Need some advice on those darn roller marks when painting

[GotOne]

Thanks for looking. I am painting my master bedroom with a Pittsburgh paint(dark color), eggshell-about $22.00gal. I have used a gallon of paint in a room about 20'x20'. Two coats are not cutting it, I keep getting roller, stop marks and thin coverage. Using a general purpose, 3/8" nap roller. I'm covering a very light-almost off-white color that is on the walls. Help, before I get even more mad at my wife for making me paint our room a deep mauve/burgundy color. Did I need to open my pocket book and buy a more expensive paint? Thanks.

[Surface Tension]

One gallon to cover two coats @ 1280 sq ft. is really stretching it. Also summer is a time of high humidity, are you letting it dry between coats?

[JohnMickish]

I used to have the same problem. When we first purchased out house we used Behr paint and I had roller marks that bugged the [PoorWordUsage] out of me. Now after a few rooms we now use Valspar and they seem to be less noticable. I don't know if it's the paint or just that I am better at it now, I can't say for sure.

We now prime under all paint, regaurdless of what the color is.

I have an idea that if you would have used a dark primer under the dark paint it would have helped with the thinness you have. We just finished our living room, probably 30X20 with two hallways and a foyer and went thru 4 gals of primer, 5 gals of ceiling paint, 1 gal of tinted primer, and 1 gal of red (one wall and a half wall), 1 gal of light gold (foyer) and 4 gals of dark gold (everything else).

Just throwing those numbers out for comparison. BTY I used regular nap rollers as well.

[sparcebag]

One gallon to cover two coats @ 1280 sq ft. is really stretching it. Also summer is a time of high humidity, are you letting it dry between coats?

Ya I think a Gal coverage is either 600 or 800 Sq. Ft. one coat,and I'm leaning 600 Sq.Ft. with very little thinning if at all.If the room is 20x20,8 x20=160 x4=640sq.ft. Just abit more than 1 gal per coat.

[Bobby Bass]

First prime your walls using a primer that is tinted for the color you are going to cover it with. There is no extra charge to tint your primer. A gal coverage is more like 400-450 sg ft. Roller marks are from rolling a dry roller, pressing hard trying to get paint out of the roller. Trying to get 1200 sg feet out of a 400 sq can will do that. Not a big fan of Behr paint, if you are buying at Home Depot try the Evermore paint, it's made by Glidden. Have used hundreds of gals of that and it is my preferred indoor paint. And yes I paint for pay..

[Neighbor_guy]

If the paint you are buying tells you it will cover more than 400-450sq I would hesitate to buy it. It is just to thin to cover with any amount of effort. That being said, I would recomend primming for a dark color, be it blue, green, red, whatever. When you go to the store for the primmer tell them you want 4 ounces of black added to the can. A gallon of paint can only hold 4 ounces of colorant, thus 4. This will turn your primer a gunmetal grey color. It covers up almost anything in one coat and your finish will cover in 2 with little effort.

With paint, quality counts, Hirshfields, Moors, or Sherwin. Anything else is asking for trouble.

[echotrail]

I agree with the above comments. The tinted primer is the key. I helped my son paint a large room in his house last week. We used 1.25 gallons of tinted primer and just under 1 gallon of quality eggshell paint and the finish is perfect.

[MinnesotaMongo]

The good book does say "Repaint, and THIN no more..."

Sorry, but I had to....

Benjamin Moore paints have always served me well - but they are spendy....

[GotOne]

Thanks for the replies. Next time I will know better. Hopefully, next time is a long time down the road-I hate interior painting.

[nofishfisherman]

I am surpised that the overwhelming feeling here is that Behr is not a good paint.

I have used Behr paint many times, most recently on my new house. We painted every single wall in the entire house plus every piece of trim. We used Behr for everything, colors ranging from a yellowish gold, sage green, dark red, chocolate brown, blue, gray, and a light purple. I didn't use a primer on any wall and none of them needed a full second coat just a few touch ups (the red needed a little more touch up then the others but not a full second coat which impressed me a lot.) I am incredibly picky about the paint being done right (drives my wife nuts) and I had absolutely no problems with Behr paint leaving roller marks or not covering.

I actually bought enough paint expecting to do an extra coat especially on the darker colors, I now have 2-3 unopened gallons of paint sitting in the basement.

Anyways to give my opinion on the orginal question... When buying paint I would ask the person at the paint counter if they recommend a primer, not all paints really need it and when I have used a primer it doesn't always seem to help.

As for technique you need to make sure that you are reloading the roller often enough and not trying to squeeze every drop of paint out of the roller. Thats were most roller marks come from.

Overlap onto the wet paint a little with each pass of the roller. Once you roll the paint out on the wall you can go back and roll over it again lightly to make 100% sure you got even coverage.

Its just a patience thing. You can't rush through it and get quality results.

[Neighbor_guy]

I am surpised that the overwhelming feeling here is that Behr is not a good paint.

I am glad it worked out for you. I do not use it because it is not a "contractor quality" paint. When I go into your house you expect a quality material. If a homeowner insists on supplying their own paint, including Behr, my price goes up significantly. Mostly because I can not guarantee the quality of the materials, don't stand behind them, and will not warrante the work.

Right or wrong, that is what it is....

[nofishfisherman]

If a homeowner insists on supplying their own paint, including Behr, my price goes up significantly. Mostly because I can not guarantee the quality of the materials, don't stand behind them, and will not warrante the work.

Right or wrong, that is what it is....

If a homeowner wants you to use their paint I can surely understand not offering a guarantee or warranty but why would you charge more for the same labor?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Best advice I can offer is to get a lambs wool roller, and a high quality brush. It makes things go twice as fast compared to the cheap ones. I think the good rollers hold more paint, thus leaving less streaks. I have been able to get by quite often with a single coat of paint after using a tinted primer.

I've had ok experiences with Behr paint. I've started using Hirshfields with much better results. It costs a bit more, but not much.

[Neighbor_guy]

If a homeowner wants you to use their paint I can surely understand not offering a guarantee or warranty but why would you charge more for the same labor?

With a poor quality paint it takes much more time and effort to produce the same quality job. Thus the difference needs to be reflected in the price. So I guess it is not exaclty the same labor...

If a homeowner insist's on buying the paint I usually suggest a product for them to use. In those cases they still actualy end up spending more on the job. Remember as a contractor we get a HUGE discount on materials, paint especialy. Mark up on a gallon of paint at the retailer is somewere between 150-200%. Depending on the product and the retailer, lets say Hirshfields if you are paying $48.00 for a gallon of deep base paint, I am getting the same product for about $25.00. Then after my mark up to you, you are getting it for about $35, to cover my costs to get it, you are still getting a deal on the product. Funny thing is, each contractor gets a different discount based on volume with the vendors, so it is in my best interest to buy my materials, keeping my prices down, giving you a better deal, it all snowballs. Once it is explained, without the details on prices, people seam to understand the differences.

[sparcebag]

Neighbor When I lived in another state a friend was a painter. I bought all paint from him seemed like I always got a free gal.or two in comparison to over the counter.

[nofishfisherman]

With a poor quality paint it takes much more time and effort to produce the same quality job. Thus the difference needs to be reflected in the price. So I guess it is not exaclty the same labor...

I suppose that makes sense.