Advice on paint/stain sprayers.

[N80]

I recently got a sawmill. Got some lumber piling up and projects to do. Building a 15' x 30' open sided carport now. Still working on footings.

The wood for most of these projects will be yellow pine that will obviously be untreated. My plan is to stain them heavily and, well, that just sucks with brush and roller.

So I've been looking at 'airless' (whatever that means) sprayers at the big box stores. I don't know anything about them. It looks like $500 is the ballpark figure from what I'm seeing.

Would appreciate advice on these things and/or if there are better alternatives. I do not have an air compressor of any size. Just a couple of basic pancakes. It will not get daily use but hope to be building a good sized shop in the next few years and the cabin is going to need to be stained again before long too.

 

[jaxs]

A garden sprayer will apply stain every bit as fast as an airless and twice as easy to clean up afterwards. Airless is the cat's whiskers for large paint jobs but unless you cut pressure down to minimum you'll loose alot of stain to overspray. If you want a paint sprayer for other projects look at HVLP. You loose very little to overspray and HVLP does a great job with fine finishes like cabinets,furniture,tractors,lawn furniture and such. For a job this size I'd suggest similar to this or they have smaller and larger if you prefer.

 

[dstig1]

Airless sprayers are basically hydraulic pumps where the hydraulic oil is replaced with the paint you are spraying. The pump pressurizes the paint to a few thousand Psi into a reinforced hose. And at the end of the hose is a tiny orifice on a gun designed to atomize the paint into a consistent pattern. They are best for spraying latex paint and other thick stuff that most traditional sprayers won't spray, or won't do well with. I wouldn't use one with thin finishes but would go to an HVLP like jaxs suggested. So a lot depends on how thick is the stuff you want to spray?

 

[Roadworthy]

Bear in mind if you go airless (and they do work well, other than overspray) the longer the hose the more material will be wasted when you clean up. There may be more volume inside the hose than you realize.

 

[mikester]

My log builder got me into using cheap $20 spot sprayers to flood the surface and back brush with a wide soft bristle brush. No power required, works good.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/2-gallon-spot-sprayer/product/PA0008523078

 

[N80]

Thanks guys.

 

[gstrom99]

I bought a Graco and used it once. Too much leftover paint wasted and it's more of a pain than it's worth.

https://www.menards.com/main/paint/paint-sprayers-applicators/airless-paint-sprayers-power-rollers/graco-reg-magnum-reg-project-painter-trade-plus-trueairless-reg-paint-sprayer/257025/p-1444431547650-c-8142.htm?tid=140757690072602294&ipos=3

 

[Skagit]

I bought a Graco X5 and it's awesome, worth every penny. The only thing I don't like about it is you spend more time setting up and cleaning it when you're done than you do painting. It does a much nicer job than a roller and brush and it's way faster.

 

[N80]

Well, I tried using a garden sprayer. No go. Stain too thick. Messy and wasteful.

 

[jaxs]

Hopefully you didn't spend more than $20 on it and can spray pesticides with it in the future. Maybe you should use a different stain or rent an airless for a day to see how you like it before spending a few hundred and risk disappointment. Majority professional fence builders use garden sprayers around here due to having help with no painting experience.