Increase Your Painting Speed

The key to improving production is not to race around the job site with sweat pouring off your brow. The key to improving your painting speed is effieciency, making smart choices in terms of materials and timing - i.e. by working smart.

Spraying

This article is not going to be about spraying. Yes, spraying will increase your producton rate, but I want to delve a little deeper and take a little different angle on production than just start up the sprayer. I want to discuss a few things that will increase your painting speed and production in an interior repaint scenario.

One Coat

One of the most important things to address is the paint you use. The reason you should use the very best paint is not only because it washes up nicely and has a twenty year warranty, but most high quality paints have a lot of titanium dioxide in them which is the primary "hiding" pigment in paint. The more titanium dioxide the better the hiding or coverage. Titanium dioxide is an expensive pigment, so don't expect to get great hiding (in one coat) from cheap paint. Cheap paint doesn't have the "guts" (ingredients) that higher priced paints have.

Now it goes without elaborating too much on the subject that the job will go faster if you only do it once (one coat) as opposed to twice. Pay extra for the paint and paint it once, rather than save five dollars and paint it twice.

Develop speedy patching methods

Patching must be done before painting can begin. Learn to develop quick patching methods. Use quick setting drywall compounds, use 15 minute setting compounds if possible, use a hair dryer in combination with the 15 minute setting compound when necessary. Learn to use drywall clips for splicing in drywall for holes. Above all, use dust free sanding methods. It makes no sense, and it is not fast or productive, to create a huge sanding dust mess that will have to be cleaned up in the end.

Good Planning

One important factor in fast and productive painting is simply planning. Do your first coat of drywall compound on your wall patches, then paint the ceiling, then come back and put your second coat of compound on the patches, then go clean and degloss the trim, then come back and put your final coat on the wall patches, and prime your trim while this is drying etc......

Good planning will make or break the job. Take a minute to plan the work in the morning. Take a minute at lunch time to plan the sequence of events for the afternoon.

Pressure Rolling / Spray

Alright, I have to at least mention spraying. One sure way to increase production is to use an airless sprayer. Airless sprayers will greatly increase your production if you have a lot of paint to put on. The larger the paint project the greater the time savings with an airless. You do have to be careful about overspray. Never spray outside on a windy day, and always be careful about what is down wind. Either cover it up or move it.

Small projects can go quicker with a spray gun too if the job is intricate. Louver shutters, wicker siding etc... can be sprayed quicker than brushed in many cases. The best type of sprayer for small projects is the electric cup gun like the Wagner Power Painter with Optimus or an HVLP sprayer. With these you don't need to waste a lot of paint in a spray hose line in order to use the sprayer.

Pressure rolling is a better option where overspray is a concern. Pressure rolling (or power rolling) eliminates the dipping and bringing the paint to the wall step that manual rolling requires. When there is too much masking off to make spraying worthwhile, the pressure rolling option is the next best choice. Use the pressure roller when you have a lot of gallons to put on the wall of one color. Where there are a lot of color changes the clean out of the roller system for color changes will more than offset the time savings.

Quick dry, quick dry, quick dry

The equivalent of "location, location, location". Everything you use should be quick drying when possible. Drying times are the #1 reason for slowing down the painting process. Your patching compounds need to be quick dry (see my method), your primers need to be quick dry (see universal primers), and all of your pre-paint preparation materials should be quick dry when possible.

Increase Your Painting Speed

Tips to increase interior painting production

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