I want to paint my house - roll/brush or spray?

cnelk

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Mar 1, 2012
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I’ve lived my house for over 35 years. I’ve done about every upgrade to it over the years.

It’s time for another paint job and I’m waffling between rolling it or spraying it. Last time it was rolled/brushed.

1600sf with lap siding

Thoughts?
 

Weldor

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All the above, spray and back roll. Get some mini rollers 4" 6" 8" whatever size fits your siding. I did mine mexican triple coat stucco (which sucks to paint) spray and 1 " nap roller back roll it. It is work no doubt.
 

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Bucky44

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Feb 29, 2020
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I’ve lived my house for over 35 years. I’ve done about every upgrade to it over the years.

It’s time for another paint job and I’m waffling between rolling it or spraying it. Last time it was rolled/brushed.

1600sf with lap siding

Thoughts?
Dreading painting my h
I’ve lived my house for over 35 years. I’ve done about every upgrade to it over the years.

It’s time for another paint job and I’m waffling between rolling it or spraying it. Last time it was rolled/brushed.

1600sf with lap siding

Thoughts?
Dreading painting my house I purchased a Graco airless sprayer, throw the suction hose in 5 gal. bucket of paint and go. It was so fast and easy I was amazed.
 

Brewski

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Apr 12, 2018
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If single story and you dont have a sprayer, you can roll and rolling will get better thickness and better rain protection.

I have a Graco airless and by the time you filter and thin the paint, mask off everything you don't want sprayed, spray, remove all the masking and overspray, cleanup, flush the Graco, and prep the Graco for storage, I almost always now just roll on one single medium heavy coat.
 

SkyHunter

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Spray is the way. You might be able to rent a sprayer or find one a decent enough cheap one at Harbor Freight that would be well worth it.
 

7mm-08

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We live in what I consider a larger (2,500 square foot) house where we've lived for the last 20 years. We have 6-inch cedar siding and we became so sick of being overwhelmed by the whole-house painting chore every X-number of years, we decided to start doing a side a year. We are brush and roller painters because (like Brewski said above) when you consider the masking and time to use a sprayer, it just doesn't pencil out. We're to the point that we can wash and prep one day and get a coat or two on the next. It's just not so overwhelming as the whole house. Good luck with your project.
 
OP
cnelk

cnelk

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My house is a 3BR - single story ranch w/ 2' ft eaves. I could easily paint it [spray or roll] mostly standing on the ground.

I have a Graco sprayer but in all the spraying Ive done im just not pleased with the thin layer of paint at the end.

I agree about the masking and cleanup with spraying and also about the nice heavy layer of paint that a roller does.
 
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Feb 23, 2023
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I have always washed it well, caulked all window frames, vents, etc., then cut in and rolled. Rolling helps me get a better coat on it than spraying.
 

thinhorn_AK

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Both.

Pressure wash the whole house.

I took a day or 2 and used about 15 tubes of caulking to go around and seal up every crack I could find from top to bottom.

Spray with primer, then go back over any grooves, older wood, cracking with a brush. My house has d2 siding so I spent a lot of time slathering primer into the grooves and brushing it down to make sure I had a really good base.

Next I used a graco airless sprayer and painted the house, then again, went over it again to hit the grooves in the D2 and fill in any areas that were thirsty for paint.

Finally I pulled off all my masking, did my window trims and all that, then took a day to just walk around and find any areas that got missed by the sprayer etc and touched them up.

It took my about a week of working by myself, my wife held the ladder for me when I had to climb up high to work.
 

elkliver

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Spray Not even a close question. You may need some touch up with brush and/or roller. and then spray it with a second coat spray may not quite cover it as good with one pass but is so much faster to just shoot it again
 

The Guide

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In my contracting business I spray and back roll for even coverage. I usually have too much paint and need to even the mil thickness out because the jobs I seem to get should have been painted 10 years before. I do agree that the prep work sucks but the finished product is so much better with a sprayer. I also power roller but generally only use that for interiors. If you are running into issues with not getting enough paint on the surface when you are painting you might need to shorten your hose length, use a larger tip, or up your pressure. I don't usually have to thin water-based paints to spray either but I'm using a mid level professional sprayer but even my old Graco Magnum X5 was good to go straight into a bucket of KILZ 3 and prime away.

Jay
 
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If you're painting eves, spray is the only way to get it done in a reasonable amount of time. Rolling keys it in better, and a more durable layer.
 

Sandstrom

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Sep 24, 2020
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I put on new siding two years ago on my house and detached garage IMG_2288.pngand had to paint it. I ended up buying the harbor freight avanti airless paint sprayer. 100% worth every penny!! I had two of my employees paint one of my sheds with rollers, took them forever!! I did the other shed with the sprayer in about 15 minutes!! Another bit of advice, get the best paint you can. I think the stuff I used was around $100 a gallon, but I was able to get it in one coat and it went on awesome!
 

GSPHUNTER

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Airless spray. The very best way to pain your house, or anything for that matter is to have someone else do it. I HATE PAINTING. The prep, the masking, the patching, or trim replacement, scraping, sanding, then the actual painting itself, then the clean-up. No thanks.
 

The Guide

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Airless spray. The very best way to pain your house, or anything for that matter is to have someone else do it. I HATE PAINTING. The prep, the masking, the patching, or trim replacement, scraping, sanding, then the actual painting itself, then the clean-up. No thanks.
On a typical 3 bed/2 bath 2 car garage I average 5 to 7 days to fix and repair, caulk and seal, powerwash and scrub, mask and tape, prime repairs and paint 1 coat each of primary and trim. Add 1 to 2 days for a 2nd coat which gets you a 5 year labor warranty vs 1 year labor warranty with 1 coat. Painting the house a new color adds time too. People often balk at the estimate but those who have me paint are pleased and refer me to others. I enjoy it and hate it at the same time.

Jay
 

Willy-D

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1600sqft single level?
Roll & brush.

The prep work sucks for any, but (IMHO) its less messy.

Third option: Contract it out…

~Will -
 
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