coats of topping would be enough?

 

[ToolSeeker]

If it was me, but it's not, but if it was, I would check with a realtor in your area, if memory serves me well and it might not, in your area they are still using popcorn on ceilings. If they are then (and you don't know how bad it hurts to say this)then paint. Cover everything then spray on Gardz then paint. If you remove, mix some fabric softener in your water wet ceiling wait about 10 minutes and spray again, then scrap. But don't use a wide knife, the reason being a wide knife if you look down along the blade most have a curve in them, not a lot but it's there. Due to this curve and the water making everything kinda soft it's very easy for the corners to dig in then you have to go back and repair. I would suggest not bigger than a 6" knife. Good luck.

 

[Brushjockey]

Sometimes when mud or paint is put directly on the powdery residue left from the ceiling texture, it doesn't adhere and curls up or comes loose later. Gardz is a very thin bodied penetrating sealer that will give a sound surface to whatever is to follow.
It's called insurance.