Painting & Decorating

How to stop Zinsser BIN flashing through emulsion on ceiling

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.25 PM

I've made a right mess trying to paint my living room ceiling and would be grateful for any advice on how to solve my problem! There was a small but noticeable crack running the entire length of the ceiling. I raked it out a bit and filled with Gyproc Easifiller Light Ready Mixed Filler. I applied a mist coat of my ceiling paint (Macpherson's Eclipse) to the filled area and then started rolling the whole ceiling for my top coats. After 2 coats the crack was still visible, appearing dark compared to the rest of the ceiling. Then I had the great idea of brushing on 2 coats of Zinsser BIN to block this "stain". This worked very well to cover the crack but after applying several coats of Eclipse to the crack area the BIN still flashes through in certain light. I'm not sure whether this is due to the slight sheen of the BIN, the fact that I brushed it on, the low porosity of this surface compared to the rest of the ceiling or maybe the Eclipse has too low opacity to cover it. Anyway, I have no idea what to do next. Should I continue to apply more top coats to the area hoping it will cover it eventually? Or should I sand it all back to remove the BIN and just apply multiple coats of Eclipse, or perhaps another type of paint to the area? Just for additional context the ceiling is about 25 sq/m. The ceiling also has unforgiving uplighting which is why I chose Eclipse as it has very low sheen. UPDATE: Thanks very much for the great suggestions. On close inspection I realised a lot of the reason for the flashing was caused by the noticeable difference in texture between the area where I brushed on the BIN vs the rolled ceiling. I sanded back the brushed area to remove all texture then spot coated the area with mini roller with my Eclipse topcoat. Then rolled the whole ceiling with two more topcoats. It's now invisible in normal lighting. Only if I move my 30W LED worklight close to it can I faintly see it.