Airless Spray Guns

[Propoholic]

Just interested to hear about experiences with airless spray guns for renovations. I'm coming across more and more traders/renovators who use these or get their painter to use a spray gun. Beyond preparation and masking up, time saving for paint application is about 60% or more. Time saving over all is ~ 50%. Roofing and house exterior provide huge time savings. One Whangarei trader told me that his spray gun was the best investment he had made.

Wagner have a 'Paint Crew' model that retails for ~ $800.00 (flow rate 0.9 litres/min). Then you go into their professional range 'ProSpray 22' @ $3980.00 + GST (flow rate 1.9 litres/min). Seems to be a no brainer whether you do your own painting or use a contractor.

What experiences do forumites have with these?

[cube]

I'd guess that the trick with these is careful masking around the areas you don't want painted.

I've heard of them being used for fences and other outdoor uses, but not inside. What quality of finish do you get?

cube

[drelly]

I'd assume that unlike normal preparation, you'd need to fully mask windows, doors and floors?

I've only used one for painting a roof and it used around twice as much paint as a roller for the same area... V. Fast though!

[muppet]

Hi Barry

Have a look through the posts on Somersoft at:

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/search.php?searchid=101453

A lot of discussion has taken place on spray guns.

Regards

[Propoholic]

Thats great thanks Bob.

[cantthinkofanickname]

Warning

As a former professional painter i would caution you about spray guns. Over spray can travel a long way if spraying exteriors (ask the neighbor what colour he wants his new car. that includes the guy who lives across the road if doing roofs ).In side the can be more trouble than they are worth as the finish tends to be like 80 grit sand paper. Therefore before final coat is applied you need to sand it back heavly. Most good painters would not use a spray for the final coat as the finish would be poor and not smooth . Sprayers tend to apply more paint to surfaces than rollers so you will end up buying more paint tyipicaly about 50% to 70% more.But in saying this if you are happy with the risks they are are great labour saving device Personaly i find i can paint the interior of a three brm house with a roller in the same amount of time as it takes to mask, sand and cleanup using a sprayer so although they apply the paint faster they take alot more time and effort to get set up

graham

[revdev]

Hi Prop,

I have a Magnum brand airless spraygun, and without it my last couple of reno's would have simply been arduous. Not sure what rate it throws out but all I know is that I can only move fast enough to have it on about 1/2 speed!

I think it cost me about 3K, 3 or 4 years ago and has been worth every cent in both quality and sanity. Sure, plenty more masking up but I don't find that a problem.

Have just finished a 3x2 bedroom exterior spray and the interior of one of the flats also. I was more than happy with the quality of the interior, although I did roll out some of the confined areas.

I agree in what CTOANN said in that you need to be careful of drift when spaying exterior. Watch for wind and just make sure you inform your neighbours!!

All the best

G

[MaryJ]

Just interested to hear about experiences with airless spray guns for renovations. I'm coming across more and more traders/renovators who use these or get their painter to use a spray gun. Beyond preparation and masking up, time saving for paint application is about 60% or more.

I painted a roof last year and hired a commercial spray gun. I had heaps of fun! It was soo fast! Unfortunately the spray gun died on me after about a quarter of an hour. I rang the hire place to complain and they apologised and asked me to come by and pick up another one. I did, and this time it was even faster! I enjoyed myself! After about twenty minutes that gun also died. Yep. I took it back to the hire place, but they refused to lend me another...

It turned out that I was using micaceous paint and that actually clogs up and virtually kills spray guns. I wasn't that popular at the hire place after that little episode...

[spurner]

They are alot more work than a roller. They also eat through the paint. I used to paint alot and never used them, and spoke with many painters who also don't recommend them.

We had a new 5 storey apartment building sprayed inside by gun. It was fast, but used alot of paint and the finish was pretty crap, but tolerable for a rental.

Short story: All things being considered, not worthwhile! (imho)

[kevman]

Airless: Rough Sawn wood, Trellis and Garden Shed

I have an airless which was classed as contractor grade which is similar in price to the wagner paint crew. Good enough for using every week but not every day all day like a commercial one.

Anyway my experience so far has been that I have painted a fence with rough sawn wood and corrogated iron, trellis and a large garden shed. It saved heaps of time.

I agree with the overspray very hard not to spray the wrong area. I think with a rental I am not too fussy and aim to do a reasonable paint job, not a professional one.

Additonally it provides options that might not have been a consideration due to time. For example I would have estimated at least 2-4 days one person painting a fence around a house. With the airless less than one complete day.

[Aston]

Short story: All things being considered, not worthwhile! (imho)

I agree...... There is a skill factor involved here and the average unskilled or semi skilled person will get a much better job with a brush and roller, cheaper too.



Aston

[hort1]

Hi All

I think the spray units are great, sure they need a bit of practice but once you master them they are great.
As for paint drift yes the paint drifts not too bad if you pick your days. I get 8sqr mtr per litre of paint but in my opinion get a far better finish. I only use mine on the exterior of the properties and as for the roof you can't beat them. If you end up getting one go for the biggest model you can afford that drops straight into the paint pail with no thinning of the paint and get your self a short extention for the gun.
Good Luck
Warwick

[Don and Liz]

i could never get mine to work properly - always seemed to jam.

[muppet]

Anyone using spray guns for renos?
If so, what brand?

[skid]

best Brand is Graco-Then Wagner.There are also others that are fine but stay away from cheap imported[china]machines,and yo really need to have a reasonable size unit.
Ive been spraying for 20yrs and my advice would be that there is a relatively steep learning curve and its true that you can do alot of damage with one in the wrong hands.
best place to start is a roof or fence[darker colors hide imperfections [like tiny cracks in wood fence]
Ive gotten through lots of fence and a skyline garage in a day and it really tidied the place up.
Keep in mid that your result depends on the finish you are spraying onto[on weatherboards pep is essential]
generally spray roofs -fences skyline garages-weatherboards[but after preparing, I spray and brush a coat of acrylic primer first]then topcoat On the inside I generally spray if its a new building and has no carpets and is empty[best is if all one color] take off doors and mask windows.{you can generally show someone how to mask even if they are not experienced at painting][probibly best to leave this to the pros though]
if its a house that is lived in I stick to only cielings[easy to dropsheet and hang plastic on windows with pins]
Long and short is novice roof and fence--everything else get a pro.Its a major time saver and a pro would generally come with his own unit that he knows inside out[get recommendations]
That horrible finish some are talking about is generally from lack of experience-you should get a great finish with spraying.
Also Ive never had to much of an overspray problem as in painting the neighbors house .A good quality airless spayer used properly shoul be minimal overspray.
generally by the time waterbased paint overspray gets that far it should be dust.[The old spray units that use a compressor are bad for overspray-Also larger the tip ,the less overspray. Hope that helps