Painting a LOT of white trim (or: "Should I buy an airless sprayer for home use?")

[Dan Friedrichs]

I'm getting ready to put a house on the market, and after 8 years of living here, the white trim and interior doors all could use a coat of paint to cover the various scuffs and scrapes. I'm sure that the pros don't spend hours laying on the floor, scooting across the floor on their sides, while awkwardly holding a paint brush. I assume they mask and spray.

So...I'm young and enjoy home improvement. I'm sure this won't be anywhere near the last bit of painting I do. Would it be worthwhile to buy an airless sprayer and learn to use it? (I realize I'm talking kilo-bucks, here, for a quality unit - compared to how much I hate painting, I think it might be worthwhile).

Or should I hire it done? Is spraying indoors a non-DIY task?

[Mel Fulks]

Choices are too limited ,so I'm adding another one. Let the new owner do it ...or have a choice of colors. Lot of buyers would rather have trim and walls same color ,especially in modern non symmetrical rooms. What I would buy is a bottle of spray cleaner.

[Tom M King]

Airless sprayers are like other types of sprayers. It's hard to do good work with a cheap one, and easy with a good one. The "easy" part, mentioned in the previous sentence only comes with an experienced hand. So, like any other kind of spraying, there is no substitute for experience, and that experience comes from screwing things up sometimes. Screwing a paint job up can be done REALLY FAST with an airless sprayer....especially a house that's lived in with furniture in it.

[Ole Anderson]

Helping my son flip a home last summer, we split the cost of a Graco X5, under $300 total. It uses the same gun as the more expensive Gracos, it just doesn't have the capacity for a 5 gallon pail or a pump for really big nozzles or hundreds of gallons per year. The 12" wide bifolds took one vertical pass with a standard nozzle pumping right out of a one gallon bucket, about 5 seconds per pass. Stood them up in the garage with a drywall screw protruding an inch in the bottom and a short stick nailed to the top to keep them zig-zagged at 90 degrees. Painted all the new trim while on a sawhorse. Then I did all the wainscoting in the basement. I have had some spraying experience, but I am certainly no pro. You are putting on a lot of paint very quickly so you need to keep the gun moving, starting before you hit the door and stopping after you pass the edge. Keep a brush handy to catch any drips or runs. Check out YouTube for the "Idaho Painter" for tips.

I wanted to paint the interior walls and ceilings as the house was empty, but his fiancee was really uncomfortable with the concept of spraying inside and insisted on doing all of that work with a brush and roller. I was able to talk her into the basement wainscoting as she was getting tired of painting by then.

[Jamie Buxton]

For stuff you can take out into the shop, like doors, spray is a good idea. For stuff you can't move, like casings and jambs and baseboard and crown, a brush isn't bad. You spend more time and trouble masking than just getting on with painting the stuff. Painting is a big job, and there isn't really a way to do it quickly. if you can get over that expectation, you'll do a better (and less-stressful) job.

[Matt Schroeder]

I found that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser does a pretty good job of getting rid of scuffs and other marks where the underlying paint isn't damaged. Perhaps give that a shot first and see if it gets you something that looks good enough to sell. I use it on baseboards for vacuum cleaner scuffs, and on door edges and switchplate covers to remove handprints.

Matt

[Stan Calow]

My experience spraying indoors was that about half the paint ended up on the floor or ceiling or wherever I didn't want it, creating much more cleanup time than any I saved if I had hand painted.

[Jay Nossen]

I'm sure that the pros don't spend hours laying on the floor, scooting across the floor on their sides, while awkwardly holding a paint brush.
That IS what the pro's would do. One mans opinion, but I can paint trim faster than I can mask for spraying.

[Mike Henderson]

I thought about buying an airless sprayer but didn't have a lot to paint. I used my gravity HVLP gun with a large tip (2.0mm) and painted in the driveway with a drop cloth. It didn't take a lot of setup and the sprayer worked well - gave a better finish than a brush. Or better than I can do with a brush.

Mike

[Jason Roehl]

That IS what the pro's would do. One mans opinion, but I can paint trim faster than I can mask for spraying.


Jay has it. Very rarely did I ever use an airless in an occupied house. I can mask quickly, but you have to cover EVERYTHING. Also, interior trim is not the best medium for learning to use an airless sprayer. There are a LOT of potential pitfalls, that you only really overcome through experience. And you know how you get experience...

Get a mini soft-woven roller (1/2" or thicker nap) to apply the paint quickly and evenly, then back-brush immediately. De-fuzz the roller with tape before you use it (wrap the whole nap with masking tape and pull it off). Use a high-quality acrylic ENAMEL, and lay it on heavy--run the risk of runs (get a feel for it so that you don't actually get runs, though). You want to give it time to self-level before it dries.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Jason. The prep to spray would be "over the top" and a quality paint combined with fluid application wins every time. I don't paint often (thankfully!) but I carefully observed the pros who did the work for our major addition a number of years ago and learned a lot, including how to avoid masking at all.

[Marty Schlosser]

One thing that's been missing from this discussion from what I could tell, is the cost difference between airless (whether air-assisted or not) and HVLP (turbine or compressor-driven) spray systems. Expect to pay three times the amount for the former family of sprayers, which here in Canads is in the $3,500 ballpark range for the airless systems.

I won't bother discussing the root question, that is, spraying vrs hand-application, as that's been well addressed above.

[Rick Potter]

I am certainly not a pro painter, but I do have several rentals which I have painted both ways. I used to have a nice pro airless, but when it took a dump in the middle of spraying eaves, I switched to my backup sprayer, and it finished the job just fine. A little slower, but fine for my needs.

My backup was/is a Wagner Paint Crew. I only paid $100 for a factory reconditioned unit. I have had good luck painting a couple thousand feet of base and crown on sawhorses before installing. It also works really well on painted doors. I put screws in the tops and bottoms, and hang them between two sawhorses...paint and flip. I like a #13 tip for this type work.

I suppose you could use an HVLP (I have one), but this is what a small airless excels at. I only use my HVLP for varnish on cabinetry.

I never spray inside unless it is completely masked. I made the mistake of allowing a rental management company fix up a rental last year. It took days of work getting overspray off ceiling fans, windows, fixtures, etc.

My two cents.

[Ole Anderson]

One thing that's been missing from this discussion from what I could tell, is the cost difference between airless (whether air-assisted or not) and HVLP (turbine or compressor-driven) spray systems. Expect to pay three times the amount for the former family of sprayers, which here in Canads is in the $3,500 ballpark range for the airless systems.

I won't bother discussing the root question, that is, spraying vs hand-application, as that's been well addressed above.

I'm telling ya, that Graco X5 at $300 puts down paint as well as any pro rig I have ever rented. But as to the original question, best to stick to brush and roller for a novice especially if the house is not empty. But use a good self leveling paint like Sherwin Williams Pro Classic Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Good info - thanks, all. I might look into something like a Graco for spraying doors (after taking them outside), but guess I'll resign myself to brushing the trim.

[Adam Herman]

I'm telling ya, that Graco X5 at $300 puts down paint as well as any pro rig I have ever rented. But as to the original question, best to stick to brush and roller for a novice especially if the house is not empty. But use a good self leveling paint like Sherwin Williams Pro Classic Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel.
we have the x5 as well, and it works great. We painted every surface of our remodel flat white after demo was done.

[Tom M King]

With airless, the gun is more important than the pump. You don't need a 3.3 gpm pump unless you're a pro. I'm still using a twenty five year old pump. A few years ago, the old gun finally got past the point of aggravation. I had bought an air assisted airless Graco, and it was nice, but after buying the latest model gun for the airless that uses the same Fine Finish tips that the aaa rig used, I sold the aaa rig while I could get close to what I paid for it.

The newer guns, with the Fine Finish tips, allow you to spray with less pressure. The old guns would put heavy edges on the fan if you turned the pressure down much below max. The aaa uses compressed air to blow those heavy edges out, but the FF tips almost do away with that problem. I'd even suggest buying a pump off craigslist, and buying a new Graco Contractor gun for it. Use the recommended tip size that's on the S-W paint can or bucket.

Use a 1/4" 15 or 25 foot hose in a house. Do start with Pro Classic. Put on less than you think you need. It takes WAY more time to try to get coverage with a coat, and end up with runs and sags. In small rooms, practice passes first. If you bump your elbow in something like a closet or bathroom, you can make a big mess in a hurry.

I almost always use an extension. It gets you out of the bounce-back, will reach a ceiling while standing on the floor, or keep you from having to bend over. If I'm spraying anything over a quart, I'll almost always use airless.
I almost always use a tip extension. Even when spraying cabinets, I'll use a 6" extension. It gets you back out of the bounce-back. Longer extensions can reach a ceiling, or keep you from having to bend over.

If I'm spraying anything over a quart, I'll almost always use airless.

Since there is no air in the system, you can leave the paint in the pump and lines until you finish the job. I take the tip out and clean it, and drop the gun in a bucket of water until tomorrow. Shoot some Argon on top of the paint if you have it, and put a lintfree cloth over the paint.

Do the trim first, walls second, get the thin wall drapes with tape attached to drape the walls, and do the ceilings last. It's harder to mask a ceiling.

In a city, I push the last paint out of the hose down a garbage disposer with water running wide open. At home, I spray it out on the grass outside the shop, and it's gone after a couple of grass cuttings. You can spray it in a bag, and put some paint hardener in it, but do that outside the first time. Keep running clear water through it until it runs clear, and leave Pump Armor in it. Pump Armor is not cheap, but I've not been in my pump since I bought it in the early '90s.

[Tom M King]

Also, I almost always use an extension. It keeps you out of the bounce-back, allows you to reach the ceiling from the floor, and from having to bend over. They come in a wide range of lengths.

With airless, there can be no hesitation ANYWHERE. You've got to be ready to go, and go from the start.