Exterior Hand Painting vs. Spraying- Spring Painting Tip

“As Stellar See’s It”

While both methods can be effective to certain Surfaces, the ability to evenly distribute paint or thickness of protection across a large surface such as the siding to a Home and most importantly to the bottom lip of these same Siding Boards is best accomplished with an airless when properly used. It takes skill to apply paint with an airless machine or by hand. A Couple of myths about applying paint by airless is 1. That Paint has to be diluted to be sprayed which is absolutely false and 2.  That Applying Paint by Handworks the Paint more into the surface. A Hand can simply not compete with a 3000 PSI Machine that puts out up to 1 GPM. Some additional Points: 1. When Paint is applied by Hand there are going to be different amounts of paint on the roller or brush as the Painter goes back and forth to the Paint Bucket. 2. There will be varying amounts of Hand Pressure to the Brush or Roller as we are not Robots and Natural Fatigue will also contribute to this inconsistency as well. 3. Up Down and Side to Side Ladder Work will make for difficult consistent application of Paint by Hand. Application by Hand is very time consuming and many will make up for the additional needed time by overrunning a House with difficult to manage Crews as large a 6-8 People.  

Applying Paint by hand to Trim Boards or Windows makes sense since they are smaller surface areas where the proper amount of paint can be applied evenly. Bottom line, the airless equipment Industry is a Multimillion-Dollar Successful Industry and in the year 2009 these companies have made available a  productive, appropriate piece of equipment that is designed with the sole purpose of better and more even distribution of Paint vs. years gone by when Painters had no choice but to apply all Paint by Hand.