Spray painting virgin - please help!

[Pecheur Anglais]

Having recently moved to a big old property in need of tlc, we have a fair amount of internal and external painting to do. I need to decorate using masonry paint, emulsion and exterior wood preservative. My partner is also going to be painting old furniture for use at home and then maybe a few pieces to sell.

Apart from the occasional spray can, neither of us have spray painting experience and find the wide range of kit available daunting. I was thinking a compressor with air line and spray gun while my partner had seen some plug in portable spray stations on furniture restoration videos. We are left wondering, is the compressor route overkill? Or, are the spray stations a bit too basic? Of course we could use the compressor for other airline purposes such as cleaning, but I have an adequate collection of power tools, so wouldn't be buying a load of air powered tools.

Basing it on a budget of £200, what would you recommend that we buy to get us going please? We could push the budget up if we needed or, if a £100 spray station would do the job, we would obviously be very happy!

 

[AJB Temple]

I have trod this path. You get what you pay for with spraying. If you want to spray a wide range of products, then changeable tips are necessary. I use a Graco GXFF, which is similar to the well known GX21, but the FF has a paint bucket built in and is easier and quicker to clean.

You need to accept that spraying is a faff. You need to mask off things like windows (so you will be buying static grip film or similar from places like Brewers) and masking tape. You need to clean your kit scrupulously (using special cleaners) and you really need to filter the paint before use. Spraying is then MUCH quicker than brush and roller.

I never got consistently good results from the cheap sprayers. The Graco is quite some way out of your budget, but you do see used ones on eBay. There are lots of useful videos on line.

Quite a number of people on here use HVLP sprayers (again, good ones are not cheap) which are very good for furniture and kitchen cabinets, but not ideal for decorating in my experience.

 

[sunnybob]

I'm at your disposal sir, just tell me when and where, and should i bring my own paint? :lol: =D> =D>

Sorry, non PC humour, I know. :roll: 8) 8)
Oh, and I have no idea how to offer real advice either (hammer) (hammer)

 

[AES]

I don't know much about painting hoses, etc (my spraying - airbrush, small touch up gun, and rattle cans) is usually on much smaller stuff (toys, models, etc).

But Peter Millard of this Forum also runs weekly YouTube vids covering all sorts of high qual. professional stuff under the generic title of "10 Minute Workshop". A lot of those vids cover spraying of all sorts, using various tools n techniques.

I'd strongly recommend you do a Google and look for those BEFORE you start/buy anything.

HTH

 

[AES]

I don't know much about painting houses, etc (my spraying - airbrush, small touch up gun, and rattle cans) is usually on much smaller stuff (toys, models, etc).

But Peter Millard of this Forum also runs weekly YouTube vids covering all sorts of high qual. professional stuff under the generic title of "10 Minute Workshop". A lot of those vids cover spraying of all sorts, using various tools n techniques.

I'd strongly recommend you do a Google and look for those BEFORE you start/buy anything.

HTH

 

[Pecheur Anglais]

Thank you AJB Temple, that's really helpful, especially with the broader advice about spraying. The machine you use looks an impressive bit of kit, but not sure I could justify it. Although, in the longer term, it may be better than buying twice. Saying that, it looks like we would need one sprayer for decorating and another for furniture, unless a compressor with two spray guns might provide a cost effective alternative.

Thanks also AES, I will be viewing Peter Millards videos. Sounds like a great resource.

Thanks as well SunnyBob, for the chuckle. Yes, if you bring the paint, I will get masked up ready, oooer! (ps, BoB as in Black Adder? :lol: )

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I'm at your disposal sir, just tell me when and where, and should i bring my own paint? :lol: =D> =D>

Sorry, non PC humour, I know. :roll: 8) 8)
Oh, and I have no idea how to offer real advice either (hammer) (hammer)

First you need to catch your virgin: you are going to need a unicorn at the very least, although some people have had success with a rocking horse if fed a high-fibre diet, for rarety purposes, you understand.

 

[HappyHacker]

I bought a cheap high pressure airless sprayer from Aldi and have used it successfully on a number of rooms spraying emulsion. As has been mentioned you need to mask things so it is easier to spray before getting all the final fix woodwork in although a bit of hard plastic held in one hand can act as a mask if your coordination is good, mine isn't! You need a face mask as well although there is not a lot of overspray. It is very good at spraying rough surfaces. It is quicker than a roller when doing a complete empty room but a roller can be quicker on smaller jobs.

I have used a cheap HVLP prayer to spray wood preservative successfully. I have not tried emulsion through one.

I have a compressor and have sprayed various paints through a conventional spray gun on cars and boats. A lot of overspray compared with HVLP and HP.

As has been mentioned cleaning is a faff and can take a long time especially if not using water based paints.

It takes a bit of practice to get the technique with each of the above and it is very easy to get runs etc.

If you spray a room touching up with a roller or brush will usually give a different texture to the spray finish.

You probably have a need for two different spray systems.

Good luck.

 

[sunnybob]

I'm at your disposal sir, just tell me when and where, and should i bring my own paint? :lol: =D> =D>

Sorry, non PC humour, I know. :roll: 8) 8)
Oh, and I have no idea how to offer real advice either (hammer) (hammer)

First you need to catch your virgin: you are going to need a unicorn at the very least, although some people have had success with a rocking horse if fed a high-fibre diet, for rarety purposes, you understand.

Its my eldest sisters fault, she's spent 60 years telling me I'm socially inept. Give it another 40 years an I might just start believing she's onto something 8) 8)