How to Spray Walls without Hitting Ceiling (6 Steps)

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Last Updated on June 28, 2022

Spray painting on walls is popular among professionals and DIYers as it makes the painting task fast and easy. Nonetheless, when it comes to painting walls with a sprayer without painting the ceiling, most people will give up due to the difficulties it brings in the painting job.

You may hit the ceiling in a millisecond lack of attentiveness, and it is enough to ruin hours of hard work for the perfect paint. Hence, many people ask, “How to spray walls without hitting ceiling?”

You have to cover the furniture, protect the ceiling from spray paint, and begin your actual paint for the desired finish.

Thankfully, the wall spray task is easier than you imagine when you have the right gear and safety tools for it.

How to Spray Walls without Hitting Ceiling

Many people find it difficult to spray paint on walls. Hitting the ceiling with paint is one of these major problems that you might encounter. While avoiding such messiness may seem almost impossible, it can be solved with a few easy steps.

If you are new to spray paint, the following steps will guide you all the way through to the wall spray techniques for the most impressive finish. And obviously, you won’t hit the ceiling.

Step 1: Assembly and preparation:

Before you start spray painting any walls, you need to prepare for it. It begins with assembling all the necessary items including the sprayer to the safety gear. The list includes:

  • Masking tape
  • Plastic tarp
  • Spray paint
  • Work gloves
  • Respirator mask
  • Safety glasses

You can choose your favorite color for the walls. Also, make sure it matches the home decor with perfection for an impressive look.

Step 2: Never ignore your safety:

Whenever you use a moderate to heavy machine for any job, you must maintain proper safety guidelines for it. It will safeguard you from different problems and also enhance your confidence to work peacefully.

For spray paint on walls, you run the risk of inhaling toxic spray particles. So, it can cause stomach imbalance if inhaled.

Also, it might cause respiratory problems. You should wear a quality respiratory mask to prevent such inconvenience. If respiratory masks are unavailable, you may choose to wrap your mouth with a piece of clean cloth.

Also, wear disposable gloves. It will protect your hands from any painting and allergic feel. Some people may even choose a spray suit for the purpose, but these suits are expensive.

spray suit

Step 3: Preparing the workplace

Next, you have to prepare the workplace, which includes covering the furniture and windows properly. It is essential to save these items from the flying pray particles.

Also, you must not bypass this step since a tiny spray on your beautiful and expensive furniture may ruin its look forever. And this is the last thing you will want.

Thus, you must cover the furniture and the corner of the room’s windows to safeguard them from any spray paint. You may use a tarp to cover the window corner and furniture.

But you can do the job with a newspaper too if you lack the plastic tarp. You may even choose an ole cloth for covering the window corner and furniture.

Note: You should cover only the window corners, not the entire window. It is essential to allow proper ventilation as spray paint creates a gaseous environment inside. Also, proper ventilation will help the paint on the walls to dry quickly.

Step 4: Protecting the ceiling

Next is the main task of this entire spray paint process. You need to properly cover the corners of the ceiling so that spray doesn’t stick on these spots. You will need to use masking tape to cover the corner of the ceiling.

Start applying the masking tape from one corner and continue to the other corner of the ceiling. Make sure the entire corners of the ceiling are well protected with the masking tape. It will ensure that you don’t hit the ceiling with the sprayer.

Step 5: Start your spray painting task

Now that you have assembled all of your painting gears, and covered the furniture and ceiling corners, it’s time to start spraying the walls.

For this, keep the spray machine at least 4 to 6 inches away from the surface you will paint. Plus, it would be best to move the sprayer at a continuous and constant speed without any shakes and jerks of your hand.

Also, you must thin the paint since sprayers are designed to work with thinned paint materials. If you use water-based paints, you may use water, thinning liquid, or paint thinner for the purpose.

Start painting from the up and continue until you reach the bottom of the wall. Repeat the process until you finish off the entire wall. You must work with patience and attentiveness to prevent any overflow of the spray paint. It might ruin your hours of hard work in a few moments.

Step 6: Finishing off your job

When you have spray painted the entire wall, you need to wait for enough time to allow the paint to dry properly. It might need at least 3 to 5 hours for the spray paint on walls to dry.

However, it will need around 24 hours to cure fully. Also, depending on the wall condition and paint thickness, you may need to apply a second coat on the wall.

Finally, remove the covering from the window corners, furniture, and tape from the ceiling corners. Arrange your furniture and finish the painting job.

Also, check the floor for any paint or messiness and clean it if need be. You may use liquid cleaner or commercial paint cleaner for this purpose.

Final Words

Spray painting the walls is a good DIY project. This guideline on how to spray walls without hitting the ceiling should be useful for beginners. The process is pretty easy, and you will love the impressive paint finish on the wall.

Nonetheless, after finishing the wall spray paint task, don’t forget to put away your disposable gloves and mask in a proper bin. It will help to protect the environment.

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