sprayer recommendations for deck work

[bellwayne 14]

Please help! A new member looking to break into deck refinishing. What type of sprayer should I be shopping for? airless sprayer like found at local home improvement stores or Flojet type tank sprayer like sold in catalogs? Thanks for the input!

[Brian Keating 14]

bellwayne,

The first question I have is what type of sealer do you plan on using? You can use an airless with just about any sealer. I personally use Ready Seal and have found that a Flojet/Surflo is the way to go. You get a nice even application with the Surflo. I only use my airless when applying a solid finish like Cabots.

[One Call Power Wash 500]

We use chapin pump up sprayers for most semi-transparent and we use spraytech sprayers for anything heavy like solid colors.

Airless & pump ups. Make sure when you buy an airless that there is an adjustment of the pressure. Some do not come with this and believe me, it is needed.

[Mike Hughes 18]

I use a shur-flo set up just like Brian. I prefer the "Deck Hand" sprayer........but a lot of people make their own spray systems for less money.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Bellwayne,

We use the Decker sprayer. It has a shurflo/flojet type pump. If you like I can get you pricing on it as soon as I am back from Dallas.

Beth

[CompletelyClean 14]

Where is the best/cheapest place to buy Chapin and/or Spraytech pump ups?

I made my own shur-flo setup on a handcart for spraying stripper/cleaner/brighteners, but I use the pump up when applying the sealer for better control and less waste because I'm still somewhat new at spraying ANYTHING.

[ProjectEarth 14]

I've sealed a few decks & fences and I have always used rollers for applications. Traditionally, I havent gotten many calls for wood work, but recently I'm getting more and more requests to strip and reseal. I see you folks using sprayers (pump-up, airless, etc)..

I'd like to try my next deck with a sprayer. I have a bunch of 5 & 6 gallon hand held pump up sprayers.

My questions to the seasoned professionals: Can I do my first "spray" job with one of these hand helds? When you use a sprayer will it leave "overlap" marks if you happen to get a little sloppy on your first go at it? And lastly, If I can get 100 sq. ft out of a gallon, let's say for conversation purpose, will my square footage be reduced -or- extended by switching to spray application?

Thanks, as always, to the professionals that offer help to us newer guys. It's always nice to see people that enjoy their work as much as I do.

-JC

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

A pump up is a good place to start, make sure you have either a china bristled brush or a stain pad to back brush or back pad with. If the product is too thick you can't spray it with a pump up - what product is it... there are some that must be applied by brush.

Beth :groovy3:

[ProjectEarth 14]

Could you explain what back brush and back pad is?!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

There are stain pads that are used as applicators for solid stains & sealants,a nd there are also brushes. When you go over an application that has been sprayed, it's just called back padding or back brushing, because you are going over the surface again. If you go over it with additional product, it may also be referred to as a wet-on-wet application, or 2 wet coat system.

Beth

[stoppie101 20]

could you use a paint roller with a soft roller to help smooth out any heavy spots of sealer?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Yes. You could. Thanks Chad! :)

[Mark Williamson 14]

I like the graco 190es for my spraying

[stoppie101 20]

how do you recomend applying sealers to the railing? i am planning on using a pump sprayer and maybe a paint brush to get in between the railings. any thoughts?

[Brian Keating 14]

stoppie101,

For staining railings I think the fastest way is to stray on sealer with your pump-up and then follow up with a shur-line stain pad. They hold a lot of sealer and are very durable. If you have a tight spot to get into put some sealer in a Windex bottle and spray it with that.

[Guest rfitz]

This is just my .02 cents, on spraying, I do both, brush, roll, and spray,

and honestly, you will get much much better results with brushing and rolling,

sprayers of any kind, just cant work the stain / sealer into the wood like a good brush or roller, I have done several test's on this, and came back to jobs 2 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year, and the brushed decks look real good.

Dont get me wrong, spraying is alot faster, but not nearly as effective as brushing stain/ sealer into the wood. My process is this, using Ready Seal, we spray just about everything but the post's on a deck, a nice light coat, then we go back to our starting point and brush or roll every square inch of the deck we sprayed earlier, everything gets 2 coats, on the floors and the top of the hand rail, we put down the second coat a little heavier, on a normal day (8 hours) me and my crew of 2 can easily, do 2 , 1000 sq ft decks, and that is if they are 2 story decks, we can do 3 1000 sq ft decks if they are ground level, this also includes defurring the floors, steps, hand rails, etc..

We can usually average 130 to 180 sq ft a gallon with products like Ready Seal or Wood Tux, Our average price for a ground level deck which includes stripping, washing, britening, defurring, staining and sealing is approx. $1.40 a sq ft add 20 cents a sq ft if it is a 2 story deck, Im not sure if that is low or high, but we stay pretty busy... Now, what I would like to know, is, how many contractors, on this board, actually put 2 full coats on the entire deck.?

Hope this Helps...?