Roller Spattering: Tendency of a roller to throw off small droplets of paint during application. Possible causes: Use of exterior paint on an interior surface. Use of lower grades of water-based paints. Remedy: Higher quality paints are formulated to minimize spattering. Using high quality rollers which have proper resiliency further reduce spattering . In some cases, a quality wall paint may be preferred for ceiling work, for maximum spatter resistance. Overloading the roller with paint will result in excess spatter, as will overworking the paint once it is applied to a substrate. Working in sections, applying the paint in a zigzag “m” or “w” pattern and then filling in the pattern will also lessen the likelihood of spattering.