Advice on paint sprayers for emulsion paint

[TigersFan]

I have just had quite a large area of our house re-plastered, so am now facing a lot of painting. I've always used brush and roller, but considering the area I need to do, I am wondering if a paint sprayer might be a better route.

So I am looking for advice on what kit would be the most suitable.

I have a small compressor (24l, 9.6CFM) but not sure if that would be up to the job or if I should buy a dedicated paint sprayer. There seems to be quite a range of technologies and prices. I'm not a professional decorator, so don't need something that can do day in/day out, but also don't want to go too cheap and end up spending more time sorting out issues than spraying.

Any advice much appreciated. I am UK based.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dibs-h]

Air sprayers (unless you use a pressure pot & it's gun) aren't really going to suitable. Best choice is an airless sprayer. I used a Wagner some years ago - masked off the skirting boards, door\window casing with 12" masking paper and did most of the house in a weekend. Very little to no overspray.

 

[baldkev]

https://www.sprayman.co.uk/product/...est-sprayman-gx21ff-electric-airless-sprayer/
I'm about to buy this for a bungalow im refurbing, with an extension and loft conversion.
Im going to do 2 coats of white with the sprayer and brush and roll to finish ( customers want white until theyve lived in the space for a bit )
The reason for the rolled topcoat is that it is easy to patch in with a mini roller of the same fleece, whereas it is difficult to patch in sprayed finish without using a sprayer, which i wont do in a finished house

 

[Flynnwood]

The big difference between roller and spraying is that it's really hard to touch up/cover over marks after spraying, without noticing the difference.
Spraying can give ultra flat finish. I would stick with roller and brush IMO.

 

[Dibs-h]

I've just wondered around the house and had a close look and feel of walls that I had sprayed with the airless sprayer - some walls are the original plaster (from the 1920's) and some are modern plaster. None of them are smooth flat, or even remotely the kind of smooth you would associate with spraying. Air spraying or HVLP might give you a smooth (flat) finish, but I don't believe an airless sprayer will.

 

[baldkev]

I've just wondered around the house and had a close look and feel of walls that I had sprayed with the airless sprayer - some walls are the original plaster (from the 1920's) and some are modern plaster. None of them are smooth flat, or even remotely the kind of smooth you would associate with spraying. Air spraying or HVLP might give you a smooth (flat) finish, but I don't believe an airless sprayer will.

Thats interesting.... has anyone else here had the same experience? I know a lot of the bigger sites are roll to finish because of touching up damaged later.

 

[MikeJhn]

HVLP will give the smoothest finish and also less overspray, less overspray means most of the paint goes where you point it and not wasted in other parts of the room.

There is a thread here: HVLP Sprayers investigation and review

 

[XTiffy]

I have been through all of the methods/equipment mentioned above., in painting the four houses I have built over the past 18 years (and refurbishing many more). I have used brush/roller but it was slow/tedious. One stairway wall I painted at least a half dozen times and could not get a good result as there was a large window in the stairwell that highlighted all imperfections (new build).
I have had the best results with a Wagner airless (ProjectPro 119) but when I bought it over ten years ago it was around £550, probably more like double that now. The advantage of these kind of very high pressure spraying is that you spray straight from the tin or tub. The downside of spraying is the time masking off. I used the paper/masking combination tape which speeded things up. The time to spray a room completely (emulsion) was 20-30 minutes and masking probably at least that again. I do have a conventional sprayer with pressure pot but only used that with pre-cat type materials (on furniture). Emulsion required too much thinning, fine for the first skim coat on new plaster but a pain for main coats. As with all things its a cost/time calculation. In the early 1980s I did paint my house with a HVLP sprayer with good results, that is a possibility at lower cost.

 

[PeteHB]

I have a Fuji HVLP which I have used for walls and a ceiling works well with the correct nozzle but it was expensive. Also bought the 2 L pot specifically for the house painting.

 

[Dibs-h]

I have had the best results with a Wagner airless (ProjectPro 119) but when I bought it over ten years ago it was around £550, probably more like double that now.

Mine was the Project Pro without the wheels, just sat on some "skids". I think they're more or less the same unit.

The time to spray a room completely (emulsion) was 20-30 minutes and masking probably at least that again.

IIRC it was about the same. I did the masking in one go in all the rooms, one morning. Then started spraying in the afternoon - by the time you finished the last room\area, you could start again in the 1st room\area (assuming you have more than 2 rooms LOL ). I did thin the 1st coat by about 10% - after that neat emulsion.

Then next day - did all the rooms\areas again, when I finished, I went back to the 1st one and removed the tape\masking.

Comfortably finished an Edwardian semi in a weekend.

 

[XTiffy]

Dibs-h,
I am sure the only difference is the wheels/cart arrangement. Cleaning routine bit of a faff but result good. I bought & used mine originally for a pair of three bed semi-detached houses (new build). It should get wheeled out when the next house is built (when I can get over the everlasting paperwork.

 

[Ollie78]

You will need a proper airless sprayer (really a pump) or air assisted airless (a pump with extra air to smooth the pattern) .
Turbines or traditional guns wont be able to properly deal with emulsion or you will have to thin it so much you will need lots of coats.

The pressures on the pumps for this work are pretty crazy. My Kremlin is a 30 to 1 ratio and I feed it 6 bar, the nozzle pressures are about 2000psi or something daft.
Wagner do a bunch of airless stuff for decorating as do Graco. You can probably hire them which might work out well.

Look at spray direct
https://www.spraydirect.co.uk/acatalog/electric-airless-paint-sprayers.htmlBrewers do some as well.

Ollie

 

[baldkev]

Heres a good question.... what masking tapes have you guys found to be best? Do you use t.p.s ( temporary polythene sheeting ) or cardboard? Or something else?

 

[Dibs-h]

Heres a good question.... what masking tapes have you guys found to be best? Do you use t.p.s ( temporary polythene sheeting ) or cardboard? Or something else?

For nearby things - I used the very lightweight sheeting if wanting to cover "stuff": say the usual culprits in a room that I wasn't willing to hump out of the room and back in again. Just put them all in the middle and covered them.

Light pendants - carrier bag over the fitting and then some masking tape round the base where it touches the ceiling. If it's a clear'ish bag and the "bulb" is LED - you can still have it on.

For the actual masking of adjacent things (like skirting, door\window frames etc) - I used 12" wide masking paper on a roll and regular masking tape from a Auto Refinishing shop (like Auto Paint or whatever is local).

 

[XTiffy]

I have bought all my decorating supplies from an online specialist Decorating Direct. For skirting boards architrave etc. I have used brown paper rolls with ready applied masking tape. For larger areas like windows and doors the same type of thing but polythene with masking tape applied. You can get taping machines (rollers) but I never needed that. These specialist suppliers do a broad range of masking tapes for different applications. Always had good service.

 

[baldkev]

Luckily my job is being plastered shortly, so no skirts / archs, no electric fittings in yet etc, just the windows, rear sliders and a posh front door to protect

 

[Dibs-h]

Luckily my job is being plastered shortly, so no skirts / archs, no electric fittings in yet etc, just the windows, rear sliders and a posh front door to protect

Apply just masking tape to the edge of whatever needs "masking" - no paper, no polythene. Say an inch wide. That's your "cut edge".

Then apply the masking film\paper on that with another run of tape. That way you aren't messing about with the masking tape & paper\film at the same time and trying to get a clean "cut edge", if that makes sense. Downside is you use twice as much tape - but a lot less messing about.

 

[baldkev]

Apply just masking tape to the edge of whatever needs "masking" - no paper, no polythene. Say an inch wide. That's your "cut edge".

Then apply the masking film\paper on that with another run of tape. That way you aren't messing about with the masking tape & paper\film at the same time and trying to get a clean "cut edge", if that makes sense. Downside is you use twice as much tape - but a lot less messing about.

Good tip. In the past ive pinned the polythene with little strips of tape, then applied the good edge.
I had to spray ( rattle can ) anthracite on some damaged paint bits on an expensive aluminium door frame.
I used loo roll centres taped around the perimeter of the damaged area, this allows the paint to thin out instead of getting a hard edge from tape.... worked great, was recommended to me by a car sprayer

 

[Dibs-h]

Good tip. In the past ive pinned the polythene with little strips of tape, then applied the good edge.
I had to spray ( rattle can ) anthracite on some damaged paint bits on an expensive aluminium door frame.
I used loo roll centres taped around the perimeter of the damaged area, this allows the paint to thin out instead of getting a hard edge from tape.... worked great, was recommended to me by a car sprayer

3M sell (and have done for a few decades) a foam self adhesive "round section" type thing (on a roll) for exactly that. They also sell (and have done) masking film on a roll.

 

[XTiffy]

The whole point of combined masking tape and paper rolls or combined masking tape and polythene is that you do the job once. With the brown paper version it comes in various widths which you fold out when in position. Same is true with the poly version.