Better, more consistent paint job on plaster

[brian sansone]

Well I have painted so much the last few years, that I should be pretty good at it . I still suck at it.
I am painting the plaster walls in my master bedroom. Im going from white eggshell, to a white/grey eggshell.
The paint I am using is medium quality paint from a local big box. Its not the cheap stuff, and not top shelf
It was about 30$/gallon.
I got down 2 coats so far. I'm sure it looks like an acceptable DIY job to most. Its better than a "home owner's special" . My wife says it looks great.
It looks ok, but..... It looks blotchy when viewed from an angle where the sheen really shows.
It almost looks like two different sheens were used. Some areas look eggshell, and other areas look more or less eggshell.
I used a 3/8" nap. What am I missing?? How can I get an even eggshell across the whole surface?
I will try to post a picture, but it may be hard to see for my camera.
Thanks
Brian

 

[Silentrunning]

Welcome to the forum Brian.

Are you sure you’re not being too critical of your work? I had the exact same problem with a livingroom wall. After trying every trick in the book I still had different sheens when the light from an adjacent window shined off the wall. I decided to get away from it for a while and see if I could learn more about painting practices. Life got in the way and I forgot about it. No one ever noticed and after a year I couldn’t see the flaws either. Why not give it a couple of months to fully cure and see how it looks?

 

[DIYRules]

I suspect you are not loading your roller heavily enough with paint. A patchy look is where you have layers of paint that are too thin or even missing. This is easy to do where the paint colours are light and very similar. Make sure you load your roller heavily with paint (and then roll on the tray to get rid of the excess). Paint in a grid pattern so you can be sure you have covered 100% of the wall and reload your roller much more regularly than you have been doing.

 

[brian sansone]

Welcome to the forum Brian.

Are you sure you’re not being too critical of your work? I had the exact same problem with a livingroom wall. After trying every trick in the book I still had different sheens when the light from an adjacent window shined off the wall. I decided to get away from it for a while and see if I could learn more about painting practices. Life got in the way and I forgot about it. No one ever noticed and after a year I couldn’t see the flaws either. Why not give it a couple of months to fully cure and see how it looks?

Yea , that sounds exactly like me. I had tiny little paint drips when I did my dinning room. I lost sleep over them. But, years later, no one has ever noticed, and I can barely find them even though I know they are there. Im sure this latest project will be the same.

 

[brian sansone]

Welcome to the forum Brian.

Are you sure you’re not being too critical of your work? I had the exact same problem with a livingroom wall. After trying every trick in the book I still had different sheens when the light from an adjacent window shined off the wall. I decided to get away from it for a while and see if I could learn more about painting practices. Life got in the way and I forgot about it. No one ever noticed and after a year I couldn’t see the flaws either. Why not give it a couple of months to fully cure and see how it looks?

Well, 3 months later, the sheen leveled out. So that part looks better, but what didnt fix itself is the high parts from the edges of the roller.
I tried as hard as I could to paint level, and not squeeze the roller too hard against the wall, but I still have thicker paint lines here and there,
from the roller edges.
No one else has noticed anything, but man I wish I could do it correctly
Thanks

 

[brian sansone]

I suspect you are not loading your roller heavily enough with paint. A patchy look is where you have layers of paint that are too thin or even missing. This is easy to do where the paint colours are light and very similar. Make sure you load your roller heavily with paint (and then roll on the tray to get rid of the excess). Paint in a grid pattern so you can be sure you have covered 100% of the wall and reload your roller much more regularly than you have been doing.

The sheen leveled out. I guess I needed to give it time to cure before I judged it.
But... there are lines from the roller edges, even though I was tying to avoid that, and paint as evenly, and consistently a possible.
I tried to keep the roller level on the wall, and not use too much pressure, but I guess I missed the mark.
I used a 3/8 nap. Is that too much for someone who doesnt paint for often? Would a 1/4" be easier to get consistent results?
Should I not cheap out on rollers?
Thanks
Brian

 

[Silentrunning]

I can’t say I have ever had this problem but I do use the best roller covers I can get. I get them from a paint store not a box store.