# Painting ceiling / HVAC in large commercial space



## DPaint

I'm bidding a large commercial / retail space right now and I need to include painting the ceiling with all HVAC, electrical, etc. in white. 

I've done large retail spaces before but never ceiling. Obviously this will be a ton of work but I have no idea how to try and calculate an accurate cost on this. 

Anyone done anything like this before? Any advice or guidance from anyone who has done work like this would be greatly appreciated!!!!

TIA!


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## Joepro0000

DPaint said:


> I'm bidding a large commercial / retail space right now and I need to include painting the ceiling with all HVAC, electrical, etc. in white.
> 
> I've done large retail spaces before but never ceiling. Obviously this will be a ton of work but I have no idea how to try and calculate an accurate cost on this.
> 
> Anyone done anything like this before? Any advice or guidance from anyone who has done work like this would be greatly appreciated!!!!
> 
> TIA!


First take a look at the job, and make sure if you have to mask or not. There are retail jobs in the outlet malls where the demising walls only run up to 12 ft, and then next 15 ft above there is chicken wire fence. You would have to mask those walls to prevent paint hitting the neighbor's stores. Also, does the floor need to be protected? When will you paint the ceiling at the begining, or after HVAC and Sparky are done? Will you have to mask your own walls from getting over-spray on them? Do you need to use dryfall?


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## DPaint

This is an existing building that a large retailer is moving in to. HVAC / electric is existing but will be modified. The floor needs to be protected. The entire ceiling would have to be cleaned I'm sure so I would want to sub that if I could. 

Can anyone share what their process is on doing one of these jobs? I'm sure I'm gonna just have to take a leap of faith on one of these eventually but I'd like to go in with as much info as possible.


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## jmda

Spray with dryfall - sticks to about anything.


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## Induspray

DPaint said:


> This is an existing building that a large retailer is moving in to. HVAC / electric is existing but will be modified. The floor needs to be protected. The entire ceiling would have to be cleaned I'm sure so I would want to sub that if I could.
> 
> Can anyone share what their process is on doing one of these jobs? I'm sure I'm gonna just have to take a leap of faith on one of these eventually but I'd like to go in with as much info as possible.


There are alot of variables such as what material is the ceiling. Assuming it is metal deck with steel joists,is it spangled galvanized or regular satin coat or prepainted. If prepainted you can use alkyd or latex dryfall depending on how clean it is. If it is spangled galvanized (mottled different grey colours on decking) then you can use an acrylic latex dryfall or an epoxy dryfall depending on how clean the surface is. when you say it has to be cleaned are you refering to mainly dust?? If just dust then get in a big compressor (175 cfm) and blow it down, if oily or greasy then compare pressure washing with degreasers with hand cleaning depending on what is in the area.

Measure the real square footage of surface ie metal deck x the corrogation factor 1.25, 1.33 etc, add the surface area of steel joist and pipe and ducts. divide by the square footage you should get for the paint per gallon and you will have the material required (keep in mind that you will loose 20 to 50% in overspray that never gets to the ceiling) , what is the real square footage you will get will depend on the paint and the applicator, size of spray tip, pressure setting on machine etc. We can get anywhere from 80 square feet (surface are) for crap cheap dryfall to 180ft for good quality dryfall (real square footage not floor square footage). You get what you pay for. Pay $7 a gallon and you will get very poor milage. Pay $12 and you will cover twice the area and have a much easier clean up as most of the paint will be on the ceiling.

All the rest is a matter of walking through the job and breaking it down into small segements, so much time for coverup masking, so much for spray, so much for cleanup. Cover the floor with tarps, dont use thin plastic, the tires of scissor lifts will rip the plastic and you will get tire marks ground into the floor and you will have to hire a cleaner to clean it.

Good luck.


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## Woody

Induspray said:


> There are alot of variables such as what material is the ceiling. Assuming it is metal deck with steel joists,is it spangled galvanized or regular satin coat or prepainted. If prepainted you can use alkyd or latex dryfall depending on how clean it is. If it is spangled galvanized (mottled different grey colours on decking) then you can use an acrylic latex dryfall or an epoxy dryfall depending on how clean the surface is. when you say it has to be cleaned are you refering to mainly dust?? If just dust then get in a big compressor (175 cfm) and blow it down, if oily or greasy then compare pressure washing with degreasers with hand cleaning depending on what is in the area.
> 
> Measure the real square footage of surface ie metal deck x the corrogation factor 1.25, 1.33 etc, add the surface area of steel joist and pipe and ducts. divide by the square footage you should get for the paint per gallon and you will have the material required (keep in mind that you will loose 20 to 50% in overspray that never gets to the ceiling) , what is the real square footage you will get will depend on the paint and the applicator, size of spray tip, pressure setting on machine etc. We can get anywhere from 80 square feet (surface are) for crap cheap dryfall to 180ft for good quality dryfall (real square footage not floor square footage). You get what you pay for. Pay $7 a gallon and you will get very poor milage. Pay $12 and you will cover twice the area and have a much easier clean up as most of the paint will be on the ceiling.
> 
> All the rest is a matter of walking through the job and breaking it down into small segements, so much time for coverup masking, so much for spray, so much for cleanup. Cover the floor with tarps, dont use thin plastic, the tires of scissor lifts will rip the plastic and you will get tire marks ground into the floor and you will have to hire a cleaner to clean it.
> 
> Good luck.


 
What he said.......


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## DPaint

Induspray said:


> There are alot of variables such as what material is the ceiling. Assuming it is metal deck with steel joists,is it spangled galvanized or regular satin coat or prepainted. If prepainted you can use alkyd or latex dryfall depending on how clean it is. If it is spangled galvanized (mottled different grey colours on decking) then you can use an acrylic latex dryfall or an epoxy dryfall depending on how clean the surface is. when you say it has to be cleaned are you refering to mainly dust?? If just dust then get in a big compressor (175 cfm) and blow it down, if oily or greasy then compare pressure washing with degreasers with hand cleaning depending on what is in the area.
> 
> Measure the real square footage of surface ie metal deck x the corrogation factor 1.25, 1.33 etc, add the surface area of steel joist and pipe and ducts. divide by the square footage you should get for the paint per gallon and you will have the material required (keep in mind that you will loose 20 to 50% in overspray that never gets to the ceiling) , what is the real square footage you will get will depend on the paint and the applicator, size of spray tip, pressure setting on machine etc. We can get anywhere from 80 square feet (surface are) for crap cheap dryfall to 180ft for good quality dryfall (real square footage not floor square footage). You get what you pay for. Pay $7 a gallon and you will get very poor milage. Pay $12 and you will cover twice the area and have a much easier clean up as most of the paint will be on the ceiling.
> 
> All the rest is a matter of walking through the job and breaking it down into small segements, so much time for coverup masking, so much for spray, so much for cleanup. Cover the floor with tarps, dont use thin plastic, the tires of scissor lifts will rip the plastic and you will get tire marks ground into the floor and you will have to hire a cleaner to clean it.
> 
> Good luck.


Great advice! Thanks very much.


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## Joepro0000

did you spray it?


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