How to get a perfectly flat white ceiling with no roller marks or flashes
How To Paint The Perfect Ceiling With No Roller Marks
Painting ceilings, getting a nice flat finish free of roller marks and flashes starts with choosing the right paint. The bigger the ceiling the harder it is to get a flawless finish, as light from a window passes over the surface it can highlight any imperfections in the paint works or the surface. If you're a perfectionist such, even if the rest of the room is to a high standard, a poorly finished ceiling will be the only thing we'd see. Strong light from big windows can be cruel on the appearance of a ceiling, highlighting any errors or flaws. The flaws are made visible to the human eye by light reflecting off the edges of roller streaks and plaster imperfections.
The image above shows a ceiling that has been painted with a normal household vinyl matt. The light from the windows is highlighting the roller marks and flashes. This is quite common, the reason is that most vinyl matt paints have a 7-10% reflectance level, the reflected light bouncing off to the human eye is showing all of the usual flaws and errors in the ceiling and from rolling.
The Best Paint For Ceilings
Over the years here at Chicoco we have tried many ceiling paints, trying to find a paint that whilst remaining white had a low reflectance level In our professional opinion (not sponsored) we have found Tikkurila Anti Reflex 2 to be far better than anything else on the market. Having a low 2% reflectance level massively reduces and virtually eradicates roller marks and flashes on ceilings .
Top Tips For painting Ceilings
Always start at the window and work backwards, this will help you use the light from the window to see where you have and haven't painted
Paint 2-3 metre squares working backwards across the room
Once you have painted the ceiling, do not be tempted to touch up the paints whilst it is drying, this can cause flashes
Always do two coats, allowing drying time between coats
We hope this article has been useful, we are totally independent and unsponsored, our tips come from years of on the job seeking perfection in everything we do. For more useful painting and decorating top-tips click here.