Re: Power Spray Painting
DoN. Nichols
> I will have to paint every room in the house when I move after stripping some
> really groovy wallpaper.
As in 1960s psychedelic patterns?
> Does anyone have experience with the Wagner or similar
> power painters.
Not I.
> I see the roller and air type. I don't have a compressor so I'd
> need to use something that doesn't require one.
Compressors are available. However, if you *do* get one,
consider the choices:
1) Oil-free -- *extremely* noisy, and fairly short-lived. Not too
heavy. (But they don't die quite as soon as you would like to
give you the excuse to replace it with some thing quieter. If
you ever consider using compressed air after the painting is
done (good for various tools), and expect to need to run it
while others are trying to rest, *don't* get this kind.
2) Oil-wetted pumps -- much more quiet, more airflow, heavier but you
will need to put an oil filter in the air line to keep oil from
working its way through the spray gun. This results in finish
defects called "fisheyes" from the occasional small bit of oil
which makes its way through the system.
If you are using a spray paint gun, also consider appropriate
breathing masks -- and if you go for the serious two-part epoxy paints,
plan for a supplied air mask (the air is pumped to your mask where you
work from a place far enough away so it won't pick up the paint
components, which can be quite toxic until the paint is set. (These are
more likely to be applied to fancy automobile paint jobs -- or to a
floor over concrete for a machine shop in a garage, so you are not too
likely to have such to worry about.
> Do the walls look as good with
> the spray thing?
That depends on a lot of things -- including which paint, and
the "fisheye" problem mentioned above, and the kind of paint gun. A
good paint gun driven by a compressor can do a wonderful job -- but is
probably overkill for wall painting. What you need is proably what is
called a "HVLP" (High Volume Low Pressure) painting system, which I
believe is equivalent to something powered by the blow side of a vacuum
cleaner. I have no experience with these at all. But they don't use
the compressors which I have described above, so they may be easier to
use in the house.
> Is the power roller easy to use and control? I don't want to
> roll out that many walls as I did it in my current house and it's boring.
Again, no experience with these.
Best of luck,
DoN.
--
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--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
Bob Berger
>
>I will have to paint every room in the house when
>I move after stripping some really groovy wallpaper.
We have a Wagner Model 770 (a few years old) with assorted spray attachments.
It's great for large projects, like painting the outside of the house (which we
did last summer in less than a day). The secret to continued success with a
Wagner is cleaning it VERY thoroughly bewteen uses, even if the next use will be
the next day.
>I don't have a compressor so I'd need to use
>something that doesn't require one. Do the walls
>look as good with the spray thing?
Sure if you're careful to keep the spray head moving at all times, and if you
don't spray too close or too far away from the wall.
>Is the power roller easy to use and control?
Never used one. Are those the things that have a machine that supplies paint to
the roller rather than requiring you to dip the roller in a pan? If so, the only
problem I think you might have (especially if you're as clumsy as I am) is
getting tangled up in the feed hose.
>I don't want to roll out that many walls as I
>did it in my current house and it's boring.
For me, rolling (maybe power rolling to save the dipping) inside walls is easier
than spraying. Indoor spraying requires too much masking and taping to keep the
spray off what you don't want painted (like ceilings, floors, doors, windows,
and the cat).
Bob
>Thanks,
>
>Cin
>
Bob
>
>I will have to paint every room in the house when I move after stripping some
>really groovy wallpaper. Does anyone have experience with the Wagner or similar
>need to use something that doesn't require one. Do the walls look as good with
>roll out that many walls as I did it in my current house and it's boring.
>
>
>Cin
Hey Cin,
I don't have a ton of experience in this area, but we weather protected /
stained our outside fence with a sprayer, and it saved a considerable amount of
time and money. Once I felt comfortable with the sprayer, and got into a
routine, it was much easier than I expected.
The only considerations that I can think of regarding indoor work, would be
overspray onto items you don't want to paint, and the need for breathing masks.
My gut feeling is that the sprayers are easier to work with outdoors.
With the Wagner equipment, are you thinking about something like this...
When you think about all the costs that go into a typical painting project
(brushes, wasted paint, etc.) this might be worth a shot. Not sure how accurate
Wagner's estimates are, but they say that it's possible to paint up to 37 sq/ft
of wall in a minute with one of these suckers!
Best regards,
B...@newsguy.com
NewsGuy.Com
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Bob
>
>In article <eanq1...@drn.newsguy.com>, Bob says...
>
>I had looked online at the one you linked to and that might be a better answer.
>The only drawback is you still have to cut in which is a pain but more than half
>of the rolling time is spent getting more paint out of the pan so that would
>probably reduce the time significantly. Have you tried one of those?
>
>Cin
Hey Cin,
The sprayers are a huge help for outside paint/stain projects, but like a few
folks mentioned, the present a few problems for indoor painting. The overspray
issue in particular would force you to have to spend a ton of time taping off
areas and protecting furniture in each room.
>From a functionality standpoint most of the roller setups look the same, with
the big differences being the tube length and their paint can capacity. I've
designated one room in our house as our experiment room where we can test out
various tools/stuff from Lowes... you may want to pick one room at the house and
attempt to paint one wall with the roller to see if it does what it's supposed
to do.
Rich
>
>I had looked online at the one you linked to and that might be a better answer.
>The only drawback is you still have to cut in which is a pain but more than half
>of the rolling time is spent getting more paint out of the pan so that would
>probably reduce the time significantly. Have you tried one of those?
>
>Cin
>
I have to try one of those rollers. The manual ones seem to waste an awful lot
of paint just getting started, and reloading is a pain too. I'm tempted to use
the sprayers, but the extra equipment is a little overkill for painting inside.
Joe
brush.
--
The easiest way to topple a nation is to pander to its press.
John K.
paint". I can't imagine turning a spray painter loose in a room on a normal
day, but having to wear breathing apparatus and worrying about paint clouds
wafting through the kitchen would be a bit much. I have visions of vapor barrier
tunnels leading to the bathroom. Give me the roller, a boom-box and a couple
beers... paint optional. =)
- john
- john
Bob
Yep, we just finished painting the baseboard throughout the house... we will not
be revisiting that type of project in my lifetime... but we had the best results
with a trim brush as you mentioned. As tedious as it may be, we also did well by
investing extra time into the taping/masking portion of the project.
Christopher A. Smith
> I will have to paint every room in the house when I move after stripping
> some really groovy wallpaper. Does anyone have experience with the Wagner
> or similar power painters. I see the roller and air type. I don't have a
> compressor so I'd need to use something that doesn't require one. Do the
> walls look as good with the spray thing? Is the power roller easy to use
> and control? I don't want to roll out that many walls as I did it in my
> current house and it's boring.
I have a Magnum DX electric airless paint sprayer that I've used for both
indoor and outdoor painting. It's made by Graco and sells at Home Depot
for about $300. You shove a pump into the can, turn the thing on, prime
it, and then start spraying. When the can's empty, you drop in another
one. When you're done, you wash everything off with a garden hose and
flush the system by painting, in essence, with a bucket of water. God
help you if you're using oil-based paints or primers, though. At that
point, you might as well just buy a new hose.
I've used it to paint our shed out back, but in the house I've used it to
paint our daughter's room (two colors), our guest room (one color), and
our children's playroom (six colors). For me it was a huge timesaver when
it came to actually painting, but the prep time was about the same as it
is for painting with rollers and brushes. Call me a creature of habit,
but I always tape things off, take off outlet and switch covers, get
obsessive about drop cloths, etc. whether I was painting by hand or with a
sprayer. I also vacuum the walls rather heavily if I've had to sand the
walls. It took me probably an hour to do the guest room because, one,
it's large and oddly shaped and, two, it was the first time I'd used the
sprayer. The kids' smallish playroom took about 30 minutes because of the
multiple colors, and my daughter's not-so-smallish bedroom took about 20
minutes. That was the last job I did, and the sprayer and I were one at
that point. We understood each other.
Sprayers, though, can be a black art, and if you're only painting once and
won't be painting again for a very long time, they're probably not worth
the effort. Here's why.
This sprayer will kick up A LOT of dust off of your walls. From what I've
seen of larger sprayers, though, this isn't uncommon. It doesn't
necessarily spray paint all over creation, but the dust can be a real
pain. So if you're painting in a room with furniture -- I've never been
brave enough to do that -- then you do have to cover it all up with
plastic. I'd probably do that even if I were using brushes and such
because I don't trust me. And I do wear a basic painter's mask -- nothing
fancy -- while using the sprayer, only because of the dust.
You have to hold the nozzle just right. If you move your arm right to
left or up to down (or vice-versa) you'll find it move in an arc. Not
ideal for a sprayer, so you need to be able to move your arm in a straight
line side-to-side or up-down. Otherwise, the spray will not come out
nicely: you'll have a bunch in the middle of your arc and then it'll
fan/fade out as your arm arcs away from the wall. So if you don't hold it
just right, you'll have to go back with a roller to smooth things out. I
do that, anyway, though, as touch-up.
Cleanup can be a pain. When I've painted with brushes and rollers, I've
usually opted for very cheap brushes and rollers so that if I don't get
them clean, it's not the end of the world; they can go with the rest of
the garbage from the job. But with the sprayer, there's the nozzle, hose,
and unit itself to clean.
If you're not careful, you might spray something you didn't want to spray.
The first time I did this, I accidently sprayed the window in the guest
room. Easily cleaned, but still... Nowadays, I hold the sprayer in one
hand and a paint shield in the other. It's a rectangular piece of metal
on a stick that you can use to block the spray from hitting something you
don't want sprayed. Like a window.
We are going to be repainting our bedroom, living room, dining room, den,
and hallways here sometime soon, and I'll definitely use our sprayer for
that again. My wife can do the touch-up and trim the old-fashioned way;
she has a better eye for it than I do.
Hope that helps,
Chris
jrogow
"Cindy" <ci...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:164634316.000...@drn.newsguy.com...
> In article <eat5u...@news3.newsguy.com>, Christopher A. Smith says...
> described
> but the price! I need to paint every room and every ceiling and I'm
> wondering if
> it makes more sense to bite the bullet and buy something or price rentals.
> I
> have zero clue on the prices of rentals so it may be worth investigating
> since I
> plan on painting once and not painting for a long time as I pretty much
> just
> finished painting every room in my current house along with the deck.
It might be less expensive in the long run to hire it done.
Check with your local college to see if they have a referral program.
John K.
>
>In article <164610029.000...@drn.newsguy.com>, John K. says...
>
>Cin
>
Boston is out of the soup, but very little relief in the western suburbs.
It's 92 here and the heat index is about 99. They keep talking about this line
of thunderstorms coming down. Ok, so come down already.
Thankfully, 2 of the rooms have AC and I have trees. I had a broiling moment
walking the S&S parking lot. Next week the heat curtain comes down and early
visions of September slip in. Ah well.. New England.
- john
DoN. Nichols
> In article <eat5u...@news3.newsguy.com>, Christopher A. Smith says...
[ ... ]
> >I have a Magnum DX electric airless paint sprayer that I've used for both
> >indoor and outdoor painting. It's made by Graco and sells at Home Depot
> >for about $300. You shove a pump into the can, turn the thing on, prime
> >it, and then start spraying. When the can's empty, you drop in another
> >one. When you're done, you wash everything off with a garden hose and
> >flush the system by painting, in essence, with a bucket of water. God
> >help you if you're using oil-based paints or primers, though. At that
> >point, you might as well just buy a new hose.
> >
> >I've used it to paint our shed out back, but in the house I've used it to
> >paint our daughter's room (two colors), our guest room (one color), and
> >our children's playroom (six colors).
That one sounds like fun. Each wall and the ceiling different
colors, and the trim a sixth color? Or is the floor painted as well?
[ ... ]
> Thanks for the information, Chris! I like everything about what you described
> but the price! I need to paint every room and every ceiling
Hmm ... I wonder how the sprayer handles the ceiling? The
normal compressed-air sprayers would be rather poor at that, I think --
unless there is a right-angle nozzle available for them, which I have
never seen.
The Magnum DX might not have the same problems with spraying off
horizontal.
> and I'm wondering if
> it makes more sense to bite the bullet and buy something or price rentals. I
> have zero clue on the prices of rentals so it may be worth investigating since I
> plan on painting once and not painting for a long time as I pretty much just
> finished painting every room in my current house along with the deck.
Hmm ... with rental tools, you have to worry about how well the
previous renter cleaned the spray gun -- and so does the rental agency,
which may mean a higher rental fee to cover replacements of clogged
equipment. Given the amount which you plan to do, I would suggest that
the purchase might be the better route -- and that would give *you* the
motivation to clean it properly each time it is used.
Good luck,
Bob
We did our fence not too long ago, and I can completely relate to your comment
about being "at one" with the sprayer. The process was a little awkward for me
at first, but I eventually settled into a technique/routine that felt
comfortable, and we were able to knock out the entire fence in no time.
While we initially planned to use a brush, it was amazing to see how much time
we had saved using the sprayer. We're thinking of painting the garage walls at
some point, and we may use a sprayer in there just to see if the indoor/outdoor
experience differs in any way.
Bob
>it makes more sense to bite the bullet and buy something or price rentals. I
>have zero clue on the prices of rentals so it may be worth investigating since I
>plan on painting once and not painting for a long time as I pretty much just
>finished painting every room in my current house along with the deck.
>
Hey Cin,
Would the cost for hiring a painter be considerably more expensive than
purchasing all the equipment and doing the work yourself? We've never used a
painter, so I don't have a clue how much those folks charge for their services.
Bob
You beat me to it J!
I've never hired a painter so I have no feel for how much they charge for their
services, but several of our neighbors have gone that route, and the final
product looked great.
If you have a large number of rooms, a painting service may be economical if you
consider all the costs (and time) involved with doing the project yourself...
paint, brushes/sprayer, tape, etc.
My wife and I just finished painting all the baseboard in our house, and I'm
pretty certain I developed an allergy to paint brushes by the time we completed
our work. I don't forsee any painting projects in our future for quite some time
:)
Christopher A. Smith
We had to paint our last house before selling it, and prices ranged from
$750 to $4,200. This wasn't a big house by any stretch of the
imagination. It had already been vacated, and the carpet was being
replaced last, so the painters didn't have to worry as much about making a
mess. So how they came up with $4,200 never made sense.
Chris
Christopher A. Smith
>> [snip]
>>
>> >I've used it to paint our shed out back, but in the house I've used it to
>> >paint our daughter's room (two colors), our guest room (one color), and
>> >our children's playroom (six colors).
>
> That one sounds like fun. Each wall and the ceiling different
> colors, and the trim a sixth color? Or is the floor painted as well?
It's in the attic of the house, so the ceiling in the room is poked up in
the middle -- can't remember the term for it. So my wife wanted each wall
to be a different color, plus each half of the slanted ceiling to be a
different color. Seemed odd at first, but it's actually very nice, and
the kids love it.
> Hmm ... I wonder how the sprayer handles the ceiling? The
> normal compressed-air sprayers would be rather poor at that, I think --
> unless there is a right-angle nozzle available for them, which I have
> never seen.
I admit, I had trouble, but that might've been because I just wasn't
really sure of the best way to do things. I didn't have a problem with
paint blowing back on me, but I think my own hesitation and lack of
confidence made things worse because I did have to go back with a roller
more so there than anywhere else.
> Hmm ... with rental tools, you have to worry about how well the
> previous renter cleaned the spray gun -- and so does the rental agency,
> which may mean a higher rental fee to cover replacements of clogged
> equipment. Given the amount which you plan to do, I would suggest that
> the purchase might be the better route -- and that would give *you* the
> motivation to clean it properly each time it is used.
I've had bad luck with hiring painters; I've had great luck with general
contractors who're doing painting as part of a larger job, though. The
only tools I've rented are outdoor power tools, and my mileage there has
varied widely for exactly the reasons you said: poor maintenance of the
equipment.
Chris
DoN. Nichols
> DoN. Nichols <dnic...@d-and-d.com> wrote:
> >> [snip]
> >>
> >> >I've used it to paint our shed out back, but in the house I've used it to
> >> >paint our daughter's room (two colors), our guest room (one color), and
> >> >our children's playroom (six colors).
> >
> > That one sounds like fun. Each wall and the ceiling different
> > colors, and the trim a sixth color? Or is the floor painted as well?
>
> It's in the attic of the house, so the ceiling in the room is poked up in
> the middle -- can't remember the term for it. So my wife wanted each wall
> to be a different color, plus each half of the slanted ceiling to be a
> different color. Seemed odd at first, but it's actually very nice, and
> the kids love it.
It is the kind of color scheme that appeals to kids -- and to
the kid in all of us, if we let it. :-)
> > Hmm ... I wonder how the sprayer handles the ceiling? The
> > normal compressed-air sprayers would be rather poor at that, I think --
> > unless there is a right-angle nozzle available for them, which I have
> > never seen.
>
> I admit, I had trouble, but that might've been because I just wasn't
> really sure of the best way to do things. I didn't have a problem with
> paint blowing back on me, but I think my own hesitation and lack of
> confidence made things worse because I did have to go back with a roller
> more so there than anywhere else.
And -- you were working with sloping ceilings there -- not truly
horizontal ones -- which might have been even more trouble.
> > Hmm ... with rental tools, you have to worry about how well the
> > previous renter cleaned the spray gun -- and so does the rental agency,
> > which may mean a higher rental fee to cover replacements of clogged
> > equipment. Given the amount which you plan to do, I would suggest that
> > the purchase might be the better route -- and that would give *you* the
> > motivation to clean it properly each time it is used.
>
> I've had bad luck with hiring painters; I've had great luck with general
> contractors who're doing painting as part of a larger job, though. The
> only tools I've rented are outdoor power tools, and my mileage there has
> varied widely for exactly the reasons you said: poor maintenance of the
> equipment.
So -- if you need to do enough of it -- it is worthwhile owning
your own tools. (Of course, this leads to owning yet more tools, to fix
the tools which you have. I know well *that* slippery slope. :-)
Enjoy,
Bob
Wow, that is a big disparity! Like you mentioned, the arrangement was ideal for
painting (empty house, no carpet, etc.) so I can't imagine why one painter would
provide a $750 estimate while the other came back with $4,200.
We ran into a similar situation with gutter installation... a wide range of
estimates... even though everyone was quoting the same basic material/system.