painting with a garden sprayer

[J Burns]

I went to repaint a shed with half a can of latex paint that had been sitting 30 years. After 100 square feet I was tired and quit.

Today I decided to try my pump-up sprayer. Not having to keep loading my brush was helpful, but the stream petered out. Then I remembered. Back when I painted a lot, I normally thinned latex paint for brushing. Out of the can, it?s good for rolling, but the viscosity puts a lot of drag on a brush, and it?s hard to brush paint into cracks and corners.

I poured in about 5% water and stuck my drill-powered stirrer in. At first it sprayed great, laying down paint in strips 2? wide. It soon petered out. I poured it back in the can and continued.

With just a brush, it was much easier than yesterday. With less viscosity, the brush moved easily. The paint spread quickly and flowed into cracks and corners. Naturally I?d had trouble using a sprayer with paint that was too thick for brushing.

Paint stuck to the exterior of the sprayer parts, but the inside cleaned so well that I didn?t bother to disassemble the pump or valve. The achilles heel was the filter. My tip orifice is 1.25mm, but the filter uses 0.5mm squares. I call that bad engineering, needlessly restricting viscous fluids.

I believe the other problem was that the paint wasn?t completely mixed. A paint can has corners where the thickest paint can hide from a stirrer. Likewise, the sprayer tank has places for paint to hide from the currents a stirrer generates. I should have mixed it in a bowl-shaped container. I think the thickest paint clogged the filter.

There was another problem. To squirt paint, either I had to lay the brush down, or I had to hold the pump handle and the spray handle in one hand. One-handed sprayers cost $10 to $20. Solo has one with a swivel nozzle. That would be great for painting overhead.

A neighbor wants me to paint her porch ceiling. She says it isn?t much. Any overhead job is ?much.? You keep loading your brush and tipping it up, and eventually paint runs down the handle. Besides, a brush with paint in the heel is hard to clean.

I?ll bet a job like that would be a lot easier with a sprayer in one hand to apply paint and a brush in the other hand.

[gfretwell]

I had a louver door to paint and I had no interest in doing this with a brush. I cut the latex paint 50/50 with water and shot on several light coats. I was using a cup gun but I see no reason why a pump sprayer wouldn't work. I think you just had it too thick.

[J Burns]

My scheme had been to use a sprayer to get the paint in position to brush. Now I want to try your method!

[gregz]

I did fairly well painting cinder block. I thinned a lot. No more than 30% paint. Got to go real slow on wood. Block ate it right up.

Greg

[Stormin Mormon]

The one time I painted a shed, I used a trim roller from Home Depot. Rollers were about five inches long, and foam. Handle was about 16 inches long. Just dip the whole roller in the paint can (no need for a tray). The job went faster than I thought.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[John G]

Next time filter the paint using a paint strainer.

[trader_4]

Louver door I'd just spray it, that's a good example of what a paint sprayer is good for.

The idea of laying up the paint with a garden sprayer is similar to what many painters do when painting rough siding and similar. They use a paint sprayer to quickly lay the paint on, then back brush it to work it in. I recently used that method for the first time myself. The main advantage is that it eliminates all the back and forth to transfer the paint from a can to the wall. The advantage of a real sprayer vs a garden one is it moves paint many times faster and more uniformly, better control, etc.

But for a porch ceiling, I wouldn't spray. I'd use a roller, back brush if needed.

[Mayayana]

100 sq. ft. would be about 12 running feet at 8' high. If you'd just used a roller you would have had that done in probably about 20 minutes -- probably less time than it took to set up the sprayer.

[J Burns]

Yeah, that's what I was after, eliminating all that turning and loading. That's also the most likely time to drip. If I get my technique right, I won't have to dress like a slob to paint. "High hats and narrow collars, white spats and lots of dollars."

If paint has the right viscosity, brushing can be pretty quick, especially if I've laid it on with a sprayer about where I need it.

The advantage of a real sprayer vs a garden

I'd still need a brush for edges, grooves, and ceiling fixtures. If I could just turn the ceiling upside down, no drips!

[J Burns]

Is 190 microns for house paint? The filter in the sprayer is 500 microns.

Come to think of it, every time I've painted from a can, it has been too thick at the bottom. I guess it doesn't get properly mixed in a can. If I ladle it into a plastic tub, it may be a little thicker at the bottom, but it's not so bad.

If I mixed it really well, with a power stirrer in a bowl-shaped container, I wonder how long the pigment would stay evenly distributed.

[J Burns]

Once I thinned the paint a little, I believe the opposite side took much less than 20 minutes with a brush. If I'd used a roller for the first side, I would still have needed a brush for the battens, if that's what they're called, and cracks. (It's a bad design, wood strips, horizontally and vertically, on masonite.)

Then I would have had a roller to clean. Ugh! I like a roller, but I think it takes more than 100 square feet to make it more efficient than a brush.

[clare]

When spraying latex it helps to add a bit of Flo-Eaze to allow the paint to flow out better - otherwize you get a fine sandbaper type finish. Using Flo-Ease and my automotive touch-up gun my bathroom vanity looks like a baked enamel finish. The closet doors, done without the flow-ease, are a real fine texture.

[J Burns]

That sounds like a good tip, but I can't find it.

Floease is the name in India for Fluticasone, which you spray up your nose if you have allergies. I should probably get some in case there's pollen blowing when I'm trying to paint.

Ease & Flow is a prostate supplement. That would be good if I were high on a ladder and wanted to be sure I wouldn't have to climb down to pee.

Flowsease is a pourer to stick in a wine bottle in place of a cork. I should get one so I won't get wine stains on my painting clothes.

Floweasy is a drain cleaner that's 94% sulfuric acid. I probably shouldn't mix it with paint.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'd expect you would need to mix within the original can, as the heavier pigment would settle to the bottom of the original can. If you pour some into a bowl, it will be the solvent, and less pigment.

It will start settlling immediately.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[clare]

Sorry, it's Flo1Tril from the Flood company

[J Burns]

Found it! Floetrol.

[J Burns]

I'll scrape it out with a rubbery spatula. I'll go to the corner store and buy a spatula and a salad bowl. Maybe I should buy a chef's hat so I won't look funny painting from a salad bowl.

Maybe I should install a battery-powered paint stirrer in the bottom of the bowl to keep the pigment from settling.