Paint interior with spray gun or Wagner power roller or other?

AliceT24

I've got a 1200 sq. ft. house that's empty that I need to paint completely inside. Ceilings, walls, trim, doors all need cleaned and painted.

I'm going to use white on the celings and trim, and the same (unchosen as of yet) color on all the walls.

I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help with.

1 - what is the best cleaner to use and the best (easiest) method to use to clean everything?

2 - Is flat paint the best choice for ceilings? It's what I usually use.

3 - I have access to a good quality airless paint sprayer, but I've never used one before. Would using one be fairly easy? Any faster than painting with a roller? I also have an old Wagner power roller that I've used about a half dozen times in the past with good results. I only use it for really big jobs (last one was the outside of a house that had 12" wide siding) because cleanup time is so long. But I do find that on large jobs it is much faster than a regular roller. So I guess my question is would using the paint sprayer be any faster or better than the Wagner power roller?

4 - I've almost always used Behr paint from HD, mainly because there's a HD close by, and open long hours, and the paint is reasonably priced. I know that on internet forums everyone disparages that paint, and most like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams, which are only sold at paint stores (to my knowledge at least) and are a lot more expensive. My question here is - is the quality of the BM or SW paint that much better? Should I go ahead and pay the extra for it? Does the paint job look better or last longer, or go on easier? I do want the house to look as good as possible.

Thanks in advance for any and all responses!

Jackofall1

Welcome AliceT, to the best DIY'r site on the web.

"I'm going to use white on the celings and trim" - Hope you are planning on (2) differenct whites, ceiling white for the ceiling and gloss white for the trim.

1 - what is the best cleaner to use and the best (easiest) method to use to clean everything?

Soap and water and elbow grease, works every time, paint cleanup warm water for latex paint.

2 - Is flat paint the best choice for ceilings? It's what I usually use.

I always go for ceiling white, in a 5 gallon pail, and have used the big box and SW, I really didn't see any differnce.

3 - I have access to a good quality airless paint sprayer, but I've never used one before. Would using one be fairly easy? Any faster than painting with a roller? I also have an old Wagner power roller that I've used about a half dozen times in the past with good results. I only use it for really big jobs (last one was the outside of a house that had 12" wide siding) because cleanup time is so long. But I do find that on large jobs it is much faster than a regular roller. So I guess my question is would using the paint sprayer be any faster or better than the Wagner power roller?

Sprayer are faster if you know what you are doing, lots and lots of overspray, oh did I mention the overspray.

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Plump

Definitely overspray. Cleanup time withe the airless is going to be much less. Love the airless but you'll need to empty the house, tape and plastic everything, etc.

Gymschu

Just keep in mind that an airless sprayer is NOT a magical tool that will paint your ceilings and walls in a magical time frame. Yes, they can make quick work of a paint project, but, if done wrong (wrong technique, defective sprayer, clogs, worn tips, etc.) you can become very frustrated with its' performance. 1200 sq. ft is not a lot of painting and you can make some serious time brushing and rolling. Don't forget all the prep work you have using a sprayer.....i.e. masking windows/woodwork and anything else that may be affected by overspray. Then, when done, proper cleanup takes some time as well.

xraypaint

I try to use flat paint on every ceiling. Large flat areas show imperfections, the paint can flash easier if not experienced and keeping a wet edge it challenging for most occasional painters to get right.