Roller...<or>...Power Roller...<or>...Sprayer...??

[fordy]

..................My walls are covered with 1\2" CD , exterior grade plywood which were painted 11 years previous . They were painted with semigloss , enamel latex paint but Need some attention . My question is for those who have experience\knowledge and what you would recommend for this job , not only the Method but a quality paint with a reasonable Price as well . I'm going to put this place on the market and want it to look nice . thanks , fordy...

[DAVID In Wisconsin]

I find that when all is considered, it's as easy to roll it on. I hate the taping off and then cleaning a sprayer out. I do it for a living. You'll find a good selection of mid-priced paints out there. For $15.00 to $20.00 per gallon you'll get good qaulity. Good luck!

[cfabe]

Personally I go with an airless sprayer for most jobs.

[catahoula]

My boss and I painted a house about a thousand years ago, he sprayed and I rolled behind him. It went pretty fast which is mostly what he was after as we both weren't too fond of painting. The thing about the sprayer is that it gobbles up a lot of paint just to fill the hose, the other down side to the sprayer is that it fogs the whole world with paint so you have to mask everything. the brush and roller may take longer but the prep time is shorter, paint consumption is less and clean up is a breeze. You might want to rough up the walls a bit with some sand paper or wash them with TSP to help the paint stick. The people that buy the place will probably paint it again anyway. Primer? We don't need no stinking primer. Good luck.

[farminghandyman]

If you want to roll with any speed and since it is a out side job a little splatter will not be of major problem, defently no worst than the over spray of a sprayer,

get a good roller frame, a heavy one, and a good cover, with some nap 3/8 to 1/2, in my oppion, and a good adjustable extenson handle, and a 5 gallon bucket and a bucket screen, (throw away the cutise roller pan),

pour a gallon of paint in the bucket and dip in the roller and roll off a little of the excess on the screen and paint away,

get a bucket with a lid and set the screen off in side the bucket and lid it for breaks,

if it takes you more than one time to do the painting,
take the roller and frame, place in plastic bag and put into the freezer, 6 months later you can pick up where you left off, you will need to clean up the bucket and screen tho, even with a lid it will not keep very good with that much air space, even over night it is best to clean up, but a garden hose and sprayer will do a good job, (I am talking latex here) the freezer will do the brushes fine as well.

[Pony]

I'm in the roller camp. THICK roller pad. Sprayers are more work than help, and the same, IMO, for the power rollers. Too much waste of time and paint.

A good paint that is reasonably priced (especially when you find it on sale at Home Depot) is Behr. Good quality, easy application, not too spendy.

If you want to go ultra-thrifty, you might want to look into your local paint reclamation program if you aren't too fussy about color.

Pony!

[foxtrapper]

I painted my house with a Wagner sprayer. Heck, I even painted my car with it once. They are good, but have limitations.

On the plus side
They go fast when you're spraying.
Nice appearance. No gobs in the corner and the like.
Super fast and wonderfull on complex surfaces.

On the negative side.
They spit when low on paint.
The paint layer is thin, so it wears through faster than rollered paint.

Clean up isn't bad with a sprayer, but it's certainly more involved than just rinsing a brush or tossing a roller.

You've got to mask for overspray. And you're still going to get it onto things you didn't expect.

[Ed0517]

I like the Wagner sprayer (the one with the backpack reservoir) for outdoor jobs. Did my garage and it was FAST. You can control the spray somewhat with the tips and adjusting the nozzle, but I wouldn't use it where overspraying is a problem. Not as quick to use it indoors. They have a larger one that uses a siphon tube in the paint can for big jobs (like paint the house exterior).

Now WHY the previous owner put paint (not stain) on cedar shakes...

[Ahne Homestead]

I've used both the sprayers and the power rollers and for my money I would go with the power roller. The sprayers can get heavy after a while, you will have to put plastic over all windows, doors, posably part of the roof, and five or so feet of the ground. The power roller uses the can the paint comes in, has an extention, and is non stop painting. The clean up takes time so I use the power roller on big jobs. They have come a long way on paint and the cheeper paints aren't that bad any more but I would stick with a middle grade paint. Carl