Hi everyone!
I gave my living room a fresh coat of white paint after a few years but I can’t seem to get a consistent coat on the wall. I’m not sure if the wall has grooves or if the extension pole/roller I used on it was cheap and/or wrong? I’ve attached pictures of what I used.
by Top_Builder_164
3 Comments
did you prime it first?
and are you the first owner? That looks like what happens when cigarette tar seeps up through the wall
Usually this is an issue with pressure (or the wrong roller nap for your paint). I recently primed and painted a wall in preparation for my contractor/carpenter to add board and batten, and he and his painter taught me how to make sure it went on smooth and clean. Suuuuper light pressure, like you’re almost not even pushing the paint on, slow strokes in the same direction (not up and down the wall), and plenty of paint on the roller. Only go over an area once while the paint is still wet, and try not to touch the same area on the next pass as you move right or left down the wall because you’ll pick up tacky, drying paint, which causes these lines.
Also check your roller nap – for smooth walls you want 3/8 or 1/2 inch nap at most. Cheap foam rollers leave texture too. The technique advice above is right, but paint quality makes a big difference. Benjamin Moore Regal or Sherwin-Williams Emerald go on much more smoothly than big-box brands. One coat of Zinsser primer first would also help a lot on walls with 25 years of buildup.