The Best Paint Sprayer Models For Interior Walls

If you’ve already decided on using a paint sprayer for your interior wall painting project, you’ve made a great choice.

A high-quality paint sprayer can save you a ton of time, get you professional looking results, and be easy to use.

Paint sprayers also are much better at reaching corners or small details with ease and an even layer of paint. Not to mention that with proper care, they save a ton of mess and last longer than brushes and rollers.

There are two main categories of paint sprayers:

• Airless sprayers, and
• High Volume Low Pressure paint guns (HVLP).

Both work for interior wall paint projects and we’ll guide you on what to choose for your desired results.

In this article, we’re going over everything you need to know to pick the best paint sprayer for your interior wall painting project.

Interior Wall Paint Sprayer Guide

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Let’s cover the two main types of paint sprayers and how they work.

Airless Paint Sprayers

Airless paint sprayers work by pushing paint from a container through a flexible hose and out a spray gun. This spray gun has a fluid pump that does not use air.

The pressure and spray nozzle size determine how much paint is sprayed at a time.

Airless spray may sound like a complicated technology, but it is actually used very often.
The most common household example of an airless sprayer is a shower head.

Graco, one of the leading paint sprayer manufacturers, describes the technology like this:

“In airless spray, the fast moving high-pressure liquid stream provides the energy necessary to overcome the fluid’s viscosity (resistance to flow) and surface tension (a force that bonds the surface of a liquid together) to form a fine spray.

In the depiction of spray from a gun, high pressure forces fluid through a small nozzle (spray tip). The fluid emerges as a solid stream (sheet) at a high speed. When the solid stream hits the air, it becomes disrupted. This disruption breaks the fluid into fragments initially, then ultimately very small droplets that form the spray pattern.”

The best advantages of airless sprayers include speed, quality, and versatility.

Airless sprayers boast speeds up to 10 times faster than brush painting while producing an even coat of paint.

They can also be used on a variety of projects, including interior and exterior walls, painting furniture, and more.

HVLP Paint Sprayers

High Volume Low Pressure paint sprayers, on the other hand, use air to push paint from an attached container and skip the hose.

Paint Zoom describes the way HVLP spray guns work as follows:

“The spray gun has two main sources of air, one which helps to form the pattern on the spray painting surface and one that breaks up the fluid stream into the fine spray particles. Both of these air sources are located in air caps at the exit of the spray gun’s nozzle.

The paint is delivered by means of a cup which is attached directly to the spray gun. There are three different kinds of HVLP spray guns, gravity feed, pressure feed, and siphon feed.

The siphon feed spray gun uses pressurized air to create a siphoning action at the nozzle. The siphon feed spray gun has the paint cup located below the nozzle.

Due to the difference in atmospheric pressure, the paint then moves towards the vacuum area and comes out of the cup. The atomized air pressure determines how much fluid is sprayed by the paint sprayer.

If you want fast application then you are looking for a spray gun with a higher atomized air pressure. However, higher atomized air also means more overspray. The siphon feed spray gun is not efficient because it does not give you enough control of the atomized air pressure and therefore you cannot control the amount of paint being sprayed.”

Top Rated Paint Sprayers for Interior Walls

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Paint Sprayer Tips and Tricks

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Check out our infographic on how to use a paint sprayer.

As with any painting project, make sure to prep the area you are painting:

• remove all artwork, furniture, etc from the area you are painting;
• remove light switch and outlet covers to ensure you won’t accidentally paint them;
• cover the floor and any trims you don’t want to be painted.

Even the best paint sprayers may have some over spray mist, so it is best to protect surfaces you aren’t painting thoroughly.

Clean the walls. Moisture or dust can seriously mess up your paint job, so make sure you clean the walls first. Most of the time a simple damp rag will do the job, but there are also cleaning products on the market for serious messes. Let the walls dry completely before applying paint.

Also, fix any previously existing paint drips by sanding them down and repair any unwanted holes in the wall before painting.

Make sure you have all of the necessary safety equipment, such as goggles, gloves, respiration mask, and safety ladders. Have a brush or roller handy to quickly fix any drips or imperfections.

Follow the manufacturer instructions for your sprayer. Some models require the paint to be thinned before use. Thick paint can clog up your paint sprayer and make the job much more frustrating and time-consuming.

Always practice with your paint sprayer before committing it to your interior walls. Old cardboard boxes are a great place to test out your paint sprayer and make sure you have the hang of it.

Clean your paint sprayer (no more than two hours after use) thoroughly every time you paint with it to maximize its lifespan. Soap and water will work for most types of paint, but oil-based paints will require the use of mineral spirits to clean properly.

Conclusion

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Investing in a great paint sprayer is a must for any Do It Yourself fanatic. Consider your budget and storage space when shopping for your paint sprayer. Care for your tool properly to ensure that it will last for a long time.

Check out all of our paint sprayer reviews, recommendations, articles, and tips and tricks on the Tool Nerds Blog.
Some great articles include:

• House Paint Types, Uses and Disposal
• 9 Common Painting Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

That’s it! Happy painting!