We’ve had good luck with Zinsser B-I-N Advanced Interior Multi-purpose Shellac Wall and Ceiling Primer. Dh brushed a thick coat on just the knots, sanded then rolled a coat to the whole porch ceiling before painting with two coats of a very pale (“haint blue”) paint.
I’d go for the opaque paint (especially since you mentioned water stains); the knots showing through would bug me, but dh would prefer to embrace the natural wood.
I don’t mind the texture of the knots, just don’t like the honey brown colored aged pine ceilings. When we first bought the house, definitely a fixer!, it was like a ski chalet at the beach. Someone went to town with scalloped wood paneling everywhere. Seller wanted to tell me all about the “mahogany” paneling. It was just cheap veneer and it was gone first week. I still have a small bedroom where we just painted over it. I never looked back! May have to get into that bedroom and replace with drywall when I have a chance
I use Zinsser B-I-N primer for practically everything. I am in the midst of painting my kitchen cabinets which were stained and varnished and it completely seals it. I also painted over some old paneling using B-I-N and it worked great. And it cleans up with ammonia and water. Amazing.
eta: It is very thin and likely to drip off the brush or roller, so cover the floors and any furniture that might remain in the room.
Never mind. I forgot it was coralbrook’s ceiling. I know she knows what she’s doing. 
I would paint the ceiling. It will really brighten it up!
The supply pipe I was mentioning was for the gas. The city replaced and upgraded gas meters in our neighborhood last year. The meter is at the front of the house. The existing water heaters are far more than 30’ away, near the back on either side.
So, a new fat gas pipe would have to go from the meter, under the house, blast through the floors (gulp) or go outside the wall (warm climate) to the tankless heater that could be mounted on the side of the house.
Same for #2 on the other side. Not sure where we’d put all the piping since we want to demo the garage and expand our master bath. I think I need a contractor… The water heater in the garage serves the nearby kitchen and the far away master bath so that complicates things too.
Yes, without being able to see everything, you need to call in another water heater specialist.
How do you feel about electric tankless water heaters?
Sounds like you need a second opinion! And maybe a third.
@coralbrook, I like the ceiling with the white beams. Can you paint, etc. and then see if you think it’s light enough BEFORE you do the ceiling?
I like the idea of making it ready for rental. Would it be long-term or short?
I too have a list of stuff I’m doing to freshen up the house. In theory it’s so we can move when we retire (May happen next year for me), but I just want stuff done so WE can enjoy it too.
I have to do it a little at a time, so I don’t overwhelm my husband. (He has a hard time with change).
My next thing is new carpet in the master bedroom. I’m thinking we will be painting most of our house repose gray, but our room will likely be a shade of blue or light gray.
Anything I should know about carpet? I will likely go for a middle of the road priced grey, possibly with flecks of different grays, to help disguise any dirt (my husband always wears shoes).
I’m going to be heading to carpet stores in the next couple of days, but looking for guidance from the “experts” here.
Thanks
Not an expert, I am not a fan of w/w carpeting though, and my guidance would be to replace the carpet with a nice laminate or LVT floor, and get some area rugs. My entire house had w/w carpeting when we bought it, over top of beautiful oak floors (house was built in the late 60s when that was normal to do), and we ripped it all out.
Not the advice what you are looking for, sorry. B-)
Not an expert either, but I am with @notrichenough here. We put carpets upstairs mostly for timeline constraints and financial reasons because the ground floor had old whitewash oak that would have been hard to match, and I did not want that all over either (maybe someday we will go full frankehouse and replace ALL flooring with uniform wood). We went with Shaw brand stain resistant plush carpet (color was called Waikiki sand, and I liked the name) sold by Costco. The other carpet installers we called were not interested in a small job of only 1200 sft. Pfft. So far, the carpet held well. Mr. spilled a not so empty glass of red wine on it, and it cleaned mostly with water just with a touch up of Oxiclean. I am impressed.
One thing you could do is tack up some white sheets or large paper and see what you think. In fact somewhere (a beach house maybe?) I know I’ve seen white canvas tacked to a ceiling.
Thanks for the comments on carpet. I would like to do hardwood, as much of our house is hardwood, but husband wants carpet. I haven’t checked Costco, but I may brave going there this weekend. I may actually get a price for hardwood, just for kicks. Ours is just the light brown kind of tan/orange hardwood, so I think it would be easy to come to a close match.
I llke the idea of taping up a sheet in one of the cavities and see what I think. I’ll tackle painting the ceiling after we get everything cleared out and painted up. I just don’t think the honey orange ceiling will go with my new light/bright interior scheme. I want to move towards a whiter background with pops of turquoise and coral (a more happier interior for me). This is one of my inspiration photos for a general idea (my kitchen is mahogany cabinets so I have to be careful about blending into the kitchen that is open to my living/dining
Several of you have PM’d me and would like to follow before and after photos. House is kind of a mess right now as I clear out the old furniture, but I am willing to share before and after. An appraiser is coming next week so I will take the photos in that magic moment when I might be cleaned up as much as it is going to be before this process. I’ll create a photo group in my usual place and anyone can PM me for the link.
In my geographic area, low pile pattern carpet is popular. I have had some in my back room and it is what I install in my flips if I’m going to do carpet anywhere. However, I think it shows dirt more than a thicker pile carpet. Similar to something like this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Full-Steam-Color-Transit-Pattern-12-ft-Carpet-H5807-1726-1200/300226225
That textured carpet is very popular here, too. My major issue with it - it looks like it has the perfect texture for cats to scratch! Surprisingly, the cats show zero interest in our plush carpet.
I just asked my husband, and he said he would be OK with hardwood in our bedroom. So, now I have to compare prices. Our bedroom is something like 12x18, plus it has a 4x4ish “bump out” that also needs to be done.
Fingers crossed hardwood isn’t too much more than carpet.
Our mirrors arrived at the showroom! We will pick them up Monday.
In thinking more about carpet vs wood floors - we have cherry bedroom furniture, and it’s staying.
If we do wood floors, I would want them the same color as the rest of our floors, which is probably a mid range oak color (not the same as cherry, but maybe not different enough to looks good).
Is that weird? I know we can do area rugs, but we are not going to install hardwood and then put any big area rug down.
I’m hoping to make it to flooring place this weekend to see what they have to say.
BTW - @coralbrook, that looks like a great color scheme for a place in Southern California. I want to come visit.
Many thanks to the people on this thread for helping me through house issues. I am mostly an info gatherer here, unless it’s an opinion question, because I really don’t know much about how to “do” home improvement. I so appreciate being able to run random questions through here.