Painting Interior Commercial Ceilings
Painting interior commercial ceilings vary in the amounts of paint and time depending on the construction and how the ceiling is laid out. Two common types is B-decking with bar joists, other types such as Sheetrock, and ceiling grid.
Paint B-Decking and Bar Joists
Many new commercial structures are being built, and previously built with a roof ceiling system known to many as B-Decking and Bar-Joists supports. Bar Joists are usually 4' on centers, having a 12" depth.
These are typically flat roof systems, that can withstand large weight loads, and are the most economical way of covering large areas. Support posts must be in place over much wider spans, supporting roof to the ground normally in concrete.
Typically in painting, most contractors including Eco Paint in Denver works off a square footage to determine amount of product and materials, and of course price. Generally this can vary to some degree from one contractor to another with quality of products used, however one thing remains the same; Quantity of number of paint gallons needed to cover properly.
Calculating B Decking & Bar Joist Ceilings
B-Decking = 2.5 X Width X Length
Bar Joists = Width X Length X 2.5 (small bars, but both sides, spraying all directions for proper coverage)
So in a building having 100' X 100' ceiling to paint, one would calculate;
100 X 100 X 2.5 (giving more than double ceiling space for both B-Decking ridges = 25,000 sq. ft.
27 bar joists (one on each wall side) X 100' X 2.5 = 6750 sq. ft. Calculating this comes out the same using a factor of 3.175 X Width X Length for total square footage of roof surfaces to paint. Figuring any other way, most would fall short on product, which in turn falls short on labor and total job.
You can see, it would not take long before painting a Super Walmart or Target could send a paint contractor under the table on a paint quote. Requiring much more than a flat ceiling. More on Estimating Interior Painting
Below is an interior painting job we completed in Aurora Colorado at the local Ed Bozarth Chevrolet using more than 600 gallons of dry-fall Flat Paint from Sherwin-Williams, normally covering 200 sq. ft of area. North building approx. 200' X 200' X 3.175 = 127,000 sq. ft. /200 = 635 gallons.
Using 3 scissor lifts, with Graco 315 reversible tips, we kept the over-spray to a minimum, but still had to sweep the floor after each day's work. What was really neat, that after painters had finished painting ceiling, we took power washers, squeegeeing floor to a spotless condition.
Painting Commercial Ceiling Grid
Completed painting Colorado Mills Mall in Lakewood Colorado, after recent hail storm.
No concern of over-spray, as the floor being demoed, with new tile, carpet being installed later.
An enormous amount of grid painted, we took a section each day to complete, using a Graco 5900 airless sprayer with 2 - 6' pole guns & 100' of hose for each gun with 315 spray tips.
Paint Office Walls & Ceilings
These shots below depict one of our latest office painting projects. Putting several paint samples up for owners to approve, painting office walls with some areas of ceiling. A two toned paint scheme, each office has same colored accent wall.