Rolling vs. spraying paint on your Boston-area exterior

Rolling versus spraying paint on your South Shore or Boston-area home

There are benefits to both spraying and rolling your interior or exterior – let’s review them:

Paint spraying:

-Is a faster way to paint your exterior or an empty interior.
-Spraying requires extensive preparation of the surface before it is started.
-Spraying requires plastic masking to areas that will not be painted.

Our team in action – Video of Exterior Spraying

Paint Sprayer in Action – Video of Interior Spraying

Paint rolling:

Is more labor-intensive, but lays on the paint and “pushes” it into the substrate.

Paint spraying with back rolling – the best of both techniques:

Spraying quickly lays on a layer of paint.
Back rolling “pushes” the paint spray into the substrate to penetrate better.

For exteriors, we spray paint on the home’s exterior and back-roll the paint.  This allows us to paint faster (and less expensively for our customers) while providing a quality coat of paint using the back-rolling technique.

Will spraying an exterior home with paint last as long as rolling the same house?

Yes, spraying with back-rolling lasts as long as a home that is only rolled.

What are the precautions needed for spraying the exterior of a home?

You will need to get your vehicles out of the way, so no overspray gets onto them.

We cannot spray on a windy day because the paint spray can carry over to your neighbor’s homes, which we don’t want to happen.

No matter how well we spray, we’ll still touch up with brushes and rollers:

Spraying helps us paint large swaths at a time, but spraying is terrible for painting smaller, intricate areas.  This is why you’ll see our painters using brushes and rollers around small areas of your exterior, like corners and molding, even if we spray.

Spraying empty interiors:

Our Commercial clients often ask us to spray inside of their empty interiors as it is a quicker and less expensive way to paint inside.  All painters using a spray gun are trained and wear PPE to avoid inhaling the paint and fumes.

Rolling paint for interiors that are occupied:

Because most of the painting we do is in owner-occupied spaces, we generally roll paint on interior walls, ceilings, and trim and touch up with paint brushes.

You also might like to read:

Day-by-day journal of an exterior home that was sprayed

Our exterior painting process

Carpentry services to repair wood before we paint for you

Paint vs. stain – which one should I choose for my Boston-area exterior?

Working with our free color consultant to choose exterior or interior colors

Paint brands and grades we recommend

Hope this helps – if you have any questions, contact us at [email protected]. We’re happy to answer your questions, even if you’re painting your home yourself.