Newbie here - question about renting a paint sprayer

Hi everyone,

I found this forum while researching paint sprayers, and it would seem that there's a lot of smarts here. :)

I have to paint my basement walls & floor. The walls are fieldstone. I did this once before by hand (about 9-10 years ago), and refuse to go through that again. :eek: If I recall, it took me about 8-10 hours to get one coat of paint up, due to the heavy contours of the stone.

So my debate is should I rent or buy a sprayer. My local rent-all place charges $85/day. I'm finding reconditioned Spraytechs for $185 plus $20 s/h. My concern with a rental unit is that there are no instructions (and I've never used a sprayer before), and I have no idea how well the sprayer has been maintained. I keep reading about how crucial it is that these sprayers be kept clean to avoid clogs... and I worry that previous renters may have had that "ah, who cares - it's a rental!" attitude. The last thing I need is the headache of trying to do the maintenance that someone else failed to do.

So am I being paranoid (as usual!)? I should also add that the house needs painting, but I'm not sure if a sprayer is the way to go (clapboard siding). So beyond this project, I cannot think of anything off-hand that the sprayer would be used for. But gosh, I sure would like to have a brand-new sprayer to play with!

TIA!

- Erika

The rental stores i use are pretty good about maintence and most will give you tips on how to use them. The problem you may have is the amount of paint that will be in the air in your basement. You probably would be covered in it. If you go that route use a resperator and look into a hvlp sprayer to reduce blow back.

If you don't maintain them, and return them to the rental house clogged, you can lose your deposit. (normally replacement cost of one).

My BIL wishes he had made his sister rent one, rather then loaning her his, as she returned it in such a manner.

When my personal airless went belly-up I debated whether to buy a new one or rent one to spray about 500' of 8' fence. I ended up renting one at Lowe's for about $60 for 4 hours. The sprayer was much better quality (it was an Airlessco) than I could afford to spend if I had purchased a new one and did a fantastic job of spraying. When I was finished all I had to do was run some clean water through it and return it for my deposit return. If it had been my own I'd have had to spend an hour or so cleaning it (I always took my gun apart to clean the small parts) and then run some conditioner through it also. Renting saved me at least an hour labor. If you are only going to use the sprayer once or twice a year, as I do, you will be way ahead of the game by renting one. If you decide to buy your own don't buy a cheap one. Expect to pay at least $700 for even a half way decent one.

Try renting for this project to see if you really want to own one. Keep this in mind:

1) Rent it for the full day - there is a bit of a learning curve and the cleaning and flushing will take some time.

2) The inexpensive ones tend to work well for spraying stain on fencing, but can leave tracks on the edges when trying to spray thicker waterbased paint.

3) Mask everything in the room that you don't want paint on.

4) Mask before you rent the sprayer, it will take longer to mask than to spray.

5) Mix your paint well and use a strainer for any paint that you use - every time.

6) Be sure to prime with the appropriate material before you apply the paint.

7) Keep moving. It will be better if you have to put on a second coat than to try to go too heavy and have runs everywhere.

8) Wear a real paint respirator. The fog from the suspended particles will damage your lungs.

9) That's all I can think of right now, but there are about 9 more things that you will figure out the hard way. With the contours of the rock, I think that you really should use airless (as opposed to hand painting), but hvlp would work well with the right unit and orifice/needle combo.

Good luck!

RC

Eric, the sprayers are very easy to clean. You only have to worry about damaging it and paying a repair cost which would still be less than the cost of a new one. Check into hvlp.

Argh!!!! :D

I asked for advice & I sure got it (j/k). I cannot find a Lowes that rents tools near me, and HD wants $80/day (and that location is 1/2 hour drive, compaired to the local rental asking $85/day which is nearby).

I'm beginning to think that the costs of renting, the prep, the additional protective gear (resp. $25-$40), the cleanup... maybe I should just suck it up and go with a brush. It's good exercise, right? ;) When I painted the last time, I also tuck pointed the entire basement & went through about 8 sacks of mortar. Watching a 120-pound woman carry an 80-pound sack of Quikrete is not a pretty site. In the scheme of things, handpainting is easy compared to that.

But dangit, the paint sprayer sounded like fun. Rats. :(

Eric;
I'm not sure how heavy the countors are or if there are joints but you may be better off with a 3/4 or 1 in nap roller. I have painted some very heavily texture stucco this way. You need to keep the roller wet and go back every few minutes to look for runs. Try it in a section when you start and see how it works. The cost of the roller pad is small.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keith ouellette

Eric;
I'm not sure how heavy the countors are or if there are joints but you may be better off with a 3/4 or 1 in nap roller. I have painted some very heavily texture stucco this way. You need to keep the roller wet and go back every few minutes to look for runs. Try it in a section when you start and see how it works. The cost of the roller pad is small.

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Hey Keith - I'm a girlperson! ;)

The contours are pretty extreme (avg. 2" peaks & valleys. Picture a lovely stone fireplace facade). I tuck pointed previously in order to help level things out because it was much worse than this, but I'd have to use 10 more sacks to bring the level up to where a roller would work. Just one of the quirks of a 164-year-old house.

I rented an hvlp sprayer to do some finish work on woodworking after hearing about how great they work. Easier, faster and better than a brush.
Well between driving to the store, unpacking it and getting ready, stopping to pick up the kids, getting back to it, then grabbing a bite to eat than getting the first coat on and light sanding. The first day was gone and I had to return it.
Luckily the store applied the rental to the purchase price and now I am the proud owner of a nice titan hvlp system that can paint anything.
The thing I hated about renting was the stress of having to get everything done in the alotted time.

Now I can put 3 coats of lacquor on a cabinet in less than an hour, with a finish better than I have ever done before.
I've painted automotive parts, came out great. I have not tried latex yet.
I spent about 800 for everything, hvlp turbine, hose, gun, plastic cups and lids, etc.
There is no cleanup time with this system. Throw out the cup and lid and run a little thinner through the gun.
I might not use it alot, but when I do, holy crap, I love it.

I am in the middle of a plantation shutter project. There are 8 panels in all. I decided early on to purchase a Turbinaire 745 from Woodcraft when it came on sale.

So far, I have one coat of primer and three coats of paint. I'm now at the finishing point. The last two coats will probably fill a day.

There is a learning curve to spraying, but it doesn't seem to be impossible to learn. By the third coat of paint, I'm not an expert, but the results are quite good -- way better than a brush.

The best recommendation is to do many light coats as this will avoid runs and sags.

Overall, if the job is small, the time spent setting up will be more than the time to paint by brush. However, if you have a project that requires a lot of surface area to cover (like these plantation shutters), spraying makes complete sense.

In the future, I will spray if the job is a medium size.

As far as paint/stain/finish, cleanup of an HVLP isn't really difficult -- but you do have to get it clean. All paint is limited to the spray gun. With a very high quality latex enamel, it takes about 10-15 minutes to clean at the end of a spray session. Oil based finishes will be similar, but you'll go through a lot of solvent.

Just my thoughts after the first big project. Hope this helps...

I got a whale of a deal on a Titan airless from a paint sprayer repair house. They had replaced the motor but the owner never came back. I got a unit that retailed for about $1000 for $500. I've painted my house, and also used it to make some money painting for others. It's paid for itself at least five times.

In addition to the respirator, wear a hat.

Sorry about that Erika. I tend to speed read and didn't get to the end of your name. If you have a good air compressor you can get a cheep hvlp gun for your project. If not try a combo of roller and brush. I have done brick with deep joints ( not as deep as yours) that way and it saves a lot of time. Roll on an area and then work it in to spots you missed with a brush. I remember field stone being relatively flat as far as stones go. It may work out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Erika Stimac

Hi everyone,

I found this forum while researching paint sprayers, and it would seem that there's a lot of smarts here. :)

I have to paint my basement walls & floor. The walls are fieldstone. I did this once before by hand (about 9-10 years ago), and refuse to go through that again. :eek: If I recall, it took me about 8-10 hours to get one coat of paint up, due to the heavy contours of the stone.

So my debate is should I rent or buy a sprayer. My local rent-all place charges $85/day. I'm finding reconditioned Spraytechs for $185 plus $20 s/h. My concern with a rental unit is that there are no instructions (and I've never used a sprayer before), and I have no idea how well the sprayer has been maintained. I keep reading about how crucial it is that these sprayers be kept clean to avoid clogs... and I worry that previous renters may have had that "ah, who cares - it's a rental!" attitude. The last thing I need is the headache of trying to do the maintenance that someone else failed to do.

So am I being paranoid (as usual!)? I should also add that the house needs painting, but I'm not sure if a sprayer is the way to go (clapboard siding). So beyond this project, I cannot think of anything off-hand that the sprayer would be used for. But gosh, I sure would like to have a brand-new sprayer to play with!

TIA!

- Erika

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Erika
If it were me, I would buy the unit. You may not need it all that much, but use it a couple of times in a couple of years and its paid for itself. That and you aren't in a rush to return it, you use it as you like. You have gotten some good advice so far, I would add that it will go through more paint than a brush or roller, but it will make the job a quick one once you actually start spraying.

I picked up a refurb spraytech airless unit from GleemPaint.com. Not sure of the model number, think it was a 5/8 hp unit. It may be a step under what they rent but I couldn't tell the difference. I have rented one to paint the whole interior of a house I built a while back. Rented it on a Saturday and kept it for the one day charge till Monday morning (there is a trick to keep in mind) and shot about 45 gallons of paint all told. I wouldn't want to even think about what it would have taken to roll the paint on those walls. Even back then I wished I had bought a rig instead of renting, I could have used it several times in the interim. Live and learn.