Mostpaints are not location-specific, but a ceiling is a unique surface.
What Is Ceiling Paint?
Ceiling paint is a specific product formulated to be thicker, so it grips the ceiling and drips less.
The Spruce / Margot Cavin
Wall paint is usually thinner, has a lower viscosity, and is prone to drips.
Ordinary latex paint is low in viscosity or thickness.
Compare two types of ceiling paint with one kind of wall paint.
Both ceiling paints surpass the wall paint in viscosity, total weight per gallon, and solids by weight.
Compared with a viscometer against other substances, ceiling paint has roughly the same consistency as thinned-out honey.
Kreb’s units (KU) are a standard of measurement for viscosity.
Best Ceiling Paint Color
White is the most popular ceiling paint color.
White ceiling paint prices range from $14 to $60 per gallon.
However, some creative homeowners wantceiling colors that are anything but white.
Light reflectance value, or LRV, is a guide for measuring how much light a color gives off.
LRV ranges from almost 100 percent for white to nearly zero for certain shades of black.
Matches Other Colors
White matches any wall or room color.
Room Looks Larger
White is the most popular color for ceilings.
Your ceiling is like your home’s immense and limitless sky.
It’s usually best to repaint the entire ceiling with the newpaint.
Any glossiness, even the slight eggshell or satin sheen, appears on ceilings.
Flat paint has almost no reflective quality.
Some brands advertise their product as ultra-flat, but the difference between this and flat is negligible.
Ceilings tend to be more reflective than walls due to the angle between the viewer and the light source.
Tip
Most ceilingpaintscome pre-mixed.
Take the ceiling paint can to the paint desk and have the can mechanically mixed.
If you want some sheen on the ceiling, use the flattest finish other than flat: eggshell.
Little is to be gained by using ceiling paint that has a gloss.
But as another attention-getting rig, ceilings are sometimes painted in high-gloss sheens.
One benefit of a high-gloss ceiling is that even more ambient light is reflected throughout the room.
Ability to Hide Stains
With greater viscosity comes greater hiding ability.
Ceilings in poorly ventilated bathrooms are prone to mildew spots.
Behr and Valspar are the proprietary paints distributed by Home Depot and Lowe’s, respectively.
Should You Buy Ceiling Paint or Not?
Paint spraying demands that all surfaces be covered unless you are spraying in a non-furnished new-construction home.
Flat white interior acrylic-latex paint is generally the best paint for a ceiling.
Since gloss is reflective, keep it at a minimum.
Use a low-gloss paint such as eggshell if you do not want flat paint.
Flat paint gloss is typically better than eggshell gloss on ceilings due to eggshell’s reflective properties.
Budget-level ceiling paint often works as well as expensive paint.
