Painting Kitchen ceiling

[StanleyinMd]

I've got a small side job lined up to paint a kitchen ceiling. It is in real good condition but I was wondering if I need to just clean the ceiling or prime it first. I'm thinking that over the years there might be some grease from the stove, etc. It doesn't appear so however. I thought about using TSP (trisodium phosphate), a heavy duty paint cleaner, then just apply new semi-gloss paint. My other thought is to use a Kilz (sp?) product to prime the ceiling then paint. Thoughts, suggestions? Of course I could clean the ceiling, then prime, then paint, but I don't know if that is really necessary, and if the customer wants to put that much $$$$ into the job. Thanks in advance for your reply.

We used Sherwin Williams best primer/sealer for kitchens and baths. Didn't work at all. Went over it with Kilz and it turned out great. Our kitchen gets many hours per day use and we burn round the clock, two wood stoves which allows smoke/dust. I will use Kilz again, regardless what room needs painting now.

[StanleyinMd]

We used Sherwin Williams best primer/sealer for kitchens and baths.

I use Duron paint mostly, been real happy with them. Kilz is a fabulous product if you ever need a good primer.

[bgott]

Scrub it with TSP and then Kilz it. TSP is great stuff. The girl I have clean my rent trailers used 409 in a few of them and then we tried TSP and I can't get her to use anything else. She uses it to scrub greasy surfaces, walls, bathrooms, stained carpet and she even uses it in her wash. I had a talk with her about that, I don't know if it rinses out well enough for that. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I think she likes it! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[wingnut]

Concur with the TSP.
I don't think it matters how well the kitchen functions or how clean it looks ... there's grease on the ceiling! If the finish looks good after cleaning with TSP and rinsing, I'm not sure about the Kilz (from a cost basis) ... but if she'll go for the cost - it does a fab job. I had to use it here as the house was abandoned for 2 years before I bought it and I has some mold and mildew to take care of. Kilz 2 did the trick!

pete

[chrisjbell]

I just did my kitchen (and living room, and dining room, and hallway... [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ). The paint was in pretty good condition and not very dirty. You *always* need to clean it really well, no matter how clean you think it is, though. If nothing else, the old paint will develop a dusty surface that has to be scrubbed down. Surface preparation is the most important part of a good paint job, period.

As far as the Kilz (or any other primer for that matter), there are a couple of issues to consider. First of all - are you putting like paint on like (i.e. latex on latex)? If not, and you have different paint type to try and get to bond you should primer it. Kilz (or one of the "super primers") is really only needed if you have stains - smoke, grease, or tobacco. But even then the most important part is to get it clean, especially the grease. Kilz will seal it up so that you won't see it, but if there's a blob of grease the bond between the Kilz and the undercoat will be weak which will lead to chipping later.

TSP is great stuff. Be careful with it, though. You don't want it in your eyes.

Primering won't hurt, BTW, so if you're in doubt it isn't a bad idea. But painting a ceiling is painful enough that you don't want to go over it more times than you have to [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] .

I feel your pain. I'm still painting and I expect to be painting for pretty much the rest of my life [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] ...Chris

[StanleyinMd]

Thanks for all the replies. What I ended up doing was "scuff" the semi-gloss ceiling with a fine abrasive sandpaper, [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] then wash it TWICE with TSP. TSP came out with a special heavy duty pre-paint cleaner that worked really well. I then used clean water to wipe down the ceiling again. Once dry I used Duron's best paint, a semi-gloss white (absolutely fabulous) no drips, no spray, one coat, looks great. Job turned out beautiful. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I also used a light adhesive type painter's tape to mask out the ceiling from the wallpaper. I didn't want to pull any of the wallpaper down when I removed the tape. Again, thank you.