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I am interested in any tips or tricks you can share on how to spray paint the exterior siding of a house using an airless sprayer. I will be using the Ryobi Airless Paint Spray Station, which has a 1/2 hp motor, and comes with a reversible spray tip type .415 that by default sprays an 8" span. I will be spraying rough cedar siding the same existing color. This is a maintenance job, since the existing paint is in fairly good condition. The paint will be the Porter Acri-Shield exterior latex paint, which is what's on there now, but is definitely thick.So specifically, I'm wondering about:1. I will be standing on a roof to do part of the spraying, so the paint will have to traverse the full 25' of the hose at that point.2. I am concerned about overspraying; I don't want to see part of my chimney painted because it abuts the siding. I purchased a Wagner paint spray shield to help with that.3. Ryobi says I don't need to dilute the paint with their sprayer, but I'm dubious.4. I'm not sure if I sure how much overlap each stroke should have. From what I've seen it looks like you feather just like you would with a roller.Any and all information is welcome, as I've never done airless spraying before, only brush or roller. Thanks!
Already Tried: Just planning the work.
I have painted and repainted my own home and worked with a professional doing so. The thing to keep in mind is this. The spraying of the paint is simply a great and quick way to get the paint from the bucket to the wall. The actual technique is not so important because you will still use a roller and brush to back roll and to cut in around things, chimney etc. Also, the biggest part of the job is preparation. Make sure you have drop cloths where you don't want overspray, and make sure you use plastic and tape on all windows, doors, chimneys etc.
Once the prep work is done, you can then begin applying the paint with the sprayer and after doing a ten to 15 foot section, grab the roller and back roll everything to blend it and clean up the heavy spots and coat the light spots.
thanks for the quick answer and the tips.
Back rolling makes sense, but it seems like it's creating extra work and negating the point of saving time.
It actually goes very quickly since the paint is there on the wall already, most of the time spent just rolling and brushing is getting the paint from the bucket to the wall. There are certain places where just spraying is okay, such as eves and cut up areas, but when you are dealing with a large flat wall the spraying will not ever look even unless it is back rolled.
Experience: owned and operated stove retail and service 12 yrs