How to Spray Walls Without Hitting the Ceiling? [8 Steps Guide]

Randy Charles
Professional Painter

Randy Charles is the owner of PaintCentric.com, a website dedicated to providing information, tips, tricks, and news about all things paint. With over 10 years...Read more

When spraying your walls with a different color from your ceiling, its essential to keep the ceiling covered. That is because the paint can be easily spread over a large area, including the ceiling, when spraying the walls upper side.

In short, the spray-painting process can ruin the ceilings beauty by mixing wall and ceiling colors. However, knowing how to spray walls without hitting the ceiling allows you to keep a sharp color line where both wall and ceiling surfaces meet.

All you have to do is mask the ceiling and wall joints with a masking kit. Throughout this article, you can discover how to mask and spray your wall without hitting the ceiling.

Should You Spray Walls or Ceiling First?

Should you spray walls or ceiling first? It is one of the most frequently asked questions we have received lately. Well, if youre planning to paint the entire area of your room, you should start with the ceiling.

You should start with the ceiling because ceilings are the most challenging area to spray or paint efficiently. After spraying the ceiling, you can easily mask the ceiling joints or corners using tape (use pre-taped film with a static charge.)

Should You Spray Walls Or Ceiling First

Use as much tape as you need to cover the ceiling; two to three feet will suffice when spraying. Once youve masked the ceiling corners, you can start spraying walls maintaining the color line between the wall and ceiling.

How To Spray Walls Without Hitting Ceiling?

You may wonder how I prevent paint from getting on my ceiling. Like you, many people think its a difficult task, but its not as difficult as it seems. Using a masking kit, you can easily get a sharp line between the wall and ceiling. Learn what masking tool kit to use and how to spray without hitting the ceiling from the below steps.

How To Spray Walls Without Hitting Ceiling
How to spray walls without hitting the ceiling

1. Prepare the Room

Before spraying the wall, you must prepare your room appropriately. You can cover all your necessary equipment, or you can also temporarily shift them to another room. Follow the below steps to prepare your room:

Prepare The Room Before Spray

Remove, Move or Cover the Furniture:

Removing all the furniture and household items from the room and walls ensures interruption-free spraying. Dont forget to remove all the hanging items like pictures, clocks, mirrors, etc.

If you have heavy furniture such as sofas, tables, beds, or desks, try to cover them or keep them away from the walls. Use a thick cloth or thin sheet to cover the heavy items.

Turn Off the Main Power:

After removing all the furniture from the room, you remove all the electric components like light switches, sockets, and clocks. However, before removing the electric stuff, dont forget to turn off the main power switch for your safety. Along with eliminating electric items, you can also choose to cover them with masking tape or newspaper.

Cover the Floor:

Before spraying, you must cover the entire floor to keep your foot safe from spatters and stains. Otherwise, the spray paint will leave several stains on your rooms floor. Cover the floor with an absorbent cloth, or you can also use plastic sheeting.

Cover Door, Window, Electric Lines:

While spraying the walls, covering all the doors, windows, and electric lines is essential. Otherwise, these items will make your wall spraying process difficult, and the spray paint will ruin their beauty.

2. Prepare The Wall

Setting Up The Wall Before Paint

Once you have prepared your room by removing and covering all the essential things, its time to prepare the wall. You can set up or prepare the wall you want to apply to spray paint in two different ways, including:

Wash the wall

One of the best ways to prepare the wall for spraying is to wash it. You can wash the wall with lukewarm water, mild soap, and a sponge. Use the sponge to scrub the wall, removing all the elements that can prevent the paint from adhering.

Dry the wall

As you know, you cant spray on wet walls and let the wall dry completely before applying the spray. You can use a towel or any moisture absorber to speed up the drying process.

3. Use Safety Gear

Spray Safety Gear

You must ensure you use all the appropriate safety gear before starting to apply spray paint. That is because paints are made of chemicals whose fumes are toxic and can cause serious health issues. You should wear all the safety gear to keep yourself safe. What safety gear to wear? Have a look:

  • Gloves
  • Protective glass and mask
  • Wear thick cloth
  • Hard hats to keep your hair safe

4. Get All the Necessary Tools

You must first get all the necessary materials and tools to spray without hitting the ceiling. Here they are

Necessary Tools For Spray
  • Masking kit (Use pre-taped film with static charge)
  • Spray paint with the color (s) of your choice
  • Spray suit (if possible)

5. Mask the Ceiling edge with tape

Once you arrange all the necessary tools and materials, its time to mask the ceiling with tape. If youre wondering whether you tape the ceiling when painting, the answer is YES. Use pre-taped film with static charge as a masking kit and follow the below steps for ceiling masking guidance-

Mask The Ceiling Edge With Tape

Step 1: Pre-taped film

Start with placing the pre-taped film with static charge where the wall and ceiling meet. Try to apply gentle pressure while putting the tape to ensure its perfectly sealed.

Step 2: Seal the Edges

Cover two or three feet of ceiling area using the pre-taped film and seal the edges. Having a static charge is the best option if possible. Alongside masking the ceiling, dont forget to mask all the areas you dont want to paint.

6. Start Spraying from the Top

Before spraying, ensure you put on all the necessary safety gear. Spraying is a lot easier and quicker; therefore, youve to consider some methods while spraying the wall for the desired result. Discover those methods in the section below:

Start Spraying From The Above
  • Keep the nozzle 20-25 cm away from the surface and start spraying in an up-and-down motion.
  • Maintain a consistent spray and steady pace while moving the nozzle across the wall.
  • When spraying up and down, try to overlap 50% each time; that will get you two even coats of paint.
  • Once youve done spraying up and down, flip 90 and start spraying side to side.
  • This process will let you get two solid coats from up to down and left to right.
  • Be extra careful along the edges and avoid over spraying to avoid drips.

Once youre done with one wall, repeat the steps to get a nice and sharp finish where the wall and ceiling meet.

7. Leave the Paint to Dry

Once spray-painting the walls properly, let the paint dry before removing the tapes. Wait around 20-30 minutes, then carefully remove all the masking. Never remove the masking kit immediately after finishing spray painting.

Leave The Paint To Dry

8. Clean up the room

After removing the masking kits from the ceiling surface, only one task remains: cleaning the room. Improper cleaning will leave many stains on the room surface and other items. Follow the below steps to clean your room properly after spray-painting:

  • Remove all the covers from the items you have covered while applying spray paint.
  • Uncover the whole floor and if you notice any stain, immediately remove it with a damp cloth.
  • Try to clean the window panes, spatters, and drips deeply.
  • After cleaning your room, now clean all the spray-painting-related tools to reuse them later.

After cleaning your room and painting tools, leave the room to dry completely. One day will be more than enough to dry the room properly.

Do You Tape The Ceiling When Painting?

When painting the wall with a brush, then you can use tape. The tape will let you paint the corner or where the ceiling and wall meet effortlessly. Using the tape, you can easily prevent the wall and ceiling paint from mixing if you use two different colors.

However, using only tape will not be enough for a perfect painting if you use a spray instead of a brush. Along with tape, you also have to use film paper to cover the large area of the ceiling while spraying the wall.

You may have to cover two or three feet of the ceiling with film paper while spraying a wall. Masking is necessary to protect the surface that has been painted before.

How Do You Fill A Gap Between The Wall And Ceiling?

After painting the walls and ceiling, one of the most challenging tasks is filling the gaps between walls and ceiling. Its difficult to fix the uneven ceiling paint line alongside the gaps. Heres a quick guide on how to fill a gap and also paint uneven surfaces`:

Fill A Gap Between The Wall And Ceiling
Fill A Gap Between The Wall And Ceiling

Fill Using Caulk

Lets answer this: can you use caulk between the wall and ceiling? Well, the answer is YES, you can. Using caulk can be the perfect option to fill the wall and ceiling gaps. To fill the gaps with caulk, youll need painters tape, and follow the steps below:

Fill Using Caulk

Step 1: Taping the wall and ceiling

First, place the tape on the wall about 1/4 inch from the ceiling. Again place the tape on the ceiling about 1/4 inch from the wall.

Step 2: Run the caulk

Once youve placed the painters tape, its time to run the caulk line. Run the caulk line about 18-24 inches long at the gap of two tape strips.

Step 3: Smoothen the line

Use an ice cube or wet finger to smoothen the caulk line. If you are using your hand or gloves, keep dragging the caulk line so that the caulk will perfectly fill the gaps between the ceiling and the wall.

Step 5: Finishing off

Once youve done filling all the gaps between the ceiling and walls, remove the tape. Dont leave the tape for a long time because the caulk can dry easily and make it difficult to remove the tape.

Fill using an angled Brush.

You can use caulk to fill in the gaps between walls and ceilings, but how do you paint uneven ceilings and wall paint lines? Well, you have to use an angled brush to paint the uneven paint lines. Here are the steps you need to follow-

Fill Using An Angled Brush
  • Step – 1   First, take a standard angular brush, dip it in the paint and paint the ceiling about 1/4 down.
  • Step – 2   Now, paint a line on your right or left side without reloading the brush. Try to get the tips of the angular brush exactly where the wall and ceiling meet.
  • Step – 3   Follow the same process to paint every uneven paint line.

Safety Tips

Spraying the wall and ceiling is an excellent way to give your room a fresh look. However, spraying your room can cause health and injury issues if you dont maintain proper safety tips. Learn what safety tips to maintain while spraying your wall from the section below-

Safety Tips For Spraying
  • We have already mentioned you must use protective gear to keep your eyes, hair, and skin away from the spray paint.
  • If youre using a ladder to reach the upper part of your wall, then be careful while climbing it. Try to wear slip-resistant shoes to prevent all types of ladder-related risks.
  • Take your time, dont be in a hurry while spraying, and always start with an up and down motion.
  • An airless spray gun with smooth and efficient paint spraying is always a good idea.

Final Advice

Using spray paint instead of a paintbrush is prevalent among renovators, casual painters, and DIYers. Spray paint is easier and effortless, saving hours and providing excellent and smooth painting results.

However, spraying instead of using brushes can be annoying if you use two or more different colors for the same space. Especially when spraying on walls, paint can easily spread on different surfaces, including ceilings.

Well, since weve shown how to spray walls without hitting the ceiling now, you spray the wall with ease. Always use safety gear and caulk to fill all the gaps to ensure perfect spray-painting work.

Randy CharlesProfessional Painter

Randy Charles is the owner of PaintCentric.com, a website dedicated to providing information, tips, tricks, and news about all things paint. With over 10 years of experience in the painting industry, Randy has become an expert in the field and is passionate about helping others learn more about painting. He has written numerous articles on the subject and is committed to providing accurate and up-to-date information to his readers.

Leave a Comment

13 − 5 =