My wife and I bought a 3200 sq ft home built in the 90's and the wood trim looks outdated and is EVERYWHERE. Would a paint sprayer be an option? All the walls will be painted too. I have never used a sprayer and there is new carpet in much of the house.

Any thoughts out there?

 

Welcome to the forums.

A sprayer is an option, IMO, only if the trim is removed and taken out of the house first.

Is the trim outdated or just the finish on it?

 

I'd agree with Mitch as far as the trim is concerned. You'd have to remove all the door/window casing, baseboard and do it outside dealing with the elements, dust, etc.

In existing interior construction, spraying is usually discouraged as the paint will mist and travel. A lot. On top of that, if you've never used one before it could get messy. You'll have to do a great job of masking off everything.

For all the door and window jambs, you'll have to scuff sand, prime, fill nail holes, caulk joints etc. prior to painting. It's going to be a big project in a house this size. I always warn people when they are asking me to do this for them. It's never as easy or quick as people think to convert trim from wood finish to paint.

 

If you are planning on removing the trim to paint it, one thing I've made in the past that was incredibly helpful were drying racks. Take some 2X4, cut into roughly 5' lengths, and every 2" or so partially drive a 3.5" screw (larger screws would be better, that's all I could find around here) at a slight angle.

Basically find a clean area and place two of these parallel to each other at a distance that works for your lengths of trim. Paint trim on sawhorses, place in the drying racks from back to front. Carefully.

You can store miles of trim on these and don't have to stack it. Saves a mountain of space.

 

While I used to spray a lot of new construction work, I seldom spray repaints and definitely not if it's an occupied dwelling. The prep and cleanup work usually negates any time/labor savings. I doubt you'll be money/time ahead removing all the woodwork to paint it - it will still need the final coat applied [after caulking and putty] once it is reinstalled. If the existing woodwork has oil enamel or oil base poly/varnish for a finish you'll need to sand/prime if you want to switch to latex. An oil base primer is usually best.

I'd recommend a quality roller and brushes. Rolling out of a 5 gallon bucket is quicker/easier than using a pan/tray. As already noted, spraying requires a learning curve and a house with new carpet along with clean windows, electrical devices and cabinets is not a good place to learn!!

 

Thanks, The finish is what is outdated. My wife loves white molding and it would look great in the house. It would probably take more effort to remove it all than to paint it by hand.

Good to hear an opinion on the mist, I have always wondered about that.

I'm wondering if I wipe it down with liquid sander and get the paint w/ primer if could save some time. Any pro tips would be appreciated.

 

marksr, would it be worth doing liquid sander? It seems like the oil based primer is the way to go as far a durability. I always use latex paint, but in this case it seems it may be worth it to do oil.

 

I don't have a lot of confidence in the primer part of the primer/paint combos. I often use a liquid deglosser on oil base poly before priming it with an oil primer. Liquid Sandpaper is one of the many brands of liquid deglosser. There are some that say a latex primer is ok over oil poly/enamel but I'm an old school painter and don't trust that - I know an oil base primer will adhere fine!

Once the poly has been coated with oil base primer it's ok to switch to latex enamel. SOP for painting over poly is 1 coat oil primer and 2 coats of your choice of enamel [latex or oil base]