The Best Paint for Ceilings

Ceiling paint is a rare niche paint product, such as bathroom paint, designed in this case to adhere best to ceilings and fight the effects of gravity. Most paints are not location-specific, but a ceiling is a unique surface.

Greater Viscosity Slows Drips, Splatter

If you want a flat, white ceiling, then ordinary flat sheen white interior latex paint that is not labeled as ceiling paint can be applied on the ceiling. But, using ceiling paint will make the process smoother, result in a better-looking ceiling, and produce fewer drips and splatter.

Ordinary latex paint is low in viscosity or thickness. So when you paint the ceiling with it, you end up with big paint drops and something even more challenging to clean up: an ultra-fine paint mist capable of traveling by gusts of air beyond your drop cloth. Not only do drips make a mess below, but they also create unsightly areas on the ceiling that are difficult to fix after drying. Higher viscosity paint with more solids means you can paint above your head and expect fewer drips and little paint mist.

Compare two types of ceiling paint with one kind of wall paint. Both ceiling paints surpass the wall paint in viscosity, total weight per gallon, and solids by weight. Compared with a viscometer against other substances, ceiling paint has roughly the same consistency as thinned-out honey.

Ceiling Paint vs. Regular Latex Paint Viscosity
Type of Paint	Viscosity	Weight of 1 Gallon	Solids by Weight	Comments
Valspar Professional Interior Latex Eggshell Series	90-100 KU	10.6 pounds	45%	Valspar is an exclusive brand found at Lowe's Home Improvement.
Valspar Ultra Interior Flat Ceiling White Latex-Base Paint and Primer in One	96-104 KU	11.7 pounds	52%	Valspar offers a ceiling paint that changes color from light purple to white. This helps you keep track of areas that you have already painted.
KiLZ Ceiling Paint - Stainblocking Paint & Primer	95-105 KU	11.3 pounds (+/-) 0.2	59.9% (+/-) 2%	Found at Home Depot stores, KILZ is a Masterchem paint brand that specializes in difficult surfaces such as concrete, decks, ceilings, and weathered wood.

Kreb's units (KU) are a standard of measurement for viscosity. By comparison, honey's viscosity begins at 2,000 centipoise, roughly equivalent to 106 KU, and ranges as high as 10,000 centipoise.

Best Ceiling Paint Color

White is the most popular ceiling paint color. White ceiling paint prices range from $14 to $60 per gallon. It provides more light to the room, always matches with other colors, and makes the room feel larger. However, some creative homeowners want ceiling colors that are anything but white. One alternative is to paint the ceiling a dark hue while keeping the walls light, a startling contrast that catches attention.

Greater Light

Of all the colors, white is the one that reflects the most light to increase natural light within a room.

Light reflectance value, or LRV, is a guide for measuring how much light a color gives off. LRV ranges from almost 100 percent for white to nearly zero for certain shades of black.

Matches Other Colors

White matches any wall or room color. Painting the ceiling white means you can re-paint the walls for years without needing to match up with the ceiling.

Room Looks Larger

White is the most popular color for ceilings. Your ceiling is like your home's immense and limitless sky. When the illusion of infinity is desired, white deprives the eye of a visual anchor and lets the eye wander upward.

However, the frame of the surrounding walls, a ceiling light fixture, or a shaft of light beaming across the ceiling can break this illusion. Painting the ceiling in darker colors acts as a visual stop.

Best Ceiling Paint Finish

The most popular sheen for ceiling paint is flat or matte, often the very flattest finish that the paint manufacturer produces. Any glossiness, even the slight eggshell or satin sheen, appears on ceilings.

Flat paint has almost no reflective quality. Some brands advertise their product as ultra-flat, but the difference between this and flat is negligible.

Ceilings tend to be more reflective than walls due to the angle between the viewer and the light source. So, even though eggshell or satin paint finishes may work for walls, they can be a distraction on the ceiling.

If you want some sheen on the ceiling, use the flattest finish other than flat: eggshell. Little is to be gained by using ceiling paint that has a gloss. Gloss is valuable because its binders create a smoother, tighter surface bond, making it easier to wipe dirt or smudges from walls.

Ceilings generally stay clean, so there is little need to wipe them down, with high-moisture bathrooms being an exception.

But as another attention-getting device, ceilings are sometimes painted in high-gloss sheens. One benefit of a high-gloss ceiling is that even more ambient light is reflected throughout the room.

Ability to Hide Stains

With greater viscosity comes greater hiding ability. Ceilings in poorly ventilated bathrooms are prone to mildew spots. After fixing the ventilation problem with a bathroom fan or heat lamp, you can clean the mildew spots and cover the remaining stains with ceiling paint.

Ceilings also act as collection points for cigarette and cigar smoke, cooking splatters, insects, and water spots. While ceiling paint cannot cover all stains, it does a better job at covering stains than ordinary latex paint.

Top Brands of Ceiling Paint

The most popular paint brands with ceiling paint options include Benjamin Moore, Behr, Sherwin Williams, and Valspar. Behr and Valspar are the proprietary paints distributed by Home Depot and Lowe's, respectively.

• Benjamin Moore Waterborne Ceiling Paint: Costs $60 per gallon
• Sherwin Williams' Eminence Ceiling Paint: Costs about $45 per gallon
• Behr's Ultra Interior Ceiling Paint: Costs from $25 to $40 per gallon (cheaper per gallon when purchased in a 5-gallon container).
• Valspar's Color-Changing Ceiling Paint: Costs about $40 per gallon; paints on with a purple hue, making it easy to see missed spots; dries to super white with a flat finish

Should You Buy Ceiling Paint or Not?

With most projects, ceiling paint is a worthwhile purchase, especially if the ceiling has mold problems or is painted in a dark color. Ceiling paint's slightly higher cost than wall paint, thick consistency, and flat finish make it worthwhile when painting entire rooms.

If you have decided to paint your ceiling with a paint sprayer, ceiling paint's splatter-reducing viscosity will mean less to you than if you are painting overhead with a roller. Paint spraying demands that all surfaces be covered unless you are spraying in a non-furnished new-construction home.