Starting a repair in a dwelling, be it a country house or a city apartment, everyone understands that the most difficult stage is the decoration of the ceiling. Due to the fact that all new finishing materials are very expensive, most people tend to paint the ceiling surface with water-based paint. How to properly prepare the ceiling for painting with your own hands, we will consider further.
The benefits of painting the ceiling
This option is budgetary and convenient, since if you use a special paint, then the ceilings can be washed freely and the coating on them will last more than one year.
Ceiling options such as whitewashing with chalk or lime are impractical because they quickly lose their original appearance. The ceiling painted with water-based paint will last for several years. In this case, the color remains saturated. In addition, this surface is reliable and particles do not spill from it, as from a bleached ceiling.
To use this type of painting is not only cheap, but also absolutely harmless to all residents of the apartment.
To apply the perfect layer, you need an even ceiling, without bumps and damage. Nevertheless, painting is better than suspended and suspended ceilings, since it leaves the height of the room at the same level. And if you use suspended ceilings, the room will become a few centimeters lower.
This type of work is uncomplicated, since the paint lays in a thin layer. A set of tools is needed standard, but during the preparation of the ceiling for painting with water-based paint, you will have to apply plaster skills, because the surface of the ceiling should be smooth and without cracks.
Cons of ceiling painting
- Often you can’t wash the surface, as the paint is not water resistant. You can just gently wipe with a damp cloth.
- All lighting fixtures and communications will be visible. If the ceiling leaks, then repair is required immediately.
- If the surface is uneven, there are flaws and cracks, it will take a very long time to prepare the ceiling for painting.
To paint the ceiling, you need to choose a water-based paint designed specifically for this coating, since such a paint material does not drip, lays well on the surface.
Tools and materials necessary for work
To prepare the ceiling for painting with your own hands, you will need the following materials and tools:
- Narrow and wide spatula.
- Rollers, brushes, bucket.
- Drill, nozzle, knife.
- Goggles, respirator, large and small sandpaper.
- Primer, plaster putty.
- A table or stepladder to freely reach the ceiling.
- Fiberglass spider web and glue for glass.
Steps for preparing the ceiling for painting
Preparation of the ceiling for painting is carried out in several stages:
- Cleaning the surface of the old coating.
- Correction of all uneven areas.
- Primer application with a roller or brush.
- Puttying the ceiling.
- Additionally, fiberglass is glued to strengthen the surface. This work is carried out before puttying.
How to prepare a whitewashed ceiling
This work depends on the coating that is on the ceiling. If this is a whitewash, then it must be thoroughly moistened with water using a roller, wait a while, and then remove the entire layer with a metal spatula.
Where whitewashing is not removed, you need to use a chisel and a spatula, carefully remove the entire layer. Then you need to wash the entire ceiling with clean water and a sponge.
If there are layers of paint on the ceiling
Consider how to prepare the ceiling before painting. In order to remove the entire layer of old water-based paint from the surface, you must perform the following operations:
- Wet the ceiling thoroughly with a spray gun or foam roller. It should be borne in mind that water quickly evaporates from this surface.
- Wait 20 minutes and apply another layer of water, open all windows so that with the help of air currents the paint swells and moves away from the surface, then with the help of a spatula remove the layers of paint.
- Cleaning should be done quickly, because if the paint dries, it will not work.
- If spots remain on the ceiling, then they need to be greased with a solution of copper sulfate (a solution of 5% is used).
In the event that the paint holds well, it is not necessary to remove it, and this is impossible to do. In this case, you just need to primer the old paint and paint with a new color. But this option is suitable if there is a water-based paint on the ceiling.
In order to check how the coating holds, you need to moisten it with water and wait a few minutes. If the paint is not swollen, then it is worth leaving it.
If the ceiling is water-resistant water-based paint, then you will have to clean it with a drill or grinder, using special nozzles. Work must be carried out in a respirator and goggles.
Oil paint is removed using a special tool purchased at a hardware store. But do not forget that the windows should be open throughout the apartment.
How to remove wallpaper and tiles
In order to prepare a ceiling on which there is wallpaper for painting with water-based paint, it is necessary to wet them with warm water and with a spatula to clean the entire surface. If the wallpaper does not go well, you need to wet these areas again with a brush or spray.
In order to make the wallpaper easier to remove, liquid soap must be added to the container with warm water. If none of the tools helps, you should buy a special chemical product in any building supermarket to remove wallpaper from the walls.
The tile, which is located on the ceiling, will be easy to remove, it is, of course, about foam material. But traces of glue on the ceiling will remain, you have to resort to a tool from a hardware store. A safer method of removing glue is with a spatula.
Primer for concrete ceiling
To get started, you need to read the instructions on the packaging of the primer, following the manufacturer's recommendations. Basically, this tool is sold ready-made and just pour it into a special container in which the roller is immersed. Work must be carried out with special goggles; clothing should be of a protective purpose.
If there are cracks on the wall, they need to be cleaned, primed, then putty putty and using a special grid to smooth it. When this surface dries, it is necessary to paint the entire ceiling with a primer.
For these purposes, a deep penetration primer is required. It will provide a good interaction of the old surface with the applied paint. The secret of applying a primer: during work in the room there should be an air temperature of 5-30 ° C, when the temperature is too high, the primer cracks, and when low it hardens, this reduces its effectiveness.
If the ceiling is very uneven, then you need to be primed twice, using a roller and a brush that will paint over all inaccessible places. After this work is completed, you can begin to putty the entire surface.
Putty leveling
To do this, open the putty bag for internal work (Knauf, for example), dilute it with water, the instructions are on the packaging. Then, using a drill and nozzle, place this solution in a bucket, prepare a spatula, a stepladder and get to work.
Putty is applied with a spatula in the perpendicular direction from the application of the primer. The second layer will lie perpendicular to the first, the corners are worked out after the end of the main work.
After the putty layers have dried, it is necessary to level them using special sanding paper. At first, this work is done by a large mesh, then by the smallest one, and as a result a perfectly smooth surface is obtained.
Finishing putty is now applied, it can be applied in any direction, one layer is enough. After the surface dries, it must be cleaned with a fine mesh. In order for the staining to be carried out efficiently, you need to collect all the dust using an industrial vacuum cleaner.
Drywall ceiling preparation for painting
The surface of such a ceiling must first be primed, and then fill all seams and voids with putty. After applying the primer, the drying time is 12 hours. When the primer has dried, you can putty all the seams, the distances between the sheets and the recesses in which the screws are located.
When preparing the ceiling from drywall for painting, to seal up the places where the sheets are connected, you need to use a special reinforcing mesh, after it is fixed, another layer of putty is applied on top.
Now we check the correct operation. Having put a spatula to the joints, we look at the distance. If not, the seams are repaired correctly. Next, you need to putty the entire surface of the ceiling from a gypsum board. The sequence is the same as for a concrete ceiling.
The most important rule in the preparation of the ceiling for painting with water-based paint is that the surface should be perfectly even, since all the flaws will be visible on the painted area.
Fiberglass Spider Web
To carefully prepare the ceiling for painting with water-based paint, often gluing the ceiling with a special net called a spider line is a fiberglass. This method is necessary when there are a lot of cracks and irregularities on the ceiling that cannot be fixed with the usual putty method.
It is glued to the ceiling with a special glue, which can be bought at a hardware store. The surface is smeared with glue, then a sheet is applied and smoothed with a wide spatula.
The main rule in this work is to properly glue the joints of pieces of fiberglass. If they are glued with an overlap, there will be bumps and irregularities on the ceiling. Therefore, by gluing two parts, a perfectly even strip is cut off at the junction so that the parts come together without distances and overlaps.
When the sheets are glued, the upper part is coated with glue, after drying this material, you can begin to putty on the ceiling.
How to choose a water-based paint
After the ceiling is fully prepared for water-based painting, you can start painting it, but for this you need to choose a high-quality paint.
Water-based paints are of the following types:
- Polyvinyl Acetate.
- Acrylic
- On a silicone or silicate base.
- Mineral
- Acrylic paints with the addition of latex.
The cheapest polyvinyl acetate-based paints, but painted surfaces cannot be washed. And you can only paint ceilings in completely dry rooms.
Acrylic paints with the addition of latex create an ideal surface that can be washed with detergents.
Silicate-based water-based paints are designed for concrete, stone and plastered ceilings.
Silicone-based paints pass steam well, respectively, they are used for painting ceilings in the bathroom and kitchen. Also, these paints protect the surface from the appearance of fungus.
Therefore, choosing the paint on the package, you must read:
- What this paint is intended for.
- Consumption per square meter. This indicator is needed in order to find out how much you need to buy this material.
- How much paint can paint dark tones. This indicator is very important when changing the color of the ceiling.
The most durable and easy to use - latex paint based on acrylic. It will be written on it that it has dirt-repellent properties and is resistant to abrasion when washing. This surface can be washed with detergents.
When the preparation of the ceiling for painting is already completed, it is worth considering the main rules of painting. After all, with the wrong direction of the roller, spots and strokes will be visible on the surface.
Rules for painting the ceiling
After the preparation of the ceiling for painting with water-based paint is completed, proceed directly to the painting itself. Consider how to do it right.
- The beginning of work must be carried out from the corner, from the junction between the wall and the ceiling, while it is necessary to paint the far corner from the door.
- It is also worth remembering that you need to apply the paint in three layers, that is, painted over once, wait until the paint dries. And so all three layers are stained.
- Do not forget that the first layer is applied parallel to the light incident from the window.
- The second coat should be painted perpendicular to the sun.
- The third layer is applied from the opposite wall in the direction of the window.
- Mandatory condition: each layer should dry for 8-12 hours, only then the next coating layer should be applied. Drying time is indicated on the packaging.
As a result of proper and high-quality preparation for painting the ceiling with water-based paint, the painted room will delight the owners of the apartment and their guests.
Do not forget that the right choice of paint material will delay the next repair for several years, since such a coating lasts a long time and does not change its original color.