Painting drop ceiling?

Has anyone ever painted a drop ceiling? I'm thinking the easiest way to do it is to spray the ceiling while its up. Any advice? I'm thinking about painting the drop ceiling in my basement black to make it look a little different.

 

We painted the drop ceiling in a bar I used to hang at. It really isn't that tough to just take the panels down and use a roller. I would think that spraying would put a film all over everything else in the house.

 

did you roll the metal frame too? I'm not too worried about over spray because the walls are getting painted and the floor will be covered.

 

I think the frame was rolled (foam roller?) as well..it had been painted before so coverage wasn't a problem. The panels were a mix of old and new. They were painted black and then some "sparkles" were added. We just put plywood over the pool tables and would paint 4 panels then do 4 more on the other table. By the time we finished the last 4, the 1st 4 were dry enough to lean up against the wall to finish drying.

It wasn't really the overspray on walls or anything I was talking about. The "mist" created in spraying will settle on anything and everything and get disbursed through the house if you have any ventilation running.

 

You will get a better paint job if the panels are rolled. They will cover and look better. If you spray them inplace, you may still need to lightly roll them which is no easy task with them flopping around

Besides the overspray concerns, another problem with spraying them is you get a paint bond between the panel and the grid. If you need to remove a panel and fail to take a razor and cut around the grid - the paint will often peel when the panel is broke loose.

 

Black ceilings work best in restaurants and bars in older buildings with very high ceilings. The black paint is great for hiding duct work in those settings.

The reality is that a black ceiling will visually lower the ceiling. At time of resale, you will have to prime and paint the ceiling back to a neutral color to appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers.

The decorating police is no longer fond of stark white ceilings. Instead, they tend to recommend painting ceilings the same or a shade or two lighter than wall color. If you have a good focal wall, such as a fireplace wall, then your bold accent color is best reserved for that wall, not the ceiling.

You do get a lot of movement when trying to roll suspended ceiling tiles. With patience, it can be done, and the metal strips touched up with small foam roller or brush. A roller with 1/4" nap does a pretty good job. It usually takes 2 coats of paint, waiting 24 hours between coats.
It's a lot of work to remove tiles to paint them, but that is an option. You can expect a slight loss of sound absorption with painted ceiling tiles.