Brush painting has long been considered the traditional way to paint your home. Since back in the day, the brush used to be the main “power tool” designed for the job, most people who like to stick to tradition still prefer it today.
However, is the speed and the ability to cover tricky spots that define sprayer painting actually better than the traditional approach? Or should you just stick to your brush instead of using sprayer painting to seemingly ease your job? The answer might be more difficult to find than we can imagine at first.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Both Methods
Brush painting might seem like the way to go for some, since it allows for a quicker start time, less masking and better attention to detail. Using a brush will also allow you to customize the thickness of your coating over specific areas, and provide you with a means to gauge the amount of paint you use per square foot.
On the other hand, brush painting can be more physically demanding for homeowners, and it can also be somewhat slower, depending on the painting method as well as the type of paint that you use.
The main benefit of spray painting is that it allows you to cover some of the most difficult locations with remarkable ease. With the help of a sprayer, you can get through various obstructions such as wires, pipes and utility lines more quickly and easily. Moreover, sprayer painting tends to be much faster than brush painting, once you’ve masked and taped everything up, and is what a professional Highlands Ranch painting company uses.
The disadvantage of sprayer painting is that the cover up can be more difficult, since everything within several feet has to be covered thoroughly. Also, spraying actually uses about three times as much paint as brush painting, since the sprayer turns the paint into tiny droplets, not all of which end up on the surface of your home’s exterior, where you want them.
Using Less Paint While Spraying or Brush Painting
The showdown between sprayer and brush painting ultimately has to do with the amount of paint you can end up using with each method. If you can somehow lower the amount of paint used while spray painting, that method will actually be more efficient and beneficial than brush painting.
Brush painting can normally allow you to reduce the amount of paint you use to about 1 gallon per 400 square feet or even more. Although this is largely an estimation, most homeowners who have tried this method agreed that it was true. The thickness of the paint you use is basically the only factor that can increase the amount of paint you have to use per square feet.
However, there are ways to improve the 1:3 ratio associated with sprayer painting, which would normally require about a gallon of paint per 150-200 square feet. By avoiding using the sprayer painting method during windy days, making sure you pump the remaining paint back into the can after finishing the job, and standing closer to the surface of the wall while painting, you can normally lower the amount you have to use with this method to a considerable extent.