Do you have one of those greyish brown textured ceilings in a home unit or office area that you feel appears drab and grey? Many home units with concrete slab ceilings had these concrete slab ceilings finished in vermiculite which helped camouflage unevenness in the form work that would have been very obvious had sealing been simply just painted.
It is possible to freshen a vermiculite celling by painting and here are a few tips which may help paint a vermiculite ceiling.
Due to the very open surface of sprayed vermiculite do not expect to get 100% opaque coverage by painting over vermiculite. Achieving 100% opaque paint coverage of vermiculite would take a lot of paint an effort and may not appear visually any better.
Vermiculite can be soft and crumbly and trying to paint vermiculite with a brush a roller will be difficult and usually not very successful. The fastest and easiest way to paint vermiculite ceilings is to use an airless paint sprayer. A vermiculite sealing will require quite a deal of paint and an airless paint sprayer that is capable of siphoning paint directly from a paint drum, supporting at least a 0. 17 inch spray tip and the recommended minimum 15 metre airless paint spray hose. Airless paint spray machines capable of spraying vermiculite ceilings are readily available from hire and rental centres.
Many people have had a great deal of success sealing vermiculite with a PVA adhesive prior to over coating with paint. The general consensus is usually a product such as Bondcrete or equivalent thinned up to 4 to 1 with water and applied with airless spray then allowed to dry before painting reduces crumbling of the vermiculite and absorption of subsequent coats of paint.
It will be much easier to airless spray the vermiculite sealing evenly if there was nothing in the room obstructing the spray painter from walking anywhere in the room. To achieve a visually even paint finish on the vermiculite begin spraying with the airless spray gun and called approximately 5 or 10° off 90° perpendicular to the ceiling.
Cover the entire ceiling with the airless spray gun angled in this direction by walking backwards and forwards from one side of the room to the other until the entire vermiculite sealing has been covered.
Reverse the angle of the airless spray gun in the opposite direction and once again walked backwards and forwards evenly from one side of the room to the other covering the entire ceiling area once again. It will be better to apply numerous light coats than attempt to apply heavier coats of paint to achieve a visually even result.
Once again angle the airless spray gun at five of 10° off 90° perpendicular to the ceiling but this time cross the room while spraying from end to end, across the direction the last two coats were sprayed.
Once the entire ceiling has been covered by spraying in this direction once again angle the airless spray gun 5 to 10° off perpendicular in the other direction and walked backwards and forwards while spraying the ceiling from end to end until the entire area has been covered.
Further coats of paint could even be applied by transverse in the ceiling diagonally if desired. A much more even result visually will be achieved by applying multiple light coats of paint on vermiculite ceilings with an airless spray gun by angling the airless gun slightly and evenly applying coats while travelling in different directions across the ceiling with each subsequent coat of paint.
DIY airless spray unit excellent for spraying your vermiculite ceilings