Spraying & Back Brushing Paint

Tips For Spraying & Back Brushing House Paint

House painting is a necessary expense, and when your home has damaged trim or siding, the paint may be better applied by brush.

We will share a few paint application tips to help keep your labor rates lower. These interior and exterior house painting techniques could potentially lower the cost of your next painting project by thousands!

Spraying & Back Brushing Exterior Painting Technique 

Spraying is especially advantageous in reducing labor costs. Most modern exterior painting applications involve spraying siding, shutters, and applicable trim. Doors, windows, and other trim are typically brushed. 

In some cases, homes require brush-applied paint for optimal durability. Delaminating lap siding is best painted with a brush to preserve it. In this case, brush painting will inevitably buy more time, consequently preventing immediate siding replacement. 

Brushing a home requires 2/3 as much labor as spraying. Brushing will usually cost more money regardless of the application or circumstance, but there is a way to reduce brushing costs. 

Brushing exterior house paint can be mitigated by combining spraying and brushing techniques. One way is to brush the first coat and spray the second. The second option is a painting technique that may sock your painter—it is called back brushing. 

Back brushing is a process in which the paint is first sprayed and immediately brushed before it has a chance to dry. This approach applies paint to the house faster than the traditional brush-based process, thereby lowering labor costs.

Interior Trim Brushing Tips

It would not be fair to have an exterior brushing tip and not include one for the interior. 

Spraying interior doors, baseboards, bookshelves, and other trim is extraordinarily invasive and will likely require homeowners to leave the area while the work is underway. However, when possible, we advise clients to take full advantage of spraying the trim within their homes. 

Spraying interior trim looks impressive, leaving a uniform coat that completely eradicates brush strokes. However, not all interior house painting projects require this application method. Therefore, we offer an interior-brushing tip that is especially useful for brushing doors. 

As more paints become low- or zero-VOC, they dry much faster, resulting in more pronounced brush strokes. The only way to reduce the likelihood of visibly obtrusive brush marks is to paint fast or use a paint additive. 

Reducing Paint Texture: Additional Tips

If spraying is not possible, ask your next painter to use a foam roller to apply the paint to the door, then quickly and uniformly back-brush it. A combination of rolling and back-brushing doors will save time and reduce brush marks, offering a more uniform paint finish. 

As a recommendation, ensure your local house painters are familiar with back brushing and have experience performing it. Otherwise, it could be disastrous. It is worth reiterating that back brushing must be done quickly, before the paint starts to dry. 

There are many tricks of the trade and other things to know about professional house painting, and some painters will not share them.

Are you considering a brushed exterior paint job for your Raleigh home? Contact us for professional interior or exterior painting services. You can also view other articles like this one to learn more insider tips.