Repainting Water Stained Ceiling

Many years ago, the Kilz brand was billed as the one to use when you needed to cover stains. But, they also make a primer that's just primer, to compete with everyone else who makes primer. It'll work fine. If you want to go top-of-the-line, open your yellow pages phone book, find some hardware or paint specialty stores, and find a place that sells Devoe or Martin-Senour brands. Go there. Buy it. Don't ask how much. Just buy it.

Kilz will work. If it's basically just a stain, you can paint the Kilz right over it. If there is a little roughness to the surface, you can sand it smooth and paint it with Kilz. You don't have to dig it out.

But, I have also done this and it worked fine: Spray the stained area with any enamel spray paint you may have around, then paint over it with regular latex paint to paint the ceiling. The enamel paint keeps the stain from "bleeding" through, which is what Kilz does.