Paint sprayer to paint fence?

[HoneyChild]

A while ago I was painting a section of fence using a brush and it took absolutely ages. I've decided I want to do more fencing in the garden but can't bare the thought of having to do it all with a brush as it will take forever.

I've heard that a sprayers are much quicker and easier to use but when I look at the reviews they are very mixed. With so many fake reviews on the internet it's difficult to know who to trust. Also the people who didn't do well with them may just have not been reading the instructions properly or used paint that was too thick.

Does anyone have any experience of paint sprayers? I was thinking of buying Tacklife SGP15AC but just wanted to check here before I buy it.

Thanks.

[Mikey]

Sorry, no idea I'm a brusher rather than a sprayer. About 20 years ago while working for the council as a summer job I single handedly undercoated and 3 top coats painted the bridge into Hay on Wye all 68 panels of it, and by the look of google maps it needs doing again!!!

Switch off, pop the radio on and learn the Ralph Macchio paint the fence technique it's very good for blocking karate blows you know.

[nickdub]

I reckon a sprayer will work fine as long as it is reasonably powerful - I'd probably go for a mains electric one, as long as you can get a cord to reach it.

bare in mind that you may need to thin whatever you are spraying-on, so water based will be easiest, that leaving the kit around in the middle of the job will almost certainly lead to problems and that a thorough clean by spraying just tap water through at the end, will hopefully mean the kit will be good for another time.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have had an Erbauer high volume/low pressure (the easiest type to use) and have had no problems it does exactly what it says on the tin and at £37-50 plus vat its not expensive either.

Go onto Screwfix's site and search code 11628 and have a look.

[HoneyChild]

Thanks for the responses. TBH, the amount of time I've spent reading about the topic I could've done a lot of the work by now, LOL.

The Erbauer looks good but it's £54.99 inc VAT which is a tad more than I hoped to pay. The Tacklife is £36.97. It's not as powerful (400W vs 700W) but I've watched video demos of it and it seems to be good enough for what I want.

At the moment I'm supposed to be studying so will return to this later.

[chillithyme]

If you go for the spray method just be careful when you get to the top,as it will go over. Our neighbours had somebody spray their fence and our patio,furniture and back doors and windows were covered in it. If not removed straight away,tough and laboursome to remove. Luckily our washing was in and the back door shut.

[HoneyChild]

That's a very good point chillithyme and one that I've considered. Luckily the fence I'm particularly keen in painting is next to a workshop. Also, the design of the fence has two horizonal planks of wood with verticle slats attached to it alternating front and back. I've already done one tiny section in another part of the garden and it was soul destroying.

Here is a photo of what I'm talking about...

[veggiechicken]

Won't the spray go straight through the fence? I can see that sapling though the slats.

[4Shoes]

Hang a tarp or a bit of plastic over the back. Even if you have to touch up the top middle bits - it will be faster than a big clear up and clean job


i.e. plastic / tarp between 2 battens dropped into gap at top of the fence rails.

[nickdub]

Some will go through, but as long as you spray at an angle to the fence, rather than straight on, mostly it will be OK and a lot quicker than a brush.

[elsie-scot]

We got a fence round back garden last year and decided to buy a sprayer. It was the cheapest Wagner one, although have gone up in price. It had good reviews. I think we paid £40, and it will definitely last.

We covered ground at base of fence as we went along, but didn't need to cover anything on other side of fence. Although I would cover anything edible or precious.

One of us used the sprayer while the other painted tops of slats and any tricky bits. I was quite slow spraying, and found the mask and goggles annoying, but so much better than painting it all.

You need to make sure paint is thin enough, we could only get Ronseal fence paint locally and that worked.

[HoneyChild]

Well for better or worse I went for the Tacklife. It shouldn't be a problem to go round to the other side of the fence with a sheet of some sort so I don't think that will be a problem. Also the paint I've got is Ronseal and it says it's sprayable so hopefully I won't have to thin it much (if at all.)

We also might use it to paint the roughcast of the house so hopefully it will be money well spent.

[Aberdeenplotter]

If you go for the spray method just be careful when you get to the top,as it will go over. Our neighbours had somebody spray their fence and our patio,furniture and back doors and windows were covered in it. If not removed straight away,tough and laboursome to remove. Luckily our washing was in and the back door shut.

An ex neighbour at our last house asked if he could spray his side of the dividing fence with an electric sprayer. I said yes provided he put something behind the fence to catch any over spray. He then sprayed the fence without anything behind and also sprayed our side door, our wheelie bins, the house wall and also an old turnip slicer (we call them neep hashers) which came from my grannie's farm after she died. My better half had spent hours and hours sanding, cleaning and repainting it. The spray was brown. The air was blue

[Potstubsdustbins]

I agree AP the drift affect is a lot more than people realise, well until after the event.

I use Ronseal sprayable and did need to thin it, it is not a problem and you should get a little cup to measure the viscosity of the mix.

[chillithyme]

Honeychild that does not look like too much fun especially when restricted for time

I've not used a spray myself, vc may be right, if there are gaps in the slats then it could go through with the spray, I know it definitely goes over the top easily, though that may have been due to the type of spray being used, and the person using it.

maybe somebody who has used a fence spray is better to advise, we normally paint a section at a time when doing long fences

Best of luck