Can I Paint Dropped ceiling Panels?

I am redecorating a basement room, which has a dropped ceiling. Many of the ceiling panels are old and discolored, yet I hate replacing those things-the dust from cutting them gets in your eyes, and it is generally a pain in the neck. Ist it possible to paint them (with a spray gun, perhaps?). Anybody ever do this-did the job turn out all right?:confused:

I have and it worked fine. I went light on the paint for fear they would warp from the weight of it.

I also know of a small cafe and they painted them as well. Two years later, no problems.

The ceiling panels in my current apartment were painted years ago - more than 10. They’ve held up well.

Pretty sure it was a spray application - no brush marks.

I’d go light on the paint, no more than enough to cover. Easier to add more later than deal with a weight problem from too much.

If you have some brownish discolorations from water damage, I believe you can bleach it out with clorox.

I also don’t see why painting them would be a problem. Like broomstick said, spray them would probably be easiest. Rolling and brushing is gonna be a pain. Rent or buy a good sprayer.

Are you sure they don’t contain asbestos?

I’ve painted suspended ceilings in 2 large rooms at work. We used a roller with a pretty deep nap, and it covered well with no “brush marks”. Actually, one room now has 3 coats on the ceiling.

I wouldn’t worry about the weight. We store spare fluorescent light bulbs 15/box on top of a suspended ceiling. The weight of a gallon or two of paint would be negligable in comparison.

I was looking at the green ceilings in our local Ruby Tuesdays, wondering the same thing. It looks like they painted them before they put them up though.

The only problem I can think of would be if they are the kind with holes that are supposed to help with echo reduction. Most spray paints are thin enough so that the holes wouldn’t be filled. I’m not sure about the echo deadening but if some holes are filled in and others aren’t the appearance is degraded.