What's the best way to paint a ceiling?

Can you just hire a professional and be done with it? The thought of painting ceilings, textured ceilings, makes my ass twitch. I think you could use a sprayer but you’d have to spray at an angle from more than one direction. I don’t think they work holding them so they spray straight up.
For sure wait until the roof is finished,or you’ll end up with it all to do again.

I have the same type of ceiling and they are horrible to paint. Like you, sometime I’ll just have it resurfaced. Be sure to use a primer such as Kilz over the discolored spots first to cover them. I used a roller specifically made for textured ceilings as I was afraid the spray would get on the walls and then I’d have to repaint them. When I was finished, I thought it looked good. Not perfect, but I just wanted the darn thing painted. Of course, some of the popcorn ceiling does come off while rolling, but I just picked out the larger pieces and left the smaller ones to get painted into the ceiling.

Just a tip, use a product called “Kilz” (or equivalent) over the stains before you paint, otherwise the stains might bleed through. (I’ve had that happen. Don’t know how, but it did.)

Oh. Yeah, what @chyna said….....

Kilz is great as said above but do use the non-waterbased version! It is much much better on water-stains! I have seen water stains re-appear through multiple coats of paint. Use a ½ nap roller or greater and lots of drop cloths as painting popcorn ceilings is messy!

If insurance is paying for the re-roofing, and if the ceiling was damaged because of the storm, then this might be your best chance to get the popcorn junk pulled down and replaced. That is, claim the ceiling damage (since it’s only right) and include THAT in the insurance claim.

Then bite the bullet and do the work now. You don’t want to go through a re-roofing and then later do the ceiling replacement. Get it all out of the way (and paid for) now.

And the best way to paint a ceiling, since that was the question I came to answer: “Hire a Michelangelo.”

There is a special roller that you can purchase made for just this purpose. It is basically the same as a regular wall roller but it has a plastic tray located under the roller to catch drips as you paint overhead. You can even get rollers for it suitable for heavily textured “popcorn” ceilings.

@chyna @Cruiser @JilltheTooth Good call on the Kilz primer. Dropcloth the floor, mask the wall joins and use a long handled roller with a medium to long nap cover, sometimes these roller covers are listed as specifically for textured ceilings. It’s easier to take down ceiling fans and light fixtures than trying to paint around them. There are also rollers that have automatic paint feed, but they’re a pain in the ass to clean.

Also, they make this new ceiling paint that goes on with a pink hue and then dries completely white. It’s great to be able to see what spots you have missed.

like this:
http://www.cedcc.psu.edu/khanjan/europe_images/014_creation%20of%20man%20-%20sistine%20chapel,%20vatican%20city.jpg