Author Topic: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!  (Read 6418 times)

Offline lavaghman

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Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« on: January 24, 2016, 08:34:05 PM »
Hi there

Have a property that was built in early 70's, 2 story, concrete slab ceiling. The ceiling is covered in textured  popcorn (vermiculite) and it's never been painted. It's a living, dining, kitchen space.

It feels like brittle plaster to the touch and is easy to break little bits off. Have had it tested and no asbestos by the way.

Decided to tackle it with a roller first. Did a small section - it was really slow, used a load of paint and didn't look fantastic so decided to hire a sprayer!

The sprayer worked fairly well but its using a LOT of paint. Have applied 3 coats of water based sealer/primer with the sprayer spread over 24hrs and used about 30 litres of paint (40sq metres in area).

It still looks a little patchy, some slightly darker spots and the worst bit is the section that was rolled is noticeable as being a little whiter. It isn't showing any signs of sagging or separating from the concrete slab though which is something I've read in other posts as being an issue.

I've dropped back the hired sprayer and was going to leave it for at least 12hrs to try and let it dry out fully.

Not sure where to go from here! Options I see:

1) Tackle it with the roller again. Now that there is a good layer of paint on it hoping that it will take a final coat of primer easily, to make it all an even shade, before giving it one more layer with the actual paint (vivid white colour).

2) Rehire the sprayer and try and apply another layer of the primer and a coat of the white paint in 24hr period and hope that's enough.

Couple of other options which involve admitting defeat but not sure I'm ready for that yet!!  :P

Any advice greatly appreciated. Space is obviously completely out of commission with plastic covered walls and drop cloths and wife is getting uneasy!  ::) ;D

Attached is a pic showing original finish alongside rolled section. No spraying done at this point.

Thanks.
John

Offline mymint87

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2016, 09:56:28 PM »
welcome....yes spraying ceilings should be in a cross hatched pattern with each coat...but the only way to get rid of all the black shadowing and match the rolled area is to roll it...it should only take one coat of finish but it will need to be rolled now to match the rolled areas...apply the paint in an area with the roller going one way, then cross roll it to spread and cover then move to another section and repeat...do  like 6" x6" sections at a time....if you were to spray another room, cross hatch the pattern and youll find out you need to tilt the tip of the sprayer so it hits the surface at an angle and not 90 degree angle like 75 degrees...and in addition, do a double cross hatch pattern...what i mean and the best way to describe a double cross hatch... is looking up at the ceiling picture a clock...ok first pass with the sprayer 12 to 6, crosshatch 3 to 9...now 1:30 to 7:30 and crosshatch again 10:30 to4:30...each pass holding the gun slightly angled so the paint hits the surface at an angle and not straight on....in addition...do one pass and let dry....if you get the ceiling too wet the texture might fall....it would also be a good ideal to raise the room temp as much as you can...the hotter the better....good luck
I don't do this for a hobby and I'm damn sure I don't need the practice

Offline mymint87

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2016, 09:59:22 PM »
my advice would be to spray additional rooms instead of rolling....consider removal of the popcorn too...since the place is bagged off and out of use ...might as well bring in the garden hose to wet the popcorn....then scrap and get rid of it
I don't do this for a hobby and I'm damn sure I don't need the practice

Offline lavaghman

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2016, 05:16:35 PM »
Thanks mymint87 for the detailed and quick reply.  :)

I took your advice and yesterday I put a coat on using the roller. I rolled small sections in different directions to try and get a good coverage.

The good news is that looking at it this morning it has an even coat now all over the ceiling (i.e. the section that was previously rolled does not look different now).

It's pretty good now but you can still see small "holes" here and there where the paint hasn't merged the gaps between the little valleys and mountains on the popcorn, whereas in other places it has.

I imagine if I keep applying coats with the roller these will all eventually fill but with it taking about 15litres of paint and 6hrs of work to apply a coat plus an unusable kitchen/living space I'm not enthusiastic to keep going!  :P

I do intend to put one more coat on at least, this time with the actual paint (vivid white), rather than primer.

Thanks again mymint87.

Cheers,
J



 

Offline chrisn

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2016, 02:52:52 AM »
Get a 3/4 nap roller cover.

Offline lavaghman

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2016, 08:03:35 PM »
Good advice on the longer nap on the roller Chrisn, thank you!

The job is finally done  ;D

3 sprayed coats of primer
1 rolled coat of primer
2 rolled coats of paint
90 litres of paint
....and it's finally at a stage where I'm happy with it. Not what I was expecting when I started the project but at least its done now!

Thanks for the advice  ;D

Pic attached -although it looks a lot whiter in real life than in the evening light the pic was taken  :P

Offline chrisn

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Re: Rescuing a paint job on popcorn (vermiculite) ceiling!
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2016, 03:01:59 AM »
Just FYI, 1 (one) coat of primer is all you need, ever.