Help a newbie? What am I doing wrong? [Airless Sprayer]

holybjork

I feel like I might be doing something wrong here. During painting it seems as if I've got this striped pattern on the ceiling from the 30-50% overlap that is recommended while painting. Of course, with all the lighting stripped out, I'm using a 250w halogen from the floor which I'm sure amplifies the issue. In the attached photos the paint is still drying, but I feel like I'm still going to see remnants of the overlap in my paint in the morning - even with sunlight rather than direct light.

Am I spraying too thick? Too thin? Too fast? Too slow? Too close? Too far? Do I just need to have patience wait? Do I need to do another layer of paint (or would that even help)? I watched about a dozen videos, which I know makes me no expert, but I'm desperate to make sure that when I get to the walls they don't look nearly as uneven as the ceilings do right now

I've cleaned the darn thing and it looks like it's spraying properly (no tails or fingers best I could tell - and these seem larger than tails or fingers)

Attached (2 photos):
http://i.imgur.com/YEOu6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rOo3n.jpg

chrisn

What prep did you do, what paint are you using?

What does it look like this morning?

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spraygunn

Hey holybjork,

First off, did you rent the sprayer or do you own it? Secondly, what size tip are you using? It looks to me as though it’s a tip problem. If you rented the unit then it looks like a worn tip. Perhaps the tip is the wrong size. Back rolling while the material is wet should solve the problem.

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Best of Luck
Steve

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holybjork

Not much better : http://imgur.com/a/yoLIh

As for prep work: We scraped popcorn from the ceiling. Cleaned the ceiling. Sprayed on orange peel. Then sprayed a layer of PVA Primer.

Paints being used
Ceilings
- Glidden PVA Primer (1 layer on ceiling after scraping texturing)
- Behr Premium Plus Ceiling Paint (1 layer up as seen in photos)

Walls
- BEHR Premium Plus Ultra Flat (not on the wall yet)

You're right - looks like there are some fingers up there

- Bought - Wagner PaintCrew 770 (seemed to get decent reviews)
- Size 515 - only 10 gallons have been sprayed through it
- Paint said I should use a .015-.017 tip, and the sprayer supported tips up to .015, maybe I'm using the incorrect mesh filter? I think I have a yellow 100 mesh filter in the handle of the gun right now.


Thanks for the replies... I really appreciate it

spraygunn

Hey holybjork,

You have to remember an airless sprayer is only a means of application. If you've been spraying only after you scraped the popcorn off then you have no texture. no stipple on the ceiling. Try back rolling immediately after you spray and let the roller give the ceiling a stipple. If your sprayer doesn't have the power to pump the material then you will get those fingers. Try the back rolling.

P.S. Use no less than a 1/2" nap roller cover.

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Best of Luck
Steve

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holybjork

Thanks for the advice spraygunn - it truly is appreciated. We did spray orange peel texture up on the ceiling - used all purpose joint compound mixed with water to pancake batter thin and sprayed using hopper system. If I decrease the filter to like a 50 or 60 mesh (as I'm now realizing is recommended by Behr) rather than a 100 mesh, would that give me a little boost in pressure coming out as it's not restricting the paint unnecessarily? I plan on giving it one more go tonight in a small room and having someone help me backroll to help even it out as you suggested. If it doesn't work, it might be back to rollers and brushes for me

spraygunn

The filter only protects lumps, crud or spare parts in the material from clogging up the tip. If you replace it with a more course filter you might let some of those through. If your material is clean (strain it first) you don't even need a filter.

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Best of Luck
Steve

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smalpierre

I hardly ever spray anything inside, unless it's an apartment or cheap rental house and everything including trim is getting the same paint.

I agree though, that backrolling will most likely fix your problem.