I am relatively new to STEEMIT, and have only posted a few blogs. As many of you know I am a Woodworker. I do my woodworking mostly all winter, when it is unforgiving to paint in the winter, accept indoors and I do not take joy in that at all. You see I paint mostly in Heights. I love the crane. My business slogan is "The Higher The Better" . I do Church Steeples, and large commercial buildings. I do both Metal Roof Painting and Exterior wall painting. I was chatting with a lad on the Discord channel just the other day and he stated that he was going to paint the exterior brick on his home, so we got into a bit of a discussion about the method he was going to use, which brought me to the point of my blog today.
Painting or Staining ...........Brush and Roll Technique or Sprayer.......The Pro's and Con's
I have been painting all over Canada for over 30 years. I am in my community the only painting company left that ONLY uses brush and rollers to do the job. I have done countless Barn Roofs by brush and roll methods. I am going to tell you why it is better to take the extra time to brush and roll.
Here is a farmhouse that I painted the Metal roof this past summer 2017. This is Before
This is the after. If you notice I also painted the entire exterior, and the trim in a Red and Beige.
Now here are some of the reasons why I am old school and use a brush and roller method. Paint spraying wastes an abundant amount of paint, for starters. Next lets factor in the cost of all the tools. All roller and brush items are cheap compared to purchasing and maintaining a paint sprayer.
Here is another paint job I competed this summer.
And After...The first picture has a primer Metal Oxide on the surface.
Paint brushing and rolling gives you more leeway when the area or surface is not completely clean. If you Roll the paint it goes down thick on the first coat and adheres to the surface better. This will ensure that the paint will not chip faster and fade over time, you certainly do not want to be doing this project again. The small paint droplets made by a sprayer do not connect with each other as well as rolled-on or brushed on paint.
Now there are certain circumstances that a sprayer would be ideal but really in the end, it all can be done with a brush or roller, what did they do years and years ago? SPEED is the number one benefit to the sprayer. The other is that the
sprayers has the ability to work into the smallest of crevices, with a thin coat, whereas brushing and or rolling detailed areas can result in pooled up paint and drips. The roller method, is easy to start your project for awhile, then you can put it on pause, roll your brush or roller sleeve in a bag, so you can stop for lunch or to run to the store. With paint spraying, it is an all-or-nothing project that can eat up your day, and you cannot stop for emergencies your wife calls you about.
This is what Spraying will give you: (Other than a headache)
The coverage of the paint to the surface can be uneven and in some places too thick.
Your Prep and clean up time is extensive and much longer than that of a simple brush and roller.
Uses so much more paint like 2-3 times more, which paint it money.
The paint has poor adhesion, does not stick very well which does not guarantee longevity of the project, so you will be doing it again, and that's OK if you LOVE TO PAINT, and have all kinds of time to kill.
Lastly you just cannot paint on windy days and I mean seriously even just a little wind and your out.
So here is my PROFESSIONAL Advice. Don't DO IT. Spraying can create a big mess, and it flies all over the yard and on your fence and your car and the neighbors will have to sue you to have their car cleaned or even re painted. Unless you are an absolute professional at using a sprayer and their is absolutely ZERO percent chance of wind that day, sure go ahead and spray.