I am planning on using SW Cashmere line of paint by the way.

I'm a DIYer, but will take a shot at answering:

Someone with experience in the building trades can tell you why the holes are showing up in the ceiling. Possibly they have always been there due to sloppy workmanship. But the fix is to get some spackle and fill them.

Skim coating is a thin layer of joint compound across a surface. If the ceiling is smooth, you don't need to skim coat, and it would save a lot of work.

If you are going to use a flat white ceiling paint, you could probably even skip the primer, but priming is never a bad idea.

Yes, cut in the walls and let that paint dry before coming back to roll.

This post should bump your message to the top and if I have misled you, someone with more expertise will hopefully comment.

Also not a pro, but lots of painting experience. Screw pops are very common in houses after they have settled a bit. The solution is to make sure the screw is tight, then spackle and touch up. If you don't tighten the screw, it is liable to pop again. Sometimes the act of tightening will cause the screw to break through the outer paper of the drywall. If it does, just put in another screw right below it properly seated, then spackle both spots. Wall studs are (supposed to be) 16 inches on center, hence your 16 inch pattern.

Gray was right about skim-coating. There is joint compund designed for lighter duty -- better for skim coats because it's easier to work and sand.

I have always cut in ceiling and around trim first with light coat, let dry. Done second coat of cutting in, let dry. Rolled one coat, let dry. Rolled second coat. If you are carefully, you can get a roller very close to the ceiling and trim without touching. This eliminates the picture-framing.

You should be able to get away with spot painting your repairs with no primer, though you will almost assuredly have to touch up the spots twice to cover.

Thanks for the replys.

In regards to the indentations, I should have been clearer. You know that look you get when you hammer a piece of wood or something similar too hard and you get this concave mark from the hammer head hitting the surface? That is what I see on my walls. But now that you mention nail pops, I do see some of that along the top of my wall, but they are very slight.

Skim coating and patching is such a chore and since I am doing this project solo, it is even harder. But, I like to take control of a project like this because after I let my father paint several rooms in the house, lets just say they did not turn up the way I wanted them.

If any of you have used sherwin williams cashmere line of paint, I would love to hear the results.

Thanks again.

Cashmere is good. Screws can pop and when they do, they usually go the other direction, pushing the screw head down into the room. But, sometimes the movement can also cause the screw to pop in the other direction, meaning the drywall has moved, but the screw held tight, so you end up with a small indentation. If this is everywhere, then maybe the drywall boards were only screwed and not glued to the studs? It's just a guess...I'm not a drywaller. Of course, it is also possible that it's been like that all along....the drywallers skipped a coat of mud. Don't spot prime unless you are using the actual topcoat to spot prime with. Sometimes, the spot primed areas can flash if you use an actual primer.

So its better to spot prime with the paint I am going to use than to buy primer? I purchased zinnser 1-2-3 primer for spot priming.

I don't know if this changes anything, but I am planning on using either a flat or low lustre sheen.

Yes, exactly. Primers are bad for spot priming. Really, all washable paints these days are 'self priming'. This is why the Behr 'primer in the can' nonsense is really just a gimmick. This is not saying that primers are a bad thing to use either. They are just not good for spot priming. Every paint and primer on the market is different. Some seal better than others, so if you use a primer that seals the wall better than the paint does, that is why you could get a flash there. I prefer to either prime the whole wall or not use a primer at all for this reason. It's best to patch, use the actual paint to spot-prime so that you can help the patches catch up with the rest of wall surface and then apply two full coats and you are done. Also, don't use a brush to spot prime patches in the center of a wall. Use a roller, and feather out the edges of your roller. Sometimes when people spot prime, they roll the paint on and you can end up seeing where they stopped and changed directions. Push the paint out from the center with your roller and then lift the roller off the wall instead of leaving it on the wall as you change directions.

Ok thanks.

One last question, should I cut in the whole room first, let dry, and then roll?

Since I am getting flat paint, I am guessing that I shouldn't have to worry as much with the whole procedure of maintaining a wet edge.

I hate cleaning brushes and rollers, and especially hate cleaning both from the same painting session, so, yes, you can cut in the whole room before you start rolling.

One last question, should I cut in the whole room first, let dry, and then roll?
Depends on the paint
In general, no, you want to do a wall at a time, keeping a wet edge.On the other hand, some of the newer formulations (Aura) dry so fast that it is actually better to cut the whole room in first.
I am sure paintguy will expound on this( he is better at explaining things than I am)

It's true that maintaining a wet edge with flat is less important because flat paint does not form a washable skin on top of the paint film. To me though, it's never a factor because I am always cutting first and then rolling after the cut-ins are dry with any paint. Aura dries fastest, but Regal dries pretty fast too as well do any paints that are all acrylic. Unless you can cut in and then start rolling 2 minutes later, then I would say to not even try keeping that wet edge. After a few minutes those cut ins are already starting to set and if you roll over that, you could end up pulling some of that paint away which is exactly what may cause the hatband effect. Of course, all of this may depend on the temperature and what you are painting over and how much wind is blowing through the room, if ceiling fans are running, etc.

I knew I could depend on you.