?? For house painters

[Randy C]

I am an individual and not a pro, but I would like to know if painting a house with a spray system is as good as painting with a brush.

I have always thought that a sprayed job is not as good because you are not putting as thick a coat as you can get with a brush. Am I wrong about this?

If spraying is just as good can you recommend a reasonably priced system and tell me approximately what it would cost me to get up and running with a spray system. Or since I would only be painting one house is it even worth it for me to consider a spray system assuming that it is as good as a brushed job.

[JR1]

Well the quality depends on the spray system and the paint. If you are painting your own house then rent. If you are going into the house painting business rent for a couple jobs then decide what you want. The guys I know here use either airless or air assisted sprayers from Binks or Graco. AFAIK they typically have $4k to $6.5k in their outfits. There are those who paint as a second job and have $1–2K. The difference is that the high end guys can do a house in less than a day while the second jobers take a weekend. Of course prep time makes a big difference and OSHA/EPA rules a huge difference. Even if you are doing your own house you can run afoul of OSHA/EPA/VOC regulations.

[Wild Turkey]

To my engineering mind the spray hitting at high velocity will stick better than paint pushed along with a roller, but I can't prove anything.

All I know is that with a long hose and a 5-gallon bucket I can stain my house a whole lot faster than with a roller because I don't have to go up and down a ladder much.

Interior painting is also much faster IF you do it before any trim, carpet, ceiling texture, windows, etc go in.

If you wait you lose all the advantage

As far as thickness goes -- how fast do you move the sprayer? How hard do you push with the roller?

If you overroll like LOML and then have to put on two coats the sprayer wins. A heavy coat rolled on smoothly would also be thicker than one buzzed on as fast as possible.

It all comes down to the skill of the operator.

[cputnam]

Spray is so much faster than a brush that I think it is worth it. That said, "worth it" is a nebulous term and means something different to each person. You'll have to check the costs of renting vs buying used vs buying new and then selling.

That said, painting with a brush takes you up close and personal in a way that spray will not. If you suspect prep issues you might want to do those areas with a brush.

[Cooler]

I watch some of the home improvement shows and it is a mixed bag as far as house painters go. Some are using a roller and some are spraying and some are doing both. I guess it has to do with the amount of masking vs. the square footage to be painted.

When the airless guns came out I had a friend who bought one of the early versions for his painting business. He said he only used it for closets. He would close the closet door with just his arm reaching in and paint the closet in 5 minutes. Masking was minimal--basically just a drop cloth. He did not have the patience for masking.

[jteneyck]

I don't think sprayed paint will get down into the grain nearly as well as a brushed coat. If the wood is super smooth it probably doesn't matter, but for aged wood I think brushing will have higher durability or at least resistance to peeling. Thickness would be the same if you set up the sprayer to give you the same mils as a brushed coat, so I don't see that as a detraction as far as spraying goes.

John

[Cooler]

jteneyck said:

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I don't think sprayed paint will get down into the grain nearly as well as a brushed coat. If the wood is super smooth it probably doesn't matter, but for aged wood I think brushing will have higher durability or at least resistance to peeling. Thickness would be the same if you set up the sprayer to give you the same mils as a brushed coat, so I don't see that as a detraction as far as spraying goes.

John

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I've heard that often, but I've never seen any science to back it up. I am not sure it will stand up to scientific scrutiny. I think surface prep is the key to a durable finish, and not the application method.

But I have no science to back that up either.

Popular Mechanics recommends roller and brush but not for the reasons you are bringing.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/too...9/4338823/

Conclusions

In my tests, I discovered two important things about paint sprayers. First, they go through paint like it's an unlimited resource. Second, they're fast. While a lot of that speed is lost in the prep and cleanup process, there's no question that, once it gets going, the sprayer is the Audi to the brush and roller's Ford Tempo. But there were some functional issues. Running out of paint while spraying covered the surface with uneven globs. Because focusing the spray isn't an option, painting things like lattice is particularly wasteful.

As long as you're into taping sheets of plastic on the walls and you've got a bottomless budget for paint, a sprayer is worth considering. It has its strong points, but it's not a truly practical replacement for the old brush and roller.

[Bob10]

Spray it and follow up with a roller to make sure you have good contact. Works fast and sticks well

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

I've probably painted over 150-200 houses on painting crews or as the sole painter. I've done many houses with brush/roller and just a sprayer with a brush on the trim. I own two Graco airless sprayers but have worked with many different airless sprayers.

In a nutshell, you can get a high quality paint job either way you go. The key to only spraying the body with no back rolling is your prep work and the material you are spraying. Smart siding and trim spray out very nicely because they're not porous like a rough cedar. The big issue with just spraying a side of a house, or the body, is getting the nail heads sealed with caulk and also caulking the butt seams in the 4x8' sheets of siding. Smooth lap siding is no different but your caulking the ends of the boards where it meets the siding.

I will probably spray my house next time it needs to be painted because I have a lot of surface area and a lot of stucco. Stucco is a PITA to just roll. Spraying is also much easier and faster in general. I'm also getting older and wrestling a big extension pole with a roller is something I no longer care to do--even on my own house.

You can probably spray a thicker coat of paint than you can roll or brush on. Or very similar if you're using good paint. You want a nice "thick" coat but you don't want to get carried away. Spraying a nice even coat isn't terribly difficult if you use a smaller sized airless tip. I liked to use a 513 tip on the exterior of houses because I had more control and I was less likely to get too much build up in one area. Granted, in the large open areas I could easily handle a 515 tip or more but changing tips back and forth takes time. You can always add more to an area if it's already started to dry. Orange peel isn't an issue and neither is open time in all reality. Spraying exterior siding with paint is the easiest type of spraying there is, IMO.

When you roll paint, you have to remember that at a certain point of working the material, you can actually start to remove material. The roller is essentially a sponge.

One of the "riskiest" things when going for a completely sprayed side is "touch ups". A big mistakes amateurs make is they try to touch up a spot on the siding that the sprayer missed or is too light. When you try to touch up a sprayed finish with a roller or brush, it will almost always flash on you when viewed in the right light and at the right angle. You see this on houses all the time. There are different theories for this. First, it's a different application so naturally it won't look the same. Second, the airless sprayer actually "sheers" the paint in the pump so the sheen is slightly affected. Out of the can it's still "pure". Lastly, when you brush and roll paint, you are mixing it at the same time. In an airless, you might experience a bit of separation as it sits in the 5 gallon bucket and you also may pick up some existing paint in the filters. I think the "sheering" one is the most accurate reason personally. Point is, do your "body" touch ups with the gun and do you absolute best to get it right the first time and while you are there. Especially if using ladders. It's not super uncommon for a painting crew to have to respray a complete side if a touch up doesn't blend right. This is why many painters do in fact spray and back roll.

I brushed and rolled many houses as well. Especially the smaller houses. I had to work harder but it was less risky with overspray and in general, most customers liked the idea of a brush and roll paint job. Sprayed paint jobs get a bad rap for the most part. There's nothing wrong with a sprayed paint job if it's a smoothish siding and the pores have been filled with caulk. A sprayer won't push paint into a nail head hole due to the nail being over driven--and the framers WILL over sink their nails. They don't care and neither does the builder. A brush and roller will push paint into pores, cracks and crevices for the most part.

There is more waste, clean up and prep with plastic and masking paper when spraying. Some jobs are well worth it though. I would guess a brush and rolled paint job to be 25-35% more expensive for most jobs. I haven't seen a painting business do a brush and roll paint job for a long time. You can probably find some small time guys that only brush and roll.

[DCarr10760]

I've done plenty of both when I worked for a painter Summer's during college. Both methods will work fine if you do the prep work. But for a homeowner, I can't imagine spraying. There's little advantage IMO. If you have a crew and get all the prep work done at once then paper and mask everything, then sure you can spray it all and be done in a day or two.

But for a homeowner it doesn't make sense to me. If you're working alone you can work section by section.

Also when you are brushing you are right up close to the work, if you see proud nails, or places that need a bit of caulk or a bit of scraping, you stop and do it. When you're all set and spraying, goggled and respirated, the temptation is to move quick and don't look back.

Just my opinion.

DC