Power Painter

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I'm looking for suggestions on what people have had success with as far as power paint sprayers. I tried using one my father-in-law had, but it couldn't push out the thicker exterior paint I plan on using. I would prefer not to thin the paint. Has anyone had success with these before I put down $150 or so for a new one?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

What are you painting? This isn't the post you were looking for, but IMO, I bought one and never will use them again. It just ends up getting clogged, and that's despite me thinking I cleaned the bejesus out of it. I've read a lot of similar complaints. Unfortunately mine was a lot more expensive than that. There is also a bit of a skill to using them and not shooting paint all over the place.

 

Honestly what made life easier was investing in scaffolding so I could get the entire house easily without moving a ladder 700 times, and just using some nice siding brushes.

 

Also, setting the gun to "2 coats" does NOT provide the same quality of two hand coats. IMO it's just one of those inventions that sounds great but doesn't provide the same quality of work as the old fashioned way.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I want to paint my aluminum siding. It would be great if I could use it to eventually paint my indoor ceilings.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I painted siding as well, though it was wood. If the house is not insanely large I would honestly do it by hand with scaffolding, it makes a world of difference as far as speed of work and just feeling safer. Mine is quite high, but it worked out with brushes.

 

Spray indoors will be chaotic. The prep required there just makes the gun pretty useless. The guns are not as easy as it seems especially for those who haven't used them.

 

If this is a ranch home or anything you could complete with just 1 level of scaffold it's a no brainer to use a brush IMO. I have to put 3 levels of scaffolding up to get the very, very top, but most could be done with 2.

[CheezWizHed]

Not what you've asked for, but indoor painting, I use a Paint Stick. A roller that can hold ~1/6 a gallon of paint in the handle. They cost about $20, though its been a while since I bought one, and they last a long time (just replace the roller heads). The nice thing is that you can paint a long time before refilling.

[Samurai Bucky]

Based on the title of the thread, I was going to point you to Bob Ross videos. After reading the posts, though, I know that would not have made sense...

[Thurston Fluff]

Campbell Hausfeld is pretty versatile that works with a variety of paints. You do need an air compressor and it does take some amount of skill to use it. Practice on something first.

I can't really say I've ever been impressed with electric sprayers for home use. They use pressure through a small slit in the end to make it spray in a thin line. While that makes it easier to use it clogs up pretty quickly unless you have a commercial grade one. Even then they only work to a certain viscosity before problems arise. They work well with lacquer but struggle with enamel. They don't work at all with metallic paint. But if you have a small home project and want something fairly easy to use try the Graco airless. It at least has enough pressure to work properly though the added pressure means more overspray.

The ones that use air lets the paint go through then air on each side of the nozzle fans the paint out. That's why it works so much better for thicker paint or when using metallic paints. The problem is the air pressure causes more overspray which looks and feels like sand on the surface. It also means you have to mask everything because you will have speckles on everything not masked.

A couple things to remember no matter which way you go. You will use a lot more paint with a sprayer and it will not last as long. It's also not a good idea to use it when painting porous material the first time. If you do you should back brush it before it dries to make sure it gets in all the pores. That will give you a better seal which will last longer and be more effective against the elements.