Shiny Spots With Flat Paint?

Hello, everyone. I was hoping that I could pick your brains about my most recent painting project. My wife and I live in what I think is called a split-level home, and we're in the process of painting the stairwell to match the upstairs part of the home. However, we've ran into a bit of a problem when doing the last wall.

This particular wall is to the right as you enter our front door, and it has the most open surface area to paint. The wall is about 15 -20 feet high, and roughly around 10-12 feet wide. We originally tried it in satin, but with all the light hitting the wall you could see every little dent, patch, etc. So, we decided to redo the wall in flat.

To prep the wall for painting, I fixed all the places that needed any type of patching done, and then spot primed them. Next, we wiped down the wall with a damp sponge. Once it dried, we primed the wall with two coats of Bullseye 1-2-3. We finished up with two coats of the paint (Pebble Creek, Valspar, Flat Finish). This is the same process we followed on the first two walls, and they turned out great. However, this last wall isn't going quite as smoothly.

When you're standing at the bottom of our steps, looking towards the front door, you can see glossy or shiny spots on the wall when there's light shining through the front door and the window above it. It almost looks like roller marks in a way, but the other two walls don't have this problem. What could be causing this??

I should also probably note that in order to paint the walls in our stairwell, we use one of those portable scaffolding units. We do the upper part of the walls, and then have to dismantle the scaffolding, which might take 5 mins at the absolute most. Then, we pick up where we left off to do the bottom half of the wall. We've put a third coat on, and there are still marks there (just not in the same spots as before). Could this be because of having to do part of the wall, then stop to dismantle everything, and then continuing? I'd use a roller extension so that I could cover more of the wall at once, but our stairwell is only 3 feet wide on the sections where the steps are. So, I don't really have the room to work with the extra length of the extension.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give as much information as I could regarding what has brought things to this point. Any help you might be able lend is truly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums.

It might be easier if we could see what you see, do you think you could capture it in a pic?

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...rt-images.html

 

I wonder if it is a texture difference?

 

That certainly is plausible - are the 'spots' where you made repairs?

 

Thanks everyone for responding so far. I will provide a picture once the sun comes up. I live in PA, and it's not quite bright enough out yet to get a good photo

As for the texture difference where I patched, the only areas I patched were a couple of small dents and where I repaired some screw pops at. So, the patched areas are relatively small. These shiny spots I'm talking about almost look like something was smeared on the wall. There's one in particular that I'll try and capture in a picture that is about the length of the roller. I'll update again once I can take a couple of pics to post up.

 

Are they in the area of the repairs? the sanding of the repair can make the area appear larger.
Hopefully the pics will let us know more

 

The fact that the spots moved after putting on a third coat means It has something to with your rolling and not the underlying wall itself. My guess is this is where your roller overlaps between moving the scaffolding. Maybe try painting from the bottom up and see if that makes any differece.

 

I missed that I agree with Keith that it is an application problem. Instead of using a scaffold, take an extension roller pole and reroll the wall making sure you apply the paint evenly keeping a wet edge. You should be able to roll the wall and not have to cut it in.

 

So, I was able to get a few of the pictures of the wall that I think the problem areas are visible enough in. I put some arrows on some of them in photoshop in case it was hard to see the areas that I was referring to. Also, in regards to it being an application problem, I would use a roller extension. However, our stairwell is only 3 feet wide when your on the sections with the actual steps (which I would be to paint these areas). The shortest roller extension I've seen is 4 feet, which we have one of. I have thought about trying to paint from the bottom and going up, but the extension thing is the part I can't figure out what to do about. Maybe start at the bottom and go as far up as I can by hand, and then put the extension on to work my way up? Then, I wouldn't have to bring it down as far, which would solve the lack of space between the two walls. This wall is hard to tip off the paint once it's applied because of not reach from top to bottom without stopping. Is that going to make a difference? Anyway, thanks for all the help so far. Take a look at these pics, and tell me what you guys think is going on.

 

I couldn't determine the cause of the spots.

Besides the wooden roller poles they also sell ones that are extendable; 2'-4',3'-6',4'-8',6'-12' & 8'-16'
Use the length of the stairwell to raise the roller pole into place, you aren't limited to the width.