painting an unfinished basement ceiling

I did a friends basement many years ago with a sprayer. Painted it black, not sure what paint we used, but definitely get a mask if it's a big basement and not just those little cheapie things. Protect yourself from ingesting all that paint.

I remember Norm Charbonneu's comments about spraying his ceiling and anything that didn't move, flat black.

The overspray or fall or whatever it was way more than he anticipated.

I use the Sherwin-Williams commercial products. ProMar200 primer and 400 series finish coat. Nice products, easy clean-up

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I would believe that one would need an HVLP spray system as the 400 is thick and provides a high coverage area.

I have never sprayed it and Norm's after thoughts are that he would have done it differently. Read the April 27, 2013 reply.

So, the 400 product may help, but you'll still need to tarp and cover.

Listen to the paint guy. They hear it from the contractors that do it everyday.

I did exactly what you're planning but it was about 20 years ago.  I used an airless sprayer that sat on the floor, had a siphon tube to draw paint from a bucket and had a 15-foot hose with a wand at the end.  I used flat black latex paint from Home Depot, thinned 20% with water (4 cans of paint plus one can of water).  I mixed the paint, poured it into a 5-gallon plastic bucket (about 2/3 full) and siphoned from that.

I did the basement in sections (it was about 1500 sq. ft. total) by draping it off with plastic drop cloths.  I tacked the drapes to the rafters using roofing nails.  I covered the floor with plastic drop cloths as well (VERY important) and laid a few 2x4's around the edges and on top of the floor cloths in a few places.  This is because paint will drip onto the floor, you will step in it and the plastic will want to stick to your shoe, move and fail to cover the floor any more.

I used a good cartridge respirator, goggles, a floppy hat, rubber gloves and old clothes (long sleeve shirt, long pants and sneakers) that I planned to discard later.  I sprayed everything (joists, ducts, wires, etc.) until I had black rain in the basement.  If you pay particular attention to soaking the joints where the floor joists meet the bottom of the sub-floor, you can prevent a lot of dust in the future.  Dust tends to sift down via these joints when people walk above.  The paint seals them.

I would recommend a dark blue for the ceiling and stuff. It is a more natural representation of the dark sky. The sky at midnight is never black, you can still see shadows of trees.

Has anyone who has ever painted over everything in their basement ceilings ever regretted that choice?  What comes to mind is trying to trace an electric line from the box to a source at some point and trying to select one of several painted over black wires.  

Good advise from Mark. I would add as an alternative to thinning latex/acrylic paints with water is to use this product...

An alternative to painting. I used black landscaping material and stapled it to the joists. I did paint the plastic pipes.

Hi Eric ,I painted professionally for forty years.You can can paint a lot of area in a short time with the right sprayer . Also the type of paint you are spraying can make a big difference for sure. The acrylics are the most forgiving.They are somewhat low oder and clean up with soap and water.They also tend to adhere the best to different materials.Duct work or electrical conduit can be made of either galvanized steal or even aluminum both of which really should be primed with an appropriate primer otherwise in due time it will peal or flake off like crazy. PVC or copper plumbing will do the same if not primed before the paint is applied.Cover the floor and anything else that you don't want black. If you can have some type of cross ventilation to vent outside ,that would help to speed drying time.Above all wear that respirator and cover yourself as best you can.One last thing would be to strain the paint into a clean five gallon pail to syphon the paint from.The airless sprayers spray at about 3000 psi at the tip of the spray gun. What happens is that any particles in the paint bigger than the tip will clog it up.You can save a lot of down time by straining the paint with a bag type paint strainer before you start.Good luck

Thank you everyone for the responses.