Using interior ceiling paint outside
#1
11-08-10, 10:05 AM
Using interior ceiling paint outside
I would like to know if I can paint the ceiling of my outdoor lanai with FLAT INTERIOR CEILING PAINT. My home is in west central Florida where the temperatures range from 30 to 100 degrees farenheit. The ceiling in question is never subjected to rain but does experience high humidity in the summer. The ceiling was previously painted with SATIN EXTERIOR PAINT. The reason I am asking this question is because I have about 3 gallons of the interior ceiling paint left over from a previous job and I don't want to waste it!
Any help with this question will be greatly appreciated.....thank, buzcar
Any help with this question will be greatly appreciated.....thank, buzcar
#2
11-08-10, 10:38 AM
Group Moderator
Does the ceiling of the lanai need to be painted? If not, painting it now is wasting paint.
Seal the cans well and store them inside and they'll be good to go the next time you need to paint a ceiling inside
Seal the cans well and store them inside and they'll be good to go the next time you need to paint a ceiling inside
#4
11-08-10, 11:26 AM
Super Moderator
No Pro...but I imagine you could use it since it's in a pretty protected area. Be advised though...everything from bug specks to cobwebs will be much harder to clean off than the Satin. And any scrubbing type thing would be out of the question.
If you really have no other use for the interior paint...you could donate it to Habitat or another type charity, write it off on taxes and buy a more appropriate coating.
If you really have no other use for the interior paint...you could donate it to Habitat or another type charity, write it off on taxes and buy a more appropriate coating.
#5
11-08-10, 11:34 AM
Thanks Gunguy45.....that really isn't what I wanted to hear but I have to admit it's what I was thinking. I guess you convinced me to just buy some more satin outside white and find another home or use for the interior paint!
#7
11-08-10, 01:40 PM
The interior flat can be used on the ceiling although since it currently has a satin finish, a scuff sanding should be done before painting. The 2 biggest drawbacks are it's more likely to get mold or mildew than than exterior paint and being flat it will be almost impossible to clean it - bugs, cobwebs and such would be more likely to smear rather than wash off.
I used to work for an outfit in central fla that often used interior paint on exterior stucco
It would usually last a year or so but fading and mildew were problems with those jobs. Personally I'd save the interior flat for another job and use exterior satin latex to repaint the ceiling - a cheaper [maybe not the cheapest] grade of paint would be ok.
I used to work for an outfit in central fla that often used interior paint on exterior stucco
It would usually last a year or so but fading and mildew were problems with those jobs. Personally I'd save the interior flat for another job and use exterior satin latex to repaint the ceiling - a cheaper [maybe not the cheapest] grade of paint would be ok.
#9
11-08-10, 02:57 PM
Buzcar:
No, you don't want to use ceiling paint outdoors in Florida.
Ceiling paints are intentionally made to a much lower level of quality than wall paints. They're basically a "budget priced" wall paint crammed full of antispatter additives. The manufacturer thinks: "Well, ceilings don't get dirty with fingerprints or marks on them from people using their tennis swing to turn lights on and off like walls do, so they don't have to stand up to regular cleaning and scrubbing like wall paints do. Consequently, ceiling paints don't need to form a film as hard and strong as wall paints do to stand up to that scrubbing. If there's a place to save the customer money, it's on the paint he uses on his ceilings." So, more often than not, ceiling paints will be made of polyvinyl acetate, the same binder resin as is used in general purpose latex primers and budget priced interior latex paints.
The problem is that this kind of binder resin has low moisture and humidity resistance. It will crack up and start peeling off if it is exposed to a lot of moisture or high humidity for too long.
(This is why you see so many bathrooms with paint peeling on the ceilings above the shower and high up on the walls near the ceilings. Often the problem is misdiagnosed as lack of sufficient prep work prior to painting, but most often the problem is the use of a PVA paint instead of a paint made for bathrooms.)
The next time a hurricane goes through your area, there's going to be plenty of water all over your lanai, including the underside of it's ceiling, and if you had used your interior ceiling paint there, then there's a good chance it would start cracking up and peeling off. (See the post entitled "Primer Peeling" in this forum.)
Also, interior latex paints don't have any mildewcides to prevent mildew from growing on the paint, and you're gonna need that in Florida. In Winnipeg or Minneapolis you can do without the mildewcides in an exterior paint because the humdity doesn't get that high, and only lasts for a few weeks during the worst part of the summer. But, you need it in Florida. (Ditto for UV blockers.)
Save the ceiling paint for another house ceiling, or better yet, just use it as a latex primer on bare drywall. (Or, place it carefully in the garbage where it truly belongs.) Use anyone's top-of-the-line exterior latex paint on your lanai ceiling. And, if it were my house, I would use the same quality paint on my ceilings as I do on my walls. Maybe different colour, maybe different gloss, but I wouldn't drop the quality just cuz it's a ceiling. I'd use good quality paint there too, but maybe I just wouldn't repaint the ceilings as often. Anyone with kids knows that it's a myth that ceilings don't get dirty. (My sister's kids could get a landfill site dirty.) That makes the most horse sense to me.
No, you don't want to use ceiling paint outdoors in Florida.
Ceiling paints are intentionally made to a much lower level of quality than wall paints. They're basically a "budget priced" wall paint crammed full of antispatter additives. The manufacturer thinks: "Well, ceilings don't get dirty with fingerprints or marks on them from people using their tennis swing to turn lights on and off like walls do, so they don't have to stand up to regular cleaning and scrubbing like wall paints do. Consequently, ceiling paints don't need to form a film as hard and strong as wall paints do to stand up to that scrubbing. If there's a place to save the customer money, it's on the paint he uses on his ceilings." So, more often than not, ceiling paints will be made of polyvinyl acetate, the same binder resin as is used in general purpose latex primers and budget priced interior latex paints.
The problem is that this kind of binder resin has low moisture and humidity resistance. It will crack up and start peeling off if it is exposed to a lot of moisture or high humidity for too long.
(This is why you see so many bathrooms with paint peeling on the ceilings above the shower and high up on the walls near the ceilings. Often the problem is misdiagnosed as lack of sufficient prep work prior to painting, but most often the problem is the use of a PVA paint instead of a paint made for bathrooms.)
The next time a hurricane goes through your area, there's going to be plenty of water all over your lanai, including the underside of it's ceiling, and if you had used your interior ceiling paint there, then there's a good chance it would start cracking up and peeling off. (See the post entitled "Primer Peeling" in this forum.)
Also, interior latex paints don't have any mildewcides to prevent mildew from growing on the paint, and you're gonna need that in Florida. In Winnipeg or Minneapolis you can do without the mildewcides in an exterior paint because the humdity doesn't get that high, and only lasts for a few weeks during the worst part of the summer. But, you need it in Florida. (Ditto for UV blockers.)
Save the ceiling paint for another house ceiling, or better yet, just use it as a latex primer on bare drywall. (Or, place it carefully in the garbage where it truly belongs.) Use anyone's top-of-the-line exterior latex paint on your lanai ceiling. And, if it were my house, I would use the same quality paint on my ceilings as I do on my walls. Maybe different colour, maybe different gloss, but I wouldn't drop the quality just cuz it's a ceiling. I'd use good quality paint there too, but maybe I just wouldn't repaint the ceilings as often. Anyone with kids knows that it's a myth that ceilings don't get dirty. (My sister's kids could get a landfill site dirty.) That makes the most horse sense to me.
Last edited by Nestor; 11-08-10 at 04:09 PM.
