I decided to paint the ceiling tiles in my basement flat black and leave the grid white. Theres no theater in my basement, just going to be a bar, pool table, and some other games. I tried rolling the tiles with a 3/4" nap roller laid flat on the ground and paint wouldnt fill all the crevices. I sectioned off a part of my basment and put down plastic on the floor and walls to make a spray booth of some sort. Then I bought a wagner master series power painter (see link) http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100092165

How do you think this will perform? I havent tried it yet, so before I started spraying I wanted advice from you guys. I am using Sherwin Williams Promar 400 in flat black. Should I thin it first? The sprayer said it will do thin and regular latex paint. Do you think there will be a ton of overspray? I planned on using a respirator and goggles as well.

I don't have any spraying advice from you but I would like to see a pic of your finished tiles. I'm curious how the white grid will look with the black panels.

I'm wondering if you had a lazy susan to put the tiles on then you could hit the crevices from every angle. No experience just thinking about the challenge.

Im holding off on doing them. I decided to work on the bar more this weekend. I should hopefully be done with framing today. Maybe this week or next weekend I will get to spraying the tiles. Its going to be a pain because I have about 1,300-1,400 square feet of tiles and they are a pain to get down and put up. Theres maybe 2 inches of clearance between the grid and the joists. Not sure how the old owners got them up but I bet it wasnt easy. Any tips you guys have would really be appreciated.

Screen shot: Theres quite a few pictures on here of black tiles with white grid. I think it looks pretty nice. I decided to do a white grid because I put up chair rail and floor molding thats white. Underneath the chair rail is black, and the top is undecided. Either gray or taupe depending what I do with the floor.

This is also a plan of mine as half my room is a home thater and the other half is a bar room. I think the sprayer will work good but no expert advise here. I planned on just using spray cans but I am not near that point yet as I am working building my bar currently. I am watching with anticipation on your findings and experience....please post pics and feedback for us

I will update with pics. Spray cans would be a big pain in the butt unless its not alot of tiles. I would probably go through a couple hundred cans in my basement. I tried researching black ceilings online, or even painting tiles black but theres so little info. People are so afraid of painting black it's not even funny. While searching google I found people recommending spraying an exposed ceiling in a basement white. That is just wrong. Another thing that bothers me is alot of people say a black ceiling makes it seem lower and cramped but that is completely wrong. I think it kind of disappears. Not sure how it will be with a white grid, but im hoping for the same effect.

Now another issue I have is the tiles get a white powdery residue when you handle the painted parts. As I said in my last post I have about 2 inches of clearance between the ceiling and the joists, so its really hard to get them out and back in. I was almost tempted to tear it all out and just spray the exposed ceiling flat black. Still thinking about it depending how this works out. Maybe I should cut the wires holding them up and put them back up when its ready to be installed? Such a pain in the butt...

I have that sprayer. I havent used it yet though. I always hear nightmares from people about how spraying makes a huge mess, etc. HOnestly, I would PM missippippiman over in the DIY screen section. That guy swears by this sprayer

A fair amount of people on here have painted their cieling tiles. I don't think it's a big deal is it?

I am surprised rolling gave you such fits, it seems the wet paint would eventuall fill all cracks from gravity with a few coats.

A fair amount of people on here have painted their cieling tiles. I don't think it's a big deal is it?

I am surprised rolling gave you such fits, it seems the wet paint would eventuall fill all cracks from gravity with a few coats.

Im not putting enough paint to soak them, but plenty to cover in one coat. My tiles have lots of deep crevices that a 3/4" nap roller wouldnt even come close to filling.

Any updates here? I am getting ready to paint my ceiling tiles and am interested in some advice or tips.

Any updates here? I am getting ready to paint my ceiling tiles and am interested in some advice or tips.

I took the easy way out and tore down the whole ceiling :) Im actually going to spray my exposed ceiling flat black. If you want to paint your tiles you need a sprayer unless your tiles don't have deep crevices. Either way I would still spray it.

Yea that is my plan. My tiles have very small if any crevices but I borrowed a force fed air sprayer from my brother in law who is a painter and I plan on tackling them tomorrow....thanks for the reply

Post before and after pics please!!

I sprayed my tiles with a Wagner power sprayer. they came out "pretty good". Using the power sprayer was a pain, I finally sold that thing. Next time I'll just buy the black tiles.

I actually rolled my tiles and had success filing in the crevices. took my time and got them all. went over them once and again for any that were "sticking out". I have a pic over in the 2.35 picyure thread... let me see if I can link it...

I’ll just throw it out there that there are black ceiling tiles available to purchase. I used ceilume tiles (thin plastic sheets in an assortment of designs, not fiber boards) for mine and they come in an assortment of colors including a rather flat black. Mine are the “Stratford” design.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~hotch/Basement/ESC_5744.jpg

Obviously this is of little value for anyone that already has a bunch of white tiles that they are looking to paint, but if you are just in the planning stage ymmv.

-Suntan

Those are super nice Suntan!

Suntan - did you paint the grids or did those also come in black ? I am in the planning stage :)

The grids are from ceilinglink.com and they offer them in black for a reasonable extra cost (you can buy white ones for the top runner, you only need black ones for the bottom runner that is visible.) These grids are “suspended” directly against the joists, as opposed to a more traditional suspended ceiling that would need a couple of inches of free space.

I also hung a few tiles with traditional metal suspended ceiling gridwork (in the back where there was a soffit.) Those I bought in white and spray painted black.

Truth be told, you can get a more accurate color match to the black ceilume tiles if you spray paint them with a can of flat black Rustolium, but the ones from ceilinglink were a lot less hassle and I’d get them again. Plus you don’t have to worry about the black paint being scratched off as the black color is molded into the grids.

-Suntan