Sorry even in industrial blgs. with 20’ceilings these rarely look good IMO replace the drop ceilings with nice white ceiling tiles instead.Unless your ceiling in the basement is 10' forget this plan

Thanks, but we’ve decided on this approach. Just a matter of choosing the paint.

I guess I should mention that durability is very important here. I don’t want to have to respray this ever again. Willing to pay more upfront for a more durable paint.

I believe that there is a paint specifically designed for what you are doing. It is designed to be sprayed on, sticks to everything and dries before it can fall to the ground so clean up only involving sweeping the floor.

You cannot use regular paint for this project and expect a good outcome because it will not coat everything on your exposed ceiling.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser-5-gal-Waterbourne-Dry-Fall-Black-Coating-293233/206873416

Well?

We did our basement ceiling that way for part of our basement remodel. i think it looks great, although I do prefer the drywall ceiling in the media room. We used Sherwin Williams Cashmere paint in low lustre, spraying and rolling. We used a dark gray with a lot of brown (Gauntlet Gray). I think anything darker might actually show the imperfections.

This is not special paint, just a good quality paint I've used throughout the house. Just be sure to prep well. Clean, sand, then clean again. If the environment in your basement was that different from your main floor where you need special product, I don't think you'd be finishing it for use.

Plus I imagine (if it were my house -lol) you’d see cobwebs, dust etc. after a while and that would be a bit of a nightmare keeping it looking good with flat paint. Alot of rough surfaces for junk to cling to

I am glad to hear that the amount of work to keep the exposed ceiling clean is a nightmare. Enjoy your space

dry fall wont work unless the ceilings are 10ft tall. go with Benjamin moore ceiling paint.

What does the height of the ceiling matter / why would dryfall work with celings higher thatn 10ft and not with under 10ft?

it needs a minimum of 10 ft to dry before the over spray hits the floor