painting ceilings with Farrow & Ball paint

[Pete-Decor]

Hi All
I ve just been asked to paint a ceiling with F&B paint ( used their Estate Emulsion ) and after rolling the ceiling twice with the paint ( rolling one way and then the other ) I am still getting roller lines and flashing marks which I guess is the window light sources reflecting off the paint surface. I ve never used F&B paints on ceilings before only used it on walls previously, so wondered if anyone on here has any experience of this? I normally use a specialist ceiling paint for ceiling work - such as Tikkurila Anti Reflex or Crown Trade Extramatt Low Reflective which eliminate this kind of issue - but on this particular project the customer insisted i use the F&B colour for the ceiling and now I have this problem. See photo.
Any tips or thoughts are appreciated, Would more coats eliminate this or can you colour tint some of the Anti Reflective white paints ?

Thanks
PD

WhatsApp Image 2024-08-06 at 20.46.18_3291610b.jpg (133.52 KiB) Viewed 522 times

[dynamod]

That's a pretty aggressive directional light source you have there.

I'd suggest the following:

Thin the paint out ever so slightly and keep the room shut (to increase humidity and prolong drying time during application)
Possibly a case for Floetrol, though you need to be a bit judicious in how much to use.
I assume you used their 'wall primer' as per F&B blurb?
A longer pile sleeve, and/or a larger roller head to get in on faster. I normally use medium/long pile on a 12" frame.
Mini-roller round edges and cutting to prevent a change in texture from brush to roller pile.

All this said, I'm personally not a fan of F&B (estate eggshell aside) as this 'wall primer' of theirs sounds like a tacit admission of poor opacity, and I normally also use Tikkurila and Crown low-sheen options. Estate Emulsion can drag and flash without the primer, as it does seal the surface quite well (its only benefit IMO)

Crown has the Farrow & Ball codes on their system now, so if this still doesn't behave, I'd be advising the client to use a Crown emulsion, tinted. I normally try to steer customers away from F&B, as I honestly feel that its price nowhere near matches up to the quality on offer. Yes, it's OK - but for that money you could be having Little Green, Mylands or even Benjamin Moore, and they are top flight paints.

Farrow & Ball are still favoured by the aspirational, middle-class crowd, and getting them off that one takes a bit of doing in my experience.

[dewaltdisney]

I have never understood the Farrow and b*llocks thing, the only thing you need to worry about is the application, finish, and the desired colour. Who knows or cares what make the paint it is? Johnstones have been mixing F&B colors for years, why pay for this pretentious paint?

DWD

[dynamod]

Divide and conquer advertising/marketing.

Segregate your target audience, appeal to their ego, 'intelligence' or 'education'. Make them feel special and apart from masses, then crank up the price, and they'll swallow any old nonsense you tell them.

Their egos do the rest.

[Pete-Decor]

Thanks dynamod for your thoughts tips - appreciate it.

[Pete-Decor]

Also to say there are two more large windows ( one to the right hand side and one behind you in this photo) so defo light source overload plus its generally a lower ceiling that as you walk into the room you can look directly down the long ceiling horizon line at.

I m going back to this customer later next week to try with a wet 3rd coat.

Finally what is Floetrol sorry i m not familiar with it - does it condition paint ? are there any risks pros cons using it with f&b.

thanks

[dynamod]

Floetrol is just a paint conditioner. I preferred XIM, but I think it got discontinued.

Floetrol (according to their blurb) 'keeps a wet edge going', and for the most part it does seem to work well. I've found that it can get 'stringy' in the container if it has been in stock/storage too long, and it's maybe an idea to strain it prior to adding to the paint, should you go this route.

There shouldn't be any issues adding it to F&B, though if they would sort out their paint, it wouldn't be needed. It's supposed to work in all water thinned paints, though in the real world, careful thinning (not over-thinning) works just as well.

TBH, I only ever used the stuff in water-based trim paints, though it will work in emulsions.

[Pete-Decor]

ok cheers thanks dynamod