HELP!!! Need Advice ASAP:Exterior painting-spray vs. roller
Painters are schedualled for next week. Looking for advice as to whether to have the exterior paint sprayed or roller/brushed. Which will give the longer lasting paint job? Pros and cons of both....thanks, r powell[/url] :shock:
I need the same information as well. I want the best protection but also to make sure the edges on the grooves keep their clean lines over time.
I certainly appreciate how certain service providers are so willing to help out on this forum. Thanks Randy at Dura-Foam and Jeff at Eichler Siding - it speaks volumes that you are investing some time to help us out. There may be others as well. It would certainly be nice to hear the expertise of our painting friends. Anyway...
I hope it's not too late, but whatever you do, if you must spray, make sure they make an effort to mask everything.
I had my house painted by a really good contractor in 2000. The first time since I owned the house was brushed about 1995. The second time, the foreman made a mistake and started to paint the ceiling wood planks that extended outside. He had to waste half a day removing all that paint and to make up for the time, he sprayed the siding. While this contractor is very reputable, the owner told me that foreman was not on his favorites list. So he could have been fired. Anyway, the spray job was good for the most part, except where he was not holding a guard very well and overspray got on the ceiling wood planks in the atrium area. That really was unfortunate as the ceiling planks still have the original transparent stain. However, on the wood ceiling planks that are in the external areas, the stain had faded and discolored and he did a really good matching it. Even used the same brand originally used if I am not mistaken. But the overspray remians, it's a pity.
The other reason they want to spray I bet is to get paint into the grooves. This past weekend I painted brand new Plank Tex Eichler siding that was installed on a portion of my house. It was tough to get paint in all the grooves and texture which are deeper then original a tad. I used a roller and brush.
I am far from being an expert, but I don't think that the longevity of the paint job differs in based on the material being applied by roller, brush or spray. It is my understanding that it is the underlying surface preparation that makes the difference.
Seems like many painters nowadays just hit the old surface with a pressure washer and call it done. As I understand it, any loose, chipped or cracked old paint needs to be removed down to a firm substrate. If you go down to bare wood, then it definitely needs a good primer coat too. And any old paint that is firmly attached and still protecting the stuff under it needs to be sanded to provide a good mechanical bond. All that take lots of time (labor, money) and is what makes the difference in how long the paint job lasts.
All depends on the surface being painted, so the answer must be taylored to that.
Since there are groves and voids inside of those groves:
Rolling won't get inside the groves.
Spraying can, but only in one direction, so they must change directions, else there will be a shadowing affect. This will waste paint. Plus the over spray as noted above.
Brush application is the only way I do it. Proper loading up of the brush and "pushing" paint into the voids are a must.
They should probably spray, then brush. No other way to get into all the grooves and they'd charge a fortune to do everything by brush.
I have done both, I have found roll and brush to put the best coverage down, but spray gets the cracks IF YOU HAVE A GOOD PAINTER..otherwise, you get some pretty thin coverage.
