# Ceiling Paint Problems



## JasonF (May 26, 2010)

Hello everyone, been a member here for a while but this is my first post. First off, I own a painting company out of East Central Florida and have been in business for 6 years. Business is great, we are busy and life is good. 

One of the jobs we are working on now is a 4000 sqft interior remodel. We are painting this house top to bottom and are running into problems. The homeowner bought the house as a short sale and it had sat empty for a few years. The ceilings were sanded and textured knockdown and we started the job by spraying SW PVA primer/sealer on the ceilings and followed that up with SW Eminence (sprayed and backrolled). 
Once the Eminence dried, we noticed yellowing coming through the paint...an obvious sign of moisture; so we went back and sprayed the ceilings with SW ProBlock oil to rid of the yellowing...having never come across this yellowing/moisture issue, I contacted my SW rep and he came out to the job site and recommended the ProBlock oil primer.
Now that the oil primer has dried, the yellowing is gone but I am getting streaks showing my spray pattern throughout the entire house. We did not backroll the oil primer and only applied one coat. The streaking was not evident with the SW Eminence. 
At this point, I don't want to waste anymore man hours or material until I can get a solution to this issue and move forward in a positive direction. I'm hoping some of yall may be able to help pin-point the problem and/or solution.

Backing up a bit, before we sprayed the ProBlock oil, we found the indoor humidity was 79% inside this house and my digital moisture gauge was reading 17-21% moisture in the walls. We opened up the house and ran fans for a few days and before the ProBlock was sprayed, the humidity was down to 40% and the wall moisture was down to low levels. Thus far, it's been a headache of a job and a big learning experience...I just hope we can squash this ceiling issue and move forward before we spend more money.


----------



## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

Was your moisture meter calibrated for drywall surfaces? Those are pretty high numbers for drywall. I understand they're lower now. You say you checked the walls but I assume you checked the ceilings as well?
It sounds like you haven't painted over the pro block yet. I would try rolling or spray and backrolling a dead flat ceiling paint. I like the BM Ceiling paint for dead flat. In the SW line Builders Solution Matte and pro mar 400 flat are very flat and cheap. 

It sounds like you should be able to get some compensation for your extra priming and painting. Did you spec a certain amount of coats in your bid, or did you say you would keep fixing problems that are outside of your control like moisture issues etc? The painter shouldn't always take it in the a$*. After all, the owner bought the house cheap, why should you pay for the problems? 
Good luck. 




Sent from my iPad using PaintTalk.com


----------



## JasonF (May 26, 2010)

Damon T said:


> Was your moisture meter calibrated for drywall surfaces? Those are pretty high numbers for drywall. I understand they're lower now. You say you checked the walls but I assume you checked the ceilings as well?
> It sounds like you haven't painted over the pro block yet. I would try rolling or spray and backrolling a dead flat ceiling paint. I like the BM Ceiling paint for dead flat. In the SW line Builders Solution Matte and pro mar 400 flat are very flat and cheap.
> 
> It sounds like you should be able to get some compensation for your extra priming and painting. Did you spec a certain amount of coats in your bid, or did you say you would keep fixing problems that are outside of your control like moisture issues etc? The painter shouldn't always take it in the a$*. After all, the owner bought the house cheap, why should you pay for the problems?
> ...


Yes the moisture meter was calibrated...
SW gave me a gal of CoverMax Flat paint that I'm going to do a test spot with this morning. 
I should have been more clear on my last sentence above, I'm getting compensated for the extra work. I charged the HO my cost for the ProBlock and our proposals are for 2 coats of paint only. Our proposals are very detailed...not just a number on a carbon invoice from Office Max.
I just don't want to keep throwing time and money (his or mine) at the ceilings, basically.


----------



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

That almost looks like it's from moisture. Has any one checked the attic? See if there is any moisture build up up there?


----------



## JasonF (May 26, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> That almost looks like it's from moisture. Has any one checked the attic? See if there is any moisture build up up there?


We have not checked the attic but will do today when we head over. It's a two story house and that picture was from a room on the first floor.


----------



## DONZI (Dec 23, 2013)

I think 2 rolled coats of flat paint should cover the spray pattern that is appearing


----------



## mudbone (Dec 26, 2011)

Never had much luck with sw no block primers!


----------



## jacob33 (Jun 2, 2009)

That will go away with ceiling paint. It is incredibly difficult to get oil primer to not flash in some way or another on ceilings rolled or sprayed but it goes away when painted.


----------



## JasonF (May 26, 2010)

Ok thanks for the input guys. We'll roll it out tomorrow with flat latex and I'll share the results once it drys.


----------



## Sir Mixalot (Sep 8, 2009)

JasonF said:


> The ceilings were sanded and textured knockdown and we started the job by spraying SW PVA primer/sealer on the ceilings and followed that up with SW Eminence (sprayed and backrolled).


What was the finish on the ceilings before you sanded them?


----------



## JasonF (May 26, 2010)

We didn't sand them. The drywall contractor applied a skim coat to the ceilings before the knockdown was sprayed. Not sure what the original finish was.


----------



## Sir Mixalot (Sep 8, 2009)

JasonF said:


> We didn't sand them. The drywall contractor applied a skim coat to the ceilings before the knockdown was sprayed. Not sure what the original finish was.


The reason I asked is, if it was a popcorn texture that was removed. A lot of times the drywall paper will leach out yellow stains on to the new ceiling if it was not primed with an oil base stain blocking primer. I like Kilz and I always prime any popcorn removal jobs with it as my little insurance policy for a nice white ceiling when completed.


----------

