Painting is done with brushes, rollers or occasionally by spray painting. Before you begin, you need an array of paint scrapers, hot air guns or blowtorches, shaving hooks and sandpaper.
BRUSHES
These should be of the best quality that you can afford. It is important to select a brush with long bristles, tapered to the tip, the bristles well glued and clamped to the handle, and with split ends in the hairs to hold the paint better. Brushes in sizes 25mm and 75mm are useful, and special cutting-in brushes for windows are also available.
ROLLERS
These cover broad areas quickly, but tend to leave a slightly rough appearance to the surface. They are available in sizes from 50mm wide for enamel work to 300mm wide for walls, and in sponge rubber and long and short nap (fur). Extension handles for ceilings are also available. Make sure the tray matches the roller size, otherwise you cannot load paint on to the roller evenly.
SPRAY EQUIPMENT
This is more expensive, and you must seriously consider whether spray painting is worth the effort and expense. The equipment must be jetted to accept normal paints and, due to thinning, most normal paints take many coats to build up sufficient thickness or cover.
USING SPRAY EQUIPMENT
There is great interest in using spray equipment to carry out painting at home. While there are a number of advantages to spraying, there are many instances where spraying is next to useless.
If spraying interior areas, cover everything not to be coated. Not all types of paint are suitable because of the varying degrees of viscosity and drying times and, by the time you master the motion, get the consistency of paint right, apply the required number of coats, and then clean up, it may have been quicker to have brushed or rolled by hand. Ask yourself why professional house painters still use brushes and rollers to paint a house.
The preparation of surfaces for painting is the same for both spray painting and painting by hand, but more care should be given to final sanding, as all blemishes are evident after spray painting. Preparation takes the most time, then you are faced with masking to control the overspray problem. Items such as windows are too complex to spray. Provide adequate ventilation during spraying and wear a breathing mask when using solvent-based paints inside.
Sprayers work well with automotive lacquers because of the quick drying times and the relative speed with which coats can be built up. Spraying water- or oil-based paints can be frustrating and may involve quite a wait before subsequent coats can be applied. Accelerators are available for the drying process, especially for oil-based enamels.
On the plus side, the finish you can achieve with spray painting is superb (but remember that spray painting will perfectly reproduce surface imperfections such as scratch marks from coarse sanding, as the paint is applied in multiple thin coatings).