Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
aptos_station

Sherwin-Williams Flat Superpaint Striping On Ceiling

Aptos_Station
9 years ago

We just had all our first floor rooms painted by a paint contractor. All the walls and ceilings are Level 5 smooth. All the walls and the kitchen ceiling were painted with Sherwin-Williams Emerald satin paint in Greek Villa (cool white). The paint on all the walls and kitchen ceiling was applied by cutting in and rolling with a 1/4' nap Wooster roller sleeve. The results were excellent.

For the large 24' x 14' ceiling we went with Sherwin-Williams flat Superpaint in Greek Villa (cool white) to match the color of the walls. Prior to painting this ceiling received a tight skim coat of drywall compound to create a new level 5 finish. At the recommendation of the Sherwin-Williams sales representative a single coat of Sherwin-Williams Premium Wall & Wood Primer was sprayed on the skim coat surface. Next two coats of Sherwin-Williams Flat Superpaint were sprayed on and the finish when dry had a stripped appearance where the spray pattern overlapped.

The paint contractor said he has never experienced this before and I asked the Sherwin-Williams sales representative to stop by and suggest a remedy. He suggested that the paint should be sprayed perpendicular to the light entering the room (parallel to the windows) and back rolled right behind the spraying. This was done yesterday and now we have the same striping going parallel to the windows.

Has anyone ever seen this before? Is flat Superpaint problematic in this application with a lot of light entering the room through the windows? I found a comment on Paint Talk that makes me wonder if Superpaint is the problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint Talk

Comments (14)

  • paintguy22
    9 years ago

    I don't think so. All ceiling paints seem to leave the striping effect behind these days. SuperPaint wouldn't be my first choice for a dead flat paint to put on a ceiling though. Also, the primer is a very important step. I have never used the premium wall and wood primer, but you need to use one that seals very well so that the flat paint applied over it will not dry quickly.

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Without seeing it, my guess is it's caused by the spraying overlap (thickness of paint) that is causing the striping. The spray tip has to be at the perfect distance. If not, striping occurs from heavy or sparse application. Even though they back roll, that layer will always be thicker or thinner.

  • Aptos_Station
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I posted my question over on another forum and received a lot of comments with a wide variety of answers to what the problem might be and possible solutions.

    http://www.diychatroom.com/f4/sherwin-williams-flat-superpaint-striping-ceiling-204534/#post1384036

    I am not a painter, but I believe a significant part of the problem is flat paint with a slight sheen combined with a very smooth ceiling and large windows illuminating the ceiling. I noticed several professional painters had the same problem. Our painter wants to try and spray and back roll again with an 18â roller this time and possibly with another paint. I am thinking of trying Sherwin Williams Eminence flat ceiling paint tinted to Greek Villa to match our walls.

    http://www.sherwin-williams.com/home-builders/products/catalog/eminence-high-performance-ceiling-paint

    Maybe we should add Latex X-tender or Floetrol to keep the paint from drying too fast.

  • paintguy22
    9 years ago

    Don't use Eminence. This paint is known for leaving lap marks behind.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    9 years ago

    I am thinking of trying Sherwin Williams Eminence flat ceiling

    no ,no no. don't do it!!!

  • Aptos_Station
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The general consensus is to not use Sherwin Williams Eminence. Looks like we will try spraying flat Superpaint again and back roll with an 18" 1/4" nap roller sleeve.

  • Aptos_Station
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Does anyone have an opinion on Kelly Moore 550 flat paint for the ceiling? I would have it tinted to match the wall color. My painter is suggesting this.

  • Aptos_Station
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    We repainted the ceiling yesterday with Benjamin Moore Ultra Flat Ceiling Paint. The painter sprayed first and back rolled using an 18â roller sleeve with a 3/8â nap. The paint dried dead flat with one coat eliminating the striping of the Sherwin-Williams flat Superpaint. Unfortunately, about 45 minutes later 8 bubbles formed of varying sizes.

    The Benjamin Moore Ultra Flat Ceiling Paint appears to be a very good dead flat ceiling paint, but we are perplexed as to why the bubbles formed. The underlying Superpaint was applied two weeks ago and the spray lines were purged of any water before spraying. The bubbles predominately appeared in the last half of the 14â x 24â ceiling. I will remove the bubbles, repair the surfaces and ask the painter to apply the Benjamin Moore Ultra Flat Ceiling Paint again.

    Does anyone have any thoughts as to why the bubbles may have formed?

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    Flat ceiling paint always fixes a million sins.

    A bubble is usually a sign of paint release.

  • paintguy22
    9 years ago

    Bubbles form because something isn't adhered. It could be mud isn't adhered to old paint layer or mud isn't adhered to previous coat of mud. Sometimes this can happen when you patch or paint over drywall dust. When you add the moisture and weight of paint to a surface that has areas where adhesion is suspect, that's when you get a bubble. You may want to wait a day or two....sometimes the bubbles lay down again.

  • Aptos_Station
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Brushworks & Paintguy,

    I cut open a bubble this morning and see all the paint layers separated from the drywall skim coat. Interesting that this did not happen on the first two paintings of the ceiling. I guess each repaint softens the paint all the way to the skim coat and if there is dust a bubble can form from the weight of the wet paint.

    I remember when this painter first arrived I asked him if the skim coated ceiling needed to be dusted off before priming. He told me no because the pressure from the sprayer would blow off the drywall dust.

    Since this paint is dead flat I am wondering if I can cut out the bubbles, repair the surfaces, and do a touch up without having them spray and back roll the entire ceiling again.

  • Michael
    9 years ago

    He told me no because the pressure from the sprayer would blow off the drywall dust.

    That doesn't surprise me. The answer is common, and it's always a poor excuse for not removing dust. Poor workmanship caused the bubble.

  • paintguy22
    9 years ago

    Yes, I would never dust off a ceiling that was skim coated before painting it. First of all, it's a ceiling, so gravity would make most of the sanding dust fall down and secondly it's true that the force from the sprayer would blow the dust away which would make it very hard for any dust to get trapped under the paint film. Perhaps the primer was applied sparingly in some areas or not backrolled good enough which may have caused the poor adhesion. Plus, the many layers of paint and mud on the ceiling certainly didn't help in this situation. I would try touching up before repainting, it may work or it may not but it's worth a try. Use the same nap size roller cover that was used to give it the best shot.