How to Paint a Basement Ceiling Black is a spray painting job that requires photo examples.
We painted our exposed basement ceiling black, and we absolutely love it, because I have a basement progress update and learning experience all in one.It made a huge difference in the space right away.
I am going to tell you how and why you might want to paint your exposed basement ceiling instead of sheet rocking it.
When you finish a basement, you put in the walls and ceiling.It looks like any other room in the house.We decided not to because of a few reasons.
The ceiling height in the basement is quite low because we have an old house.The lowest point of the ceiling would be lowered by about an inch with the addition of drywall.Does it make sense to leave it open and not only have the extra height, but also the up and down of the floor joists?).
We have access to a lot of the ductwork, plumbing, and electrical in our house if the basement ceiling is open.With all of the projects that we are doing, having those things easy to access has been a blessing.It is easier to deal with if everything is accessible.
It looks cool to paint the exposed ceiling instead of covering it.That is as good of reason as any.
It is best to spray the paint on the exposed ceiling to get a good even finish.It only took about 2 hours with our paint sprayer, but I can't imagine how long it would have taken with a brush.
We ordered a 5 gallon bucket because it was large and we used a matt finish.It was easy to put it in our trunk.
I only did one coat on this project, because we didn't feel like anyone was going to be looking very closely to see any drips, so I was not afraid to go a bit heavy on it.
We did this project before the room had walls, which was perfect because it would make a big mess.We hid the windows and the open spots where the light was going.
You will need to prepare if you are painting a ceiling after those steps.I think it would be a good idea to put this on your walls and contractor's paper all over your floors.I want you to know how much paint got everywhere.
I am obsessed with my paint sprayer.It is the gift that keeps giving and gives me crazy ideas that I can probably paint the exterior of our house by myself, right??
With any spraying project, you are going to deal with a bit of mess and overspray, and given that this one was above my head, I knew it would be worse than usual.It is important to protect yourself if you are going to spray a ceiling.
The main concerns with spraying paint on a ceiling are your eyes and breathing in particles, which is why I married a safety engineer.
If you want to keep your eyes safe, wear good safety glasses and make sure they have coverage on the sides.The sides of my safety glasses were covered by a paint sock on my head.
I had a wet paper towel in my hand to wipe my glasses off.Our system was that I would clap loudly when I needed help, because he couldn't hear me call him through my mask.
If you tie a bandana around your mouth and nose, you will be safe because paint is a big particle for your lungs.I am not a doctor and this does not constitute medical advice.
The smell can sometimes make me lightheaded.I wore a mask that blocked the smell of paint.It was worth the investment because I wore it while sanding and it was a smaller particle that was more dangerous to breathe.
I covered my clothes, even though I wore a paint suit, to avoid ruining them and tracking paint all over the house.I was glad I did because it had a lot of paint on it.I wore latex gloves and a hair cover.
I did not wear shoes because I didn't want to track paint around.I wore a pair of old socks and threw them away.The result was that my foot prints were all over the concrete floor.
This has been an exciting place for us to plug away on, because we are doing everything ourselves and learning so much.I mudded and taped all of the walls after learning how to do electrical and hang sheet rock.
I have primed since the most recent picture of the basement was taken.
We are taking a break from this project at the moment, just to focus on the bathroom and outdoors, but we are getting so close and I can't wait to see it all come together!
Are there more questions about how we did it?Email darcy@thecozyclarks.com if you want to let me know.
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How did you insulate the rim joist?Did you just spray paint?
Did you spray foam as well?I am working on putting my basement back together after demoing it.I want to spray foam on the ceiling.I got a quote, but it's tempting.
It is about 80.5 inches.There is a spot where it drops to about 6 ft.Thank you for reading!
I would like to thank you for the post.We are considering painting the basement ceiling of our old house.I think it's just north of six feet in some areas.Did you spray all of your wires?I was not sure how to fix the exposed copper pipes.Which sprayer did you use?Thanks!
I'm Cassie!We sprayed everything.Good luck with your project, we used this sprayer.
We are getting ready to start our basement and we have a few questions.Did you cover the ceilings before you did your drywall or did you have trouble with the dust on the ceiling after you sprayed it?This is the part we don't like.Thanks in advance Carrieann.
Thanks for reading!We did not get any dust on the ceiling.We bumped the ceiling on the edges while putting up or sanding the drywall.We were going to have to touch up the paint anyways.Hope that helps!
Hello!Is the paint adhering to the ducts, wiring, and copper pipes?We need a paint that will stick to everything in our basement.The ducts have me worried.
It hasAdhered just fine so far!I found that ducts are the most susceptible to drips, so spray lightly and have your roller ready.
Hi!The write-up was appreciated.I will be painting my ceiling after finishing up my wiring.You used 5 gallons.Can you tell me the approximate location of the 5 gallons?
I bought 5 gallons but didn't use all of it, but I knew I had other things I needed black paint for.The rooms are around 400 square feet.
I'm there!I love it!I might do this in our basement as well.bc of height restrictions, what type of floor are you planning to do?
Thanks for reading!On top of the dry barrier subfloor, we did LifeProof vinyl plank flooring.We live in a wet area so we chose materials that could be wet.
Hi!As we work on our unfinished basement, this post was helpful.Is there a black bubble light in the picture?We need something simple that will give us more light.
Thank you so much for reading!We have a light that is silver, but I can't find the same color for ours.We had the same situation, we were looking for a spin light that would allow us to replace the bare bulbs.).
What do you mean when you say you insulated the rim joist with spray foam?I don't know if I understand this step.
Thanks for reading!I was explaining how we insulated our basement.
Thank you, Darcy!This looks great!It is exactly what we want to do, but weren't sure how to start.There are 6 years or so of dustbunnies up in the overhead of our home.Did you clean up before you painted?I was told to spray a bunch of cleaner up in there, but I am wondering if that is too much and just a good brooming-down would suffice.I just wanted to pick your brain, but it doesn't sound like you did that.Looks so kewl!
Thank you so much for reading!We went around with our shop vac to get rid of the dust bunnies and spider webs in the area.If it is just dusty, it should be enough cleaning, but if there are any sticky or wet messes, you will want to give them a better clean before painting.
Is there any paint leaking to the floors above?I would assume that there are gaps in the ceiling to the floor above.
There are no issues with paint overspray on the floors above, this is the subfloor I painted, not the actual floor boards upstairs.
What is the square footage of the bucket?I have no idea how much paint we will need.
Thank you for reading!The area we sprayed was about 400 square feet, and we used about 1/3 of the 5 gallon bucket.I knew we'd use black paint in other spots and the ease of just sticking the sprayer tube in the 5 gallon bucket was worth it.
I live in an older home and there is no sub floor, so should I be concerned with paint overspray on the floors above?I like the look, but I don't want to make another project.
There is a sub floor and all should be good.Why did you choose black over a lighter color?I have a small basement area that I want to finish and I didn't know if black would make it too dark.
I painted it dark to cover the wires and pipes.If you want to, you could do a lighter color.