Interior Painting recommendation.....air spray vs. roller

[Mike Hartigan]

Alan Wong recently enlightened us with:

> Just finished revonovating my basement. Final step is the paint but I
> would like to have some feedback on painting machines.

> Been looking at the Wagner roller and such and also air spray
> machines. Would any of you have any experience with these machines.
> I've heard that the majority of "pros" use the air because it has a
> better finish versus the roller, except that there is learning curve
> to it.

> Any and all feedback on this topic is greatly appreciated,

I have used a Wagner cordless roller for the past 10 years or so. I
don't do much more then the standard 'couple rooms a year then start
over' thing, but I think this is a wonderful thing. It's just like
painting with a standard roller, without the constant bending to reload,
which makes a world of difference. The finish has a traditional roller
finish, which is what I (and I think, most people) want. The only
downside is cleaning it after use. It's really not difficult, it's just
a pain in the a**. However, I usually wind up doing two (or even three)
rooms at a time as a result (I clean it 1/2 - 2/3 less often that way,
and I finish in about the same time as one room the old way). Spraying
is FAAAAAST, but the time you save painting could easily be more than
eaten up by the time you spend masking everything in sight. As far as
texture is concerned, the texture of the previous coat(s) will come
through with a sprayer, so that would not be an issue, unless this is
the first time the surface is being painted (which appears to be the
case with your basement). I generally only spray outdoor items (wicker,
lawn furniture, etc), since, unlike the carpet, the grass will heal over
time.

--
+-----------------------------------------------+
Mike Hartigan <hart...@enteract.dot.com>

It just goes to show you

[Eric Gunnerson]

Alan Wong <sa...@skip-the-spam.newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:3798543f....@news.pipeline.com...
> Hello,

>
> Just finished revonovating my basement. Final step is the paint but I
> would like to have some feedback on painting machines.
>
> Been looking at the Wagner roller and such and also air spray
> machines. Would any of you have any experience with these machines.
> I've heard that the majority of "pros" use the air because it has a
> better finish versus the roller, except that there is learning curve
> to it.

Pros use airless systems; air-spray systems haven't been used much in the
last 20 years for housepainting; they produce tremendous amounts of
overspray.

I've used Wagner PowerPainters, and while they can be made to work, they
really aren't worth the hassle; you usually need to thin latex paint to
spray it, and the power head is very heavy and pretty loud. I did my house
with one, but wouldn't recommend it.

If you don't want to roll it, I'd suggest you rent a pro-style airless
machine. They can work with 5 gallons at a time, and have a 25' tube with a
light spray head.