Anyone use a Power Roller to paint?
 

I'm trying to paint a room in my house as quickly as possible. I'm painting over builder paint which is so cheap the wallboard wicks up all the paint and it takes forever. Anyone use a power roller to cut down on time doing a job like this?


Anything I should know?

Yeah - I used one - wasn't that big a difference between using a conventional roller vs. a power one.

The muscles in your arm will tire quickly with a power roller since you don't need to stop and 'reload' as you would with a manual roller.

Get a splatter shield on your roller, and I think you'll be fine. Also: a thin coat of primer may help get your paint not to get absorbed as much.

-Z

I've used the plain cheapy battery powered Wagner power roller to paint the interior of our house many times over the years.

It's great! Cuts the time down big time, and it's a lot easier and less aggravating. Less mess, too.

Use primer first! If it's bare wallboard, use a PVA-type primer, or any water-based latex primer that says OK for drywall.

The builder painted the walls with a cheapo paint which is probably just as good as the primer. It's not like straight drywall. I probably over-exaggerated. :)

I was thinking of this device....
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=133272-97-0514004&lpage=none

It'll probably pay for itself in no time. That's what I hope anyhow.

Got one of the syringe styles... suck up a few cups of paint into it, slowly push out while rolling. You need the drip shield thingie. Ours came as a kit and uses the standard rollers, but it is the syringe device/roller handle and a special top to put on your paint can.

It depends on the size of the job. Sometimes the cleanup of power equip is the biggest part of the job.. A while back I had to prime and paint the ceiling in the whole house of a rental I own. The airless sprayer was a slam dunk for the job, I finished the whole thing in one day . The prep and cleanup took a few hours.
Jerry

I would say that a $100 Wagner power roller is a great investment for painting several rooms, but I wouldn't bother for just one room. The cleanup will take you as long as the actual painting. Suck it up and start rolling!

Gotta pass along my experience with the Wagner power roller.

Good for the first 30-45 minutes then it clogs. After cleaning thoroughly, it clogs again within the next 5-10 minutes.

I thought it was an isolated incident, so I bought another and the same thing happened.

YMMV

I have a bunch of rooms in this house I haven't painted since it takes forever. This might get me there quicker. I'm off to Lowe's!!

Yikes... not my experience at all. I painted an entire house over the course of 3 days. It worked beautifully for me. Make sure you don't cheap out on the $49 model. Not saying you did, but the $100 or $120 model worked great for me.

Agree with Richard, the Wagner was awesome for me. On high I could barely roll fast enough and I laid down a digusting amount of paint in one day with that thing. I loved it! Clean it like a freak when you're done and it will always be good to you.

+1, we did the entire interior of our first house over a weekend. The wife masked and I followed behind with the roller. I think the one we bought was in the $150 range.

Of course; have I used it since? No. But I will be in the next year or so.

I used to do some commercial painting, and could easily keep up with a power roller. Just get a good extension handle so you can roll all the way from floor to ceiling continuously.

A friend tried one, and was quickly frustrated at the lag between shutting it off and the paint to actually stop flowing.

Maybe the 930 guys won't mind the lag.

I finally painted over the cheap builder stuff last summer. The walls were easy, but it did take lots of paint. The trim on the other hand was a PITA. Not sure I'll ever do that again.

I'm sure you can save time with the powered thing, but a standard roller is pretty fast/easy/simple once you get the hang of it.

You guys had better results than I.

We bought 2 of the $110-120 models and figured we'd "bond" with our new townhouse.

Well...after a 17 hour weekend and $600 spent at Home Depot, including $250 for a 12' step ladder -- our bedroom has a pitched ceiling which ranges from 12' to 17' high -- we finally had to call professionals.

To this day I hate to have to go into Home Depot.

I had a power roller for my airless sprayer. I used it once and consider it junk. I have no idea if the Wagner product is good, but these days I use a good roller and quality roller covers. I don't believe there's any other way to get similar quality in less time.

Besides choosing quality roller covers, using good paint is very helpful. Sherwin-Williams Duration is much more expensive the Home Depot Behr stuff, but it does hide well in one coat. I've also been impressed with the house brand from Lowe's.

Just got back from the Depot. I'm going to break it in shortly. I'll report on the results.

Only downside with these things is that they lay down more paint than you would painting without the power. Buy extra paint!

Use one of those thick rollers with some shag (there's a nice blue one with a tough plastic cylinder at Lowes) . They hold paint and the texture hides blemishes a little better.