Should You Spray Paint or Roll Paint on Walls?

Painting interior walls seems like it’s a small issue, but it’s not. Your home can be more valuable and enticing to potential buyers with a better paint job. A poorly done paint job screams terrible DIY.

paint wall
Image by donations welcome from Pixabay

It makes people think if you mess with your home painting work? To get these results, a lot of professionals use paint sprayers. These machines paint the walls by coating them evenly without brush strokes or roller marks.

However, they are expensive, and while they paint the walls faster, it takes a long time to prepare the room. If you are worried about overspray, you have to cover and tape everything. It’ll take a lot more to design than just using a brush and roller.

Here’s A Quick Comparison Between Spray Paint And Roll Paint

Here we’ve gathered some significant differences between the two paints you can use for the walls. But first, before choosing between spray paint and roller paint, let’s get into the write-up to know more about both of them. Have a look at what is Spray and Roller paint means-

●      Spray Paint

If you need faster work, then you can try spray paint. This paint is suited for the exterior walls or empty places as they can spray paint everywhere. If you have no prior experience applying an airless spray, you must think about safety procedures first.

Most people prefer to use latex paint for a spray gun as they are water-based and washable. This can be the best option to spray the latex paint on your walls to get the smoothest finish.

●      Roller Paint

The roller paint is cheaper than the spray paint. When you decide to paint walls or even the entire room, this roller paint can be the best option for you. The most proper technique with a roll is the ‘V letter.’

t’ll help you to cover large surfaces as quickly as possible. This kind of paint is popular in large areas, stains, or other finishes. You can use the paint roller cover with paint roller frames.

Here are the comparison points that will help you to decide which one will be better for you-

●      Preparation Time

Rollering takes far less time to prepare than spraying. Because you don’t have to arrange the spray tools, keep paint in the reservoir, attach hoses and cords, and so on.

●      Application Time

All the effort you spent in processing will be squandered by the amount of time it takes to roll on the paint. A paint sprayer can color a wall many times faster than a roller despite the preparatory time.

●      Speed

If you’re spraying in small areas, then sprayer paint is much faster in every way. However, in a test, we observed that the sprayer gets more advantages in tiny areas.

●      Finishing

You’ll need to cover off whatever you wouldn’t want to get sprayed while spray painting inside walls, such as the ceiling, windows, door, and floor. So rollers are more precise, but corners normally require a little brush.

●      Spreads Paint Evenly

It’s tough to select the winner from here. Both the paint spray and roll paint spread the paint evenly.

●      Number of Coats

While using roll paint, you have to use prime walls before painting. After that, you will require a second coat of paint too. On the other hand, color doesn’t need to apply a second coat when using a sprayer.

●      Ease of Use

Because a roller is user-friendly, no prior experience is required. When it comes to using a sprayer, you’ll have to learn how to do it correctly and efficiently, which can take some time.

●      Equipment Needed

For roll paint, you’ll require a nine-inch roller, an extensive pole for painting the ceiling, tray, tape to mask off alongside drop cloths. On the contrary, for spray paint, you’ll need a sprayer, tape, drop cloths, and a face mask.

●      Clean Up

Cleaning your roller brushes and tools can be time-consuming, but it’s nothing compared to cleaning the spray gun, reservoir bottle, etc., related to the gun.

●      Cautions

Be careful while using a roller to paint walls with a ladder. Meanwhile, use a face mask while painting with spray colors.

When You Should Use A Paint Sprayer

Spray paint has some good sides to use on walls. They are faster to use rather than the other paints. You can use a paint sprayer if these conditions are met with your situation-

●      While The Interior Is Empty Or Outside

When the room is empty, you need to mask some key areas, and you’re ready to go. If your room is in a remodeling situation, then spraying paint will be faster than the rolled paint.

●      If You Paint An Exterior With A Clear Perimeter

Exteriors with sunrooms, playsets, as well as garages close to the home that won’t be painted take a long time to prepare. If your house is surrounded by a clear perimeter, you only need to mask what is on the house, not what is around it.

●      If You Have Several Details And Texture

You can use spray paint for the short work of complex textures. Like popcorn or cottage cheese ceilings, deep exterior textures, cornices, dentils, together with masonry. If you need to paint the narrowest services, laying down a thin coat, then a paint spray can help you out.

●      Spraying Paint Isn’t As Easy As You May Think

If you haven’t used spray paint before, using this paint for the first time can be tricky. This paint will take several trials and errors. As a beginner, you’ll face some issues like dripping, uneven coverage as well as getting paint all over the place. But don’t let those issues stop you.

When You Should Use A Paint Roller

For some painters using a paint roller is old-fashioned, but this is the best painting method for smooth painting. Here are some more conditions to use paint roller-

●      If You Haven’t Used Spray Paint Before

Though using spray paint may seem easy, this can be difficult to learn to do perfectly. If you don’t know how to spray, you can simply go with the paint roller.

●      If You Don’t Like Masking

While spray painting, you have to mask every square inch formally. It’ll get painted like it if you forget to mask any single stuff when spraying. But, you need to mask some critical areas, not like the spray paint painting with a roller.

●      While You’re Only Painting Walls

Are you going to paint walls, not the entire room or ceiling? If you use roller paint, you can simply avoid the ceiling part. You don’t need to use any mask on your ceiling while using the roller.

●      If You Prefer Simplicity

While painting your house, there are some painting supplies that you need ready. They are each made up of four parts: a roller, a cover, a paint tray, as well as a liner. While using spray paint, you need to finish the task at a time as it’s an all-or-nothing project. You can’t start or stop it suddenly while spraying. However, roller paint allows you to put a pause to your painting task.

●      If You Have To Stay Within A Budget

Paint spraying can be a waste of a big amount of paint as when it’s rolling, every drop of paint ends up on the surface. As reported by Products Finishing, they find out that 20% to 50% of spray paint ends up elsewhere rather than the intended areas. All the roller items and the paint are also more inexpensive than the spray one.

●      While You Need To Cover A Dirty Surface

It’s essential to clean the areas thoroughly before painting with spray paint. However, you don’t need to worry about it with the paint roller. If the walls are not clean enough, roll paint can allow leeway and better bonds.

So, Which One Is the Winner?

There is no clear winner between the spray paint and roll paint. Neither has a definite advantage or disadvantage. A spray painting is faster and cheaper, but it takes more time to prepare, and it is more expensive. Spray paint is not suitable for beginners because of its learning curve. At the same time, roll paint allows more control and utilizes less color.

Some professional painters apply a clever technique which is the combination of spray and roll. This is called back-rolling. In this situation, paint is sprayed on your surface and, after that, quickly rolled down. This is the best way to fuse the droplets.

Wrapping Up

While painting your house interior, don’t always pick up the brush. Choose from different methods. If you’re among those people who prefer efficiency, speed, and proper finishing, then you can select from spray paint or roll paint.

Roll paint is excellent for beginners as it’s simple and easy to use. On the other hand, handling the spray paint is hard if you’re unfamiliar with it. This paint can be messy if you don’t wrap all the things during painting. For all these hassles, most people want to use roll paint

Related Posts

Leave a Comment