Are you sure its not the wrong paint or the wrong roller cover? What are you using?

Again, more information needed, what paint, size nap, etc.?

If you've done it five or six times, stop. Quality doesn't get better under deadlines, pressure, anger, or alcohol. Leave it be until you've been there a while.

If you laid down 5-6 coats, let it cure out for a month. That is a lot of paint/water.

Then give us all the details.

Casey

9" roller with 3/8" nap, whatever the best quality at Home Depot. Tried Behr ceiling paint (purple), tried Glidden. There's no anger, pressure or alcohol, heh.

Can't let it cure for a month. We're in the final stages of remodeling project, can't wait. Stupid ceilings holding everything. We need to finish in 3 weeks, still tile to lay, cabinets, countertops glass showers/railings etc. Can't just put everything on hold. Never thought it would be such a rocket science. I tried to include a pic but it doesn't show up.

Sometimes you just have to move on to a different part of the project and return after you've had a sufficient chance to figure out the issues you're having. We're struggling with some doors right now and just had to walk away for a couple of days and let the new finish harden enough to sand. Wasn't really in the plan to do it that way but when we go back and tackle them again, we'll be more able to think clearly.

If I had to venture a guess, it would be your roller isn't holding enough paint and you are pressing too hard to get good coverage so a 1/2 inch sleeve might be a better choice. Go talk to the people at a real paint store, the employees there are much more knowledgeable about choosing and applying products than most any big box store person. They might even know a professional who would be willing to come by your project for a hundred bucks or so and give you a consultation and painting lesson.

Are you using flat paint? My partner likes to buy the 5 gallon bucket of cheap ultra white paint for ceilings as it is the whitest paint we've found and an absolute flat for easy touch ups. No one is going to be putting grubby hands on the ceiling so washability isn't an issue. Semi-gloss ceilings are an art best left to folks with many years of practice.

"Semi-gloss ceilings are an art best left to folks with many years of practice."

You can say that again. "Semi-gloss ceilings are,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ^_^. Are you useing semi-gloss? There is no reason to other than maybe bath and kitchen but flat is fine there. Linda is right,semi is tricky and take's pratice. Common mistake newbies make is going back to mess with areas applied 5 minutes earlier. You can not apply paint so that it look's uniform all the while it's drying.

Use a 1/2 inch nap with some better paint, done. Go to a real paint store.

Try a 5/16" or 3/8" nap micro-fiber roller (preferably from Benjamin & Moore) with a strong roller frame and an adjustable extension pole and good lighting. Flat white ceiling paint doesn't need to be anything special so Behr should be fine but in this case consider using Sherwin Williams or B&M. Don't use undue force on the roller. Allow a coat enough time to dry before applying another coat especially in humid conditions. Don't add anything to the paint and stir it well.

Sounds like you are spreading it too thin. Need a larger nap and put a correct amount of paint on the roller.

I know they say 3/8 nap for smooth surface on the packages, but it just doesnt hold enough paint and causes lines on the edges even if you dont push hard. I have had this happen to me, switching to larger nap solved it.

I would recommend the white dove or lambskin, and lambskin is the better option. Use packing tape on the roller cover as a lint remover before you do anything.

Oh, and yes semigloss will show imperfections very well. If you need mildew resistant paint (kitchen, bath) then get that type of paint it doesnt have to be semigloss. Most pros use eggshell on walls and flat on ceiling.

Interesting to hear the responses here. We have had a similar problem with our family room ceiling (BIG area) since we built this house 30 years ago. Last time I broke down and hired a professional - one that we had used before and had great results. The FR still looks "like it was done by 3 y.o. " as the OP described. Used flat paint, HQ (BM or SW can't remember which). Go figure.

When we spray ceilings (w/ flat), we back roll with an 18" roller. It's much quicker, and cuts the possibility of roller lines in half. (depending on the person running the roller) Proper spray tips, pressure and atomizing is key, as well as spray pattern technique. Smooth wall also requires a higher level of expertise.

Tried again (2-3 coats before got it right) with good results. Paint Behr ceiling paint (really bad quality paint, runny and blotchy and dries within seconds but has a beautiful super bright white color) but added Floetrol (dumped the whole bottle into 2gallon) and that gave me maybe extra minute before each section dried (made sure the room was cold... didn't help) but it also made the paint way less runny, almost like a normal paint. Was rolling it all, really fast... happy with results. Used best quality 1/2" nap roller, way better than 3/8, less edge runs. Most of the house turned out ok. Not perfect, at certain angles there are some shady patches but nothing that would make me want to redo it. I know in a week I'll forget they're there.

Don't use ceiling paint. It is chalkier and so absorbs irregularly. The next coat gets worse, not better. I used BM Ultra Flat Ceiling paint (on a primed ceiling) thinking it would be better than flat for hiding imperfections, since that is what it is intended for. Turns out it is better to just use a good quality wall paint instead and save yourself a lot of time on rework, wasted money and unnecessary aggravation.

I use BM's extender with their high quality Aura line but do not remember if I used it with the ceiling paint. I would think so since all these low VOC paints dry so fast these days .

Others have had the same experience:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2486612/ceiling-paint

Wow, I feel lucky. I wet-scraped off the popcorn texture, applied 2 coats of joint compound over taped seams, sanded, then rolled ben moore fresh start primer followed by ben moore flat white, one coat of each. I was pretty generous with the coverage. It came out great despite all the ceiling imperfections. Maybe that's because the lighting near the ceiling is really flat and my eyes are not perfect. But I will make a point not to install pot lights and to use all soft filtered light. If any shadows are cast on the ceiling, the flaws will show.

I figure if someone thinks it's not smooth enough, a pro can come in and skim coat it. I'm pretty happy with my smooth ceilings.

In my case what made it more difficult was that I have almost wall to wall floor to ceiling windows. The unforgiving light comes from all directions and shows everything.

Old thread but this is exactly my problem too. I've got a lot of window on the South side and the North is about half the glazing. Just broke a second roller :( If I don't apply pressure though I get the edge runs of the roller. Large, open plan kitchen/living/dining. My biggest concern is that I'll be using these lights that will be unforgiving: https://www.artcraftlighting.com/search/organic/0/10/1

Light fixtures don't illuminate imperfections, it's the light from the windows that enters at an extremely sharp angle that does. I only see how imperfect my ceiling is during daylight from the window light. At night with electric light the ceilings look perfect. Don't worry about that.

Once I finished the painting I completely forgot about those imperfections. I haven't looked at my living room ceiling once since, and the only time I see my bedroom light is in the morning when I lie in bed and can see how wavy the sheetrock is on my ceiling. No paint technique would aid that. Yet I accept it and it doesn't bother me one bit.

In retrospect, I should've stopped after the first try. It's really a non-issue. Have you ever paid attention to anybody else's ceiling, ever, anywhere?

Just roll it and call it a day. In a week you won't remember this was even a problem.

Thanks, yes. I know what you mean about stopping after the first go. I'm almost tempted to reprime but don't have the energy and have been trying to call in a pro to save me. Unsurprisingly everyone's busy.

I had exactly the same problem. I tried using different brand of paints for ceiling (flat white), airless sprayer, different rollers, same problem. Then found out when added Floetrol, the finish was smooth and perfect. The reason is all new paint has been formulated to be non splatter, that means the paint will not run like in the old days. That’s why new paint gives you streaks. You will find that by adding Floetrol will revert the paint to splatter just like the old days and it will run better. From now on, I will only paint with Floetrol. Use a synthetic roller or sheepskin roller would help as well. Do not use microfiber roller when painting ceiling. I have learnt the hard way after wasting lots of time and money.

Start over with new dry wall.

I'm the OP of this thread. Having gone through a few more renovating projects after that post the lesson I learned: don't look up, it doesn't matter, the ceiling will never be perfect. Paint it with whatever flat or ceiling paint and move on. Nobody ever looks at ceilings. When you work on it it seems like all you see is imperfections but in real life who in their right mind ever looks at other people's ceilings? Just fix obvious imperfections, holes, big bumps and that's it.

That is what THIS MAN SAID about other people's shoes.