Pros Never Use Rollers to Paint – What Do They Know That You Don’t?

Have you ever hired painters to paint the interior of your house? If so, you might have noticed that 95% of them don’t use a roller like you and I. They use an air-pressured paint sprayer. Do you know why they use a sprayer instead of a roller? The paint goes on smoother and looks better.

I decided to hire a painter that was willing to let me paint alongside him so that I could learn the secrets of the spray painting technique. It was pretty eye-opening. I’ll share below the three tips from a professional painter that make all the difference in the world when you do your own painting.

Here I am all suited up and ready to go. This type of protective gear probably isn’t necessary unless you are going to spray paint a ceiling.

Tip 1 – Preparation Is More Important Than Painting

Preparing to paint takes a lot more time than actually painting, if it’s done properly. I’m going to break it down into steps because I’ve always found that I under-prepare my rooms and they look sloppy.

• Move all the furniture out of the room, if possible. If not, move all the furniture into the center of the room and drape it with a sheet of plastic or a drop cloth. This includes furniture that is attached to the wall like televisions and floating shelves.
• Take down all art and window coverings, drapes shades etc. Also remove the window hanging hardware from the walls.
• Tape off or remove all switch plates, outlet covers and doorknobs. If you remove the switch plate covers be sure to use painters tape and tape over the plugs. If you remove door knobs, be sure to put paper and tape inside the hole left behind.
• Cover the floor. We covered the floor with plastic, and taped it down on every side. Paint has a way of getting under everything, so don’t just tape it in certain spots. You want to seal off the floor.
• Tape off any windows and tape plastic over the glass. Put paper and tape down the space under the doorway so paint doesn’t spray into the next room.
• If your room has wood trim, base boards or crown molding, cover and tape off all of the wood trim using brown paper or plastic rolls to cover (sold at home Depot or Lowes).
• If you are not painting the ceiling the same color as the walls, tape up a paper barrier so you can spray all the way to the top of the walls. You can use the same paper or plastic rolls to get a 1 foot barrier on the ceiling.

I like to use this 1.5 foot brown paper for the windows and around the bottom of the floor. I use plastic sheeting on the floor and LOTS of tape.

Tip 2 – The Right Equipment Makes A Big Difference

There are lots of inexpensive paint sprayers on the market. If you are just painting one room it might not be worth the investment to get a top-of-the-line sprayer. But using a sprayer that has a wand instead of one that requires you to hold up a jug of paint while you spray is worth the extra expense.

Hand-held sprayers hold the paint right underneath the nozzle, which would be very tiring if you are painting a large area. These are made more for painting furniture or cabinets.

If I had more than two rooms to paint, I would consider buying or renting one of these more powerful paint sprayers. The disadvantage of renting a sprayer is that you might need to run water through before using to make sure the previous user cleaned it properly.

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• Graco top of the line paint sprayer.
• Graco hand held sprayer – The lower priced Wagner paint sprayer might require you to think the paint because it is less powerful.

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Tip 3 – Using Good Paint Means Using Less Paint

Every brand has multiple grades of paint. At Home Depot it’s Behr, but there are so many different grades of Behr paint. Some can be $45 a gallon and some are $20 a gallon. The more expensive kind is hard to swallow, but it covers so much better that you might come out ahead.

I’ve always been cheap when it came to buying paint, but this time the painter told me exactly what kind of paint to purchase – Behr Marquee. I’ve painted many rooms in my day. The room we painted was an average size 9-12.

All the guides said 1-2 gallons, but we were also painting the ceiling so I guessed 3. This paint covered so well that it took less than 2 gallons.

If there is a Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore color that you love, Home Depot has all of the color formulas and their top of the line paint is much cheaper.

I hope these three tips help you if you’re about to embark on a big painting project.