Speaking of mix and technique. I was working with a thicker mixture than usual just now when I painted my roof again, and it occured to me that I never posted the fact that I had not been doing the re-roll with light pressure part after a minute. The 20+ times I've painted now, has been with really thin paint, and not rolling over lightly a minute or so after first putting the paint down. With the thin mixture I normally worked with, there would be no lasting bubbles.

Tonight, it was a thicker mixture, and there were lasting bubbles. Bubbles that would only go away if I rolled over them very lightly. And at the same time, I have put down a thicker coat of paint. So far, it appears to be self leveling very well.

So if everyone else has been using a thicker mixture, but doing the roll-over about a minute after first putting the paint down, that would explain how a thicker mixture could work without much orange peel, since the re-roll seems to promote self leveling by picking up a bit of paint from the surface and spreading it down again. All along I've been doing thin coats, and never re-rolling.

Had I been using thicker mixture (or putting more of the thinner mixture on at a time) and re-rolling, as was the original prescription, I might well be done by now. Live and learn.