Paint Sprayers Vs Paint Rollers – What’s The Difference?
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Should I use paint sprayers or paint rollers? I have heard this question a lot of times. Some people use roller painter and some use spray guns. These two tools have their own pros and cons and depending on how experienced you are with one or the other, you will choose the one that you know it will give you a good color quality.
But what if you never used a spray gun or roller painters in your life? Which one should you choose? Well, we can’t answer that question for you, all we can do is write all the pros and cons for each of these tools and hope that will help you decide which one to get.
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What are paint sprayers?
We have talked about spray guns a lot of times on this website. In fact, we recommend people to stop hiring professionals to re-paint their furniture and to start learning more about spray guns and how to use them.
Even that paint sprayers are great and will help you complete the job a lot of times faster that doesn’t mean you should go with them. Just like every tool on market spray guns have their cons too.
The biggest reason why some people decide to go with paint rollers instead of spray guns is the price. Paint sprayers cost 5x and some cost even 10x more than a normal paint roller. And this doesn’t stop here …
Paint sprays tend to use a lot more paint than paint rollers (which means you will have to spend more money on buying more paint). Some spray guns use up to 2 or 3 more paint than a normal paint roller does. Some of the spray guns tend to over-spray the object, especially the airless spray gun.
Airless spray guns use a lot of pressure which helps to get the job done faster, but it also uses more paint and if you are inexperienced and accidentally put your finger near the tip you will end up getting infected because the paint has lots of hazardous toxins.
Read more: Find The Best Small Airless Paint Sprayer
But there are exceptions when it comes to over-spray, especially if you use HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) spray gun. HVLP spray guns are designed to not spend a lot of paint, and they help to keep the environment safe since all the paint goes to the surface you are working and not on air.
But, you can’t compare them when it comes to speed. You may spend hours painting an object with paint rollers but with spray guns, you would complete the same job in a few minutes.
And don’t make me start about the color quality. The color quality you get with paint sprayers doesn’t compare to paint rollers. Paint sprayers make the object look new, while with paint rollers you can see that it was repainted. Also, paint sprayers can be used for more tasks. You can use paint sprayers to paint your kitchen, car, etc.
Paint Sprayers Tips
We talked about the pros and cons of paint sprayers (mostly cons). So, if you decide to go for paint sprayers here are some tips you should follow to get better at using them and to get a better color quality!
- Practice a lot – Don’t do the mistake a lot of people do. Don’t get the spray gun and start spraying things around the house without practicing first. You can practice on an object that you don’t need or use anymore or if you don’t have any object that you don’t use, try to practice at some paper (A0) or at old magazines.
- Protect things around – A big mistake that people do is that they don’t protect the other objects around. If you use spray guns especially airless spray guns you will know that a lot of paint floats on the air. So every time before starting to paint something make sure to cover all other objects near you.
- Move your spray gun – You don’t want to over-spray your object, right? Then just move the spray gun around and don’t leave it spraying at the same place for too long.
- Test before using it – You need to test if you spray gun has enough water and if you are using enough pressure. So just before spraying your object make sure to test the paint spray on an object that you don’t need. You have to do this every time you want to spray something.
- Keep the distance – Just like I said that you need to move the spray gun a lot, but also make sure to keep the distance. You don’t want to be too close to the object since that can over-spray the object and you don’t want to be too far from the object. So, when you decide to spray something with spray gun make sure to be at least 10 or 12 inches away.
What are paint rollers?
They are mostly used when you want to paint a larger area such as your wall, your floor. But they are really time-consuming. If you decide to repaint your walls it will take you a few hours and maybe days to complete the tasks depending on how big the wall is.
You can use different techniques such as the “V” technique to get better and faster results but still, they are not even near the speed of paint sprayers
Another downside about paint rollers is that they are “messy”. If you want to paint something in your room then you will have to cover everything in your room including the floor in order to protect your things to get accidentally painted.
Paint Rollers Tips
We included some pros and cons for paint rollers (mostly cons). If you decide to go for paint rollers instead of spray guns then here are some tips you need to follow in order to get your job done faster and better!
- Prepare yourself – You will have to prepare yourself that you will be spending a lot of your time on painting walls if you decide to use paint rollers.
- Don’t rush things – Since you will spend a lot of time painting eventually you will feel tired or nervous. When that moment comes, try to rest or just end the job for that day and put your roller in the fridge (wrapped with a plastic bag). Don’t try to rush things, if you do that you will end up with a bad quality color, and you will have to do the repaint process all over again.
- Start small – We all know that you want to complete the job as fast as possible. But trying to cover all space for a short time and get a quality color won’t be possible. So instead just try to set yourself a goal to complete a small part of your surface for one hour.
- Know your space – If you are working on a small surface you don’t need to bring a bucket for paint instead you can just use roller tray. But if you have to work in a big space then it’s better to use buckets for your paint.
The verdict
The truth is that both paint sprayers and paint rollers have their pros and cons. I’m more a fan of paint sprayers (HVLP, Low-volume Low-pressure paint sprayers, Airless spray gun ). I know spray guns cost more but as they say “ Time is Money”
But that doesn’t mean I don’t use paint rollers or that you shouldn’t
It all depends on what you are gonna use it.
Do you want to paint your walls or floor? Use paint rollers
Do you want to paint your car? Use paint sprayers.
Which one will save me more money? Paint Rollers
Which one is harder to use? Well, they are both hard but I think roller painters need a little more experience in order to get a good color quality. But paint sprayers are also hard to use. So, if you never used one before then make sure to check our post on the best easy to use paint sprayers.
Final Words
No matter which one you get you still will have to do a lot of testing and you need to practice a lot. One thing is sure that you will save a lot of money if you decide to do it by yourself and not hire an experienced painter.
But, if you just can’t figure out how to use paint rollers or paint sprayers then it’s better to hire an experienced painter to do the job.
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