To spray or roll/brush your paint?

Question

This is my first post.  I just bought my first property and it needs a bit of paint before we can put her on the rental market.  I've always applied paint the old fashioned way - with a rolller and brush.  But I'm thinking of buying one of those paint sprayers.  Anyone have any experience?  I'v hear they use a lot of paint and that the overspray can be bad.  I'm looking at both the pneumatic type and the airless electric type.  Any info will help.  Thanks.

Peter Vagnino · Answer

on sfr by the time I've masked off everything, i could be halfway done on my brush and roller job

Michael Shadow · Answer

I've also heard of using car wax on windows, but the hairspray sounds like it'd be a bit easier.  I might have to look into this next time I paint.

Thanks for the tip

Timothy W. · Answer

James, I once visited a Baptist church in Missouri.  How much?  You'd be surprised my friend.....

Jenny F. · Answer

definately, a sprayer and have another person with you to back roll.  We only use flat paint because with satin you have to worry about streaking.

wear a mask.

good luck!

Chad B. · Answer

I've always liked the look of the brush marks in the wood especially on historic or period specific projects. I've even had painters who wanted to spray because of speed but then I had them go back after they sprayed with a clean brush just for the effect. If your after quickest and cheapest go with the spray.

Christian Morency · Answer

Clarity is my specialty

A) Yes, spray the whole window. A  light mist works great. A little heavier around the edges of course.

B) Don't worry about the corners. Hairspray sticks real good and the paint sticks to it too. Just cut around the edges like you said about that "Peel Away" stuff. Yes I have done french windows and doors. You do need a razor blade to get the thick paint off but it is a breeze to do with a little moisture. The hairspray only works on non pourous surfaces like glass. I haven't had any problems around the trim part yet.

C) Yes, I can do any three bedroom house in 15 min. No problem. Just round the corners a little on the 12 inch drywall knife and it slides right along as you spray. Besides, it's easier to float mud without the sharp corners anyway. Use a metal file. it takes two minutes.

D) I've never gotten fisheyes and adhesion hasn't been a problem. I've never gotten any complaints from customers and I haven't had any problems in my rentals.

E) I hold my breath and move on to the next window. Really, it's that fast.

F) As for the fuel filter, I can attest to the fact that no dust gets through it. My first job was in a boatyard mixing 100 pound bags that said  "ASPESTOS" on them. We used it in fiberglass resin to make "Polyputty". At sixteen I knew nothing about wearing a mask. Then I did furniture stripping and refinishing for years. I painted for years. I have very sensative lungs. If the fuel filter didn't work, I wouldn't use it. I am especially sensative to attic dust. The fuel filter works great. I woudn't give it up if you paid me. I wish someone would come out with an actual cigar filter. I would buy them by the case.

If I got offended, it was my doing. I can assure you it didn't last more than about 15 seconds. I love this forum. We are free to tell it like it is and learn.... or not.

Eric Foster · Answer

I meant to harm… I was just having a little fun…
Hey, if it works for you… Sounds good to me!

Christian Morency · Answer

Dear fliper101 & Eric,

Resistance to new ideas is normal... Perhaps a little background info would help... One hot summer day when I was finishing up spraying popcorn ceilings for a customer she walked in and saw that I had overspray all over my head and arms. She said "Isn't that hard to wash off?" I said yes. She said "Why don't you use hair spray? I use it every day and it washes right off!" So I tried it and it worked. Jump forward about one year.... One day, a girl I had working for me saw me do the hairspray thing and said "If it works on you, why wouldn't it work on windows? So we did a test on the window in the door to the spraybooth. We spayed it with black spray paint out of a can, you know, the kind you use for graffiti. To my surprise, after it dried, it wiped right off with a wet rag. So I put hair spray on the window again, let it dry, and painted it with latex paint. Same thing happened. It came off easily.

One $3.00 can of hair spray will do your average 3 bdrm house in about 15 minutes. I use a 12 inch broad knife as a shield to keep it OFF THE TRIM. The same way you use a shield to keep overspray off a roof or anywhere else. An added benefit is that the house doesn't get dark inside because the light shines through the hair spray. Plus there is no time limit to taking it off like there is on masking tape. Tape and paper is expensive and it ends up in the trash. I could go on but .......

This forum is for do-it yourselfer's. I wasn't trying to give advice to someone running a crew of 200.

As for the fuel filter thing. Don't try it with a used filter. The fumes will make you think that the hair spray was like babyfood.

Eric Foster · Answer

I use a snorkel and put the gas filter in the end of it. That way I am breathing air from behind me, instead of the air from in front of me where I am painting.

Since I use the snorkel and the gas filter, I am not able to smell the paint fumes… This is where the hairspray comes in.

Michael Shadow · Answer

I have a friend that has been a professional painter for almost 20 years and he has one of the $3k airless sprayers and we sprayed my duplex and he had me follow him with the roller to back roll everything he did to get rid of the fog look.  He said that unless it's back rolled it usually doesn't look that great because of the fogginess and the unevenness.

I also found a Wagner airless at our local HFH Restore for $50 and I called him because I wanted him to look at it for me before I bought it and he told me not to even consider it because I would spend more time fiddling with it trying to get a nice spray from it than it would save.  He also said unless the airless is at least $1k it's junk.

-Michael

To spray or roll/brush your paint?

Most Popular Reply