New here from Over the Fence. Have a question regarding getting your house painted. What is the difference between spraying and brush and which is preferred and why?
Thanks.
Zone 5/6 Massachusetts
“I’ll have that on the side.”
New here from Over the Fence. Have a question regarding getting your house painted. What is the difference between spraying and brush and which is preferred and why?
Thanks.
Zone 5/6 Massachusetts
“I’ll have that on the side.”
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
Fine Homebuilding
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
© 2024 Active Interest Media. All rights reserved.
Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox
Become a member and get instant access to thousands of videos, how-tos, tool reviews, and design features.
Start Your Free TrialStart your subscription today and save up to 70%
SubscribeGet complete site access to expert advice, how-to videos, Code Check, and more, plus the print magazine.
Already a member? Log in
Replies
I was surprised nobody posted yet. There are so many factors to consider and I don't even know where to start. For house painting, one thing I can say is to do a good job if you spray, you still have to follow with a brush to work the paint onto whatever you are painting.
When I paint I like to get enough paint on the surface to fill all the nooks and crannies. Paint is not caulk but it fills a lot af small cracks. Its too easy to get a very light coat by spraying without getting full coverage to the siding.
One alternative that I approve of is to spray and brush at the same time. this gets the paint on quickly but also nets full coverage.
My neighbor hired a guy to spray his house. shortly after he got up on a ladder to clean his gutters and got a view of bare wood looking down.
I've painted part of my big house by brush and had professionals spray the parts I can't reach with a 40' ladder. They seem to use about half as much paint as I do, coat for coat. This is worrisome.
NO DISRESPECT
but if you have to ask you should be reading !!
spraying is an art for neatness brushing can be done but is time consuming but if you never sprayed or used spraying equipmet a brush is quicker !!!!
NO DISRESPECT
but if you have to ask you should be reading !!
He went back to the other side of the fence. :)
Not sure what you meant, but you better hope you don't have any gardening questions. Thanks for the non-help.
Edited 4/29/2004 3:00 pm ET by kag
What is the siding material and what condition is the current paint job in?
Something is what it does.
Actually, we hired a guy to paint our house and recently found out he planned to spray it instead of hand painting. My husband is upset and of course it's too late in the season to find someone else. We've owned our house for five years. It was painted shortly before we bought it. The siding is clapboard and starting to look faded in places. Thanks for the help.
Edited 4/29/2004 3:00 pm ET by kag
5 years is pretty short for a new paint-job; is there something else going on here? How old are the boards, what kind of shape? You may need to worry more about prep/sanding/scraping than about finish; if it is just fading, you could probably leave it alone. I would really worry about someone just spraying, particularly on an older house, (a generalization, sorry if I offend) most guys who just spray tend to value speed over prep. Lastly, are you sure it is paint and not a stain? A stain is supposed to fade; also (I may be talking down to you here, again apologies) if it is an oil paint, or a gloss latex, a paint will tend to lose its shine in a year or two, but that doesn't mean you need to re-paint.
It is stain, but I hate the color. We are going to do all new colors. I live in Massachusetts and the winters have been pretty harsh, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. You are certainly not talking down to me. Also, the front of my house gets all day sun. I would say the paint is probably 6 years old. Our painter told me he would charge us an extra 500 for the spray and roller method. He said he is definitely going to brush the trim. He's just planning on spraying the siding. I think we'll pay him the extra 500 and leave it at that. Not much to do around here. All the other painters are booked for the summer by now. Thanks.Zone 5/6 Massachusetts
"I'll have that on the side."
Spraying is a great way to get paint onto a building, and brushing is a great way to apply paint to a building. Spraying is not really a great applicator (uneven hits, runs) but sure gets the paint on the wall quickly and easily. The brush, on the other hand, is miserable way to get paint onto the building. Even a four inch brush is a small thing compared to a 40' wall, and it takes a million dips to get all that paint out of the can and onto the wall. Hence, I paint with an airless sprayer in my right hand and a brush in my left. This moves very quickly, but the brushing gets the whole job evened out, the paint fully applied, and the runs taken care of.
I do both.
I spray to get the material on the home fast; then use a roller to get it into every nook and cranny; and the roller actually absorbs the excess, rolling off the excess overspray. So in essence, spray it on, roll it off.
This is not particularly intuitive, but it works for me.
The only time we touch a brush is for window casings and sash and trim; the little small angled kind, which is called, well you knew this, a sash brush.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
the mess, brush it, only way