Need help with black ceiling (gah!)

I primered my ceiling drywall with the darkest tint Sherwin Williams could put in their drywall primer (to a P5 level). I also did my walls with a P4 primer as my wall paint isn’t extra dark but it is dark. I had them mix up their deep base flat to their Tricorn Black (LRV 2) paint, the blackest black they have. I cut the room and applied the first coat of black with a 3/8” Purdy White Dove roller. Coverage was awesome. Up close, I got 99.99% coverage and if looking up at the ceiling without direct light it’s DARK and FLAT. With a light shining up or the projector on you can see the reflection and where I overlapped the roller. Ok, we definitely need another coat. I let that coat dry and put another one on the next day.

It looks better, but I’m still seeing where I’ve overlapped, even though I’m moving crazy fast. My method is load the roller up heavy then make about a 5’ long, straight pass in the center of a three pass untouched section. I then roll the next pass to the right, hit the center again to load the roller back up, and then hit the left side. I then make very quick passes with very little pressure moving a few inches over at a time, back and forth. I probably make 15 total passes in a 27” wide area (9” roller) and the coverage is great. I’m getting no roller marks on my left to right passes after it’s dry, but where I’ve overlapped an inch or two with a section I painted 10 minutes earlier it’s darker when light is reflecting off it. The room is a small 11.5 x 17 so I can move quick. It’s much better than it was with my first coat, and I doubt many people would even notice it, but being anal it’s bothering me. I’ve painted our whole house and just did the other room in the basement and the method I use turns out perfect. It looks professional. With this flat black, maybe it’s not the best way. I used the search and went through a good 40-50 threads of painting the ceiling and really didn’t get a good answer. The best I could find was this (post 13):

http://www.avsforum.com/t/471278/painting-the-ceiling#post_4677230

Which is pretty much what I’m doing. Is chasing a perfect black ceiling impossible? Will doing one or two more coats fix it? The light reflecting off the screen and hitting my walls, which are a medium gray, is lighting up the room a lot more than the dark paint I picked. I wonder if that will help once it’s painted, or is most of the light hitting the ceiling complements of direct reflection from the screen? It is a temporary white hardboard so maybe it’s reflecting more than the acoustically transparent screen I”ll have in the end?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I was talking with my Dad a few minutes ago and he asked if I wanted to try his Graco X7 airless sprayer to get a better finish on the ceiling. Hmmm, not a bad idea. He and I used it a few months ago to paint his 28x40 2 story pole barn and it worked very well. We weren't concerned about getting a super fine, even spray but it did do exactly what we wanted. A quick way to paint with a very good finish.

Would something like this allow me to get a very consistent finish on my ceiling? Having used it on the barn I bet I could spray a coat on in about 5 minutes flat. I'm just not sure how well I'll be able to control it overlapping. Maybe just a quick fine coat to hide the double rolled parts that are showing now? Or, a quick way to get a coat on there that I could hit with a roller quickly to even out. Maybe even have my brother come over and help.

Thanks.

The paint they recommended was the HGTV brand, because it comes in an ultra deep base. I told them I don't mind paying big bucks if it's going to get me the finish I want and they were pretty confident it would. The manager there has been there as long as I can remember and he tends to know his stuff so I trusted him.

Why did you go for three coats, if you don't mind me asking? One looked great for me but I did notice a little overlap. After the second it looked fabulous, but once the projector came on my crazy eyes kept looking up at the ceiling and seeing the minute overlapping that no one or their brother would notice, but me, or you other fine AVSers!

Here's a few shots of the ceiling. The projector is feeding an all white shot to the screen to maximize the ceiling reflection. It will never be this bad, in practice, but worst case nonetheless:





Also, I found something cool. I tilted the projector (Epson 8350) up to the ceiling and the light it reflected back was green. I always though black absorbed all colors evenly but apparently not. Pretty cool! Or does this mean crappy paint?


Edited by Mazeroth - 9/24/12 at 8:38pm

"When I threw a florescent on it watch out lol" Are you saying once you really get some light on it that you can see the imperfections that I'm experiencing? If you have some time, sure, throw up some shots.

Which kind of paint did you end up using from Sherwin Williams? I'm also wondering if the flat HGTV stuff isn't as flat as the better paints? I know it's a stretch, but it's all I got!

Thanks. It is hard to see but I do think I can make out a little of what I'm experiencing. My wife thinks I'm crazy. I told her, "I AM crazy."

Oh yeah, we had tons of dust after spraying the barn, mainly on our arms and clothing. Very fine dust, too. How did his ceiling turn out? Think that's the route to go, or use it quickly and roll it almost immediately very fast?

So I decided to give the ceiling one last coat with the paint that I had left to use it all up. It's crazy how much better it looks with three coats compared to two. Roller marks are pretty much nonexistent now so I'm going to call the ceiling finished. Now for the awesome part...

The ceiling's last coat has had 24 hours to dry. It's dry. I can't cut a room in with a brush to save my life and always use blue tape and the lines are razor sharp. I just bought some Frog tape to try out and it won't stick to the flat black. It peels right off. I then tried the Scotch blue tape and it sticks a few seconds longer and peels off as well. Can you not use painter's tape on flat paint or does this stuff need more time to cure? The Frog tape says for optimal performance don't use it on paint that's less than 3 days cured. I've used the blue tape in the past (like last week) on one day dried paint and it sticks perfectly fine.