How Do I Level A Painted Surface?

Jeff C
by Jeff C
I needed to scrape and peel away some ceiling paint that lost it's adhesion in the bathroom. I didn't need to do the whole ceiling but because I didn't, You can see the jagged edges of the old paint layer versus the new paint layers. Without having to scrape and take all of the paint off the surface, can I level things off by continuing to put coats of paint in the areas that I scraped off to eventually be level with the original paint layer?
  5 answers
  • Jeff you have a tricky issue here. It appears that the surface of the ceiling is a knock down type of texture of some sort. Any patching will show up as the new finish will not hide any of the repair. Unless it is just the texture left from the rolling of the finish. However to fix this uneven area you would sand the higher area a bit to knock it down then using a thin spackle compound apply it using a trowel. Once dry, use a almost wet sponge to sand it slightly to smooth the new coating down and feather it out. Prime one or two coats and then paint.
  • Jeff C Jeff C on Feb 08, 2013
    Seems like it would have been much easier and less time consuming if I would have just scraped all the paint away on the ceiling. Ughh. BTW, there is no texture that was on the ceiling. It was just smooth paint. What you see in the picture is after I have applied two coats of kilz primer/stainblocker to the ceiling.
  • Ok, simply float out using a wide blade knife some spackle and let it dry over night. Longer the better. Once dry sponge sand it with a very damp almost wet sponge and smooth out edges, prime those areas and Paint.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Feb 09, 2013
    Skim coat with some drywall mud, allow to dry...texture to match them prime and paint.
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Feb 10, 2013
    We found the walls a mess when we removed wallpaper in a half bath. We used texture paint because I did not want the mess of sanding! I LOVE IT! Bead board was used on the bottom which I have seen on ceilings too. Then add a bold molding and accents in the corners (see photo). These corner pieces make for easier fitting of molding...no bevel cuts! Both of these are easy to work with. (Notice our choice in texture is very subtle.)