Spray rigs, like the one pictured here from Lowe's, can be rented cheaply at local construction equipment rental shops. These rigs can make shorter the work of long tedious jobs. They're a must have for those longer projects like staining a fence, painting the exterior of a house, or painting large interior rooms. The downside is using a sprayer requires a lot of prep and care before use. With most things in life there is give and take. Rollers and brushes are easyier, keep a drop under you, do some light masking and your off. In total, your project will end up about 20 to 40 percent prep work. When using a sprayer, when planed out right, you will spend about 60 to 80 percent of your time prepping. If you find brushing and rolling tedious you will hate masking, but the payoff is a smooth finish at less effort.

Should I rent? Well that depends on the project. If you have an empty house and you need to paint the entire interior, then most likely. If you want to paint your child's bathroom then definitely not. In short, use a sprayer where large amounts of surface area is high and the amount of things to cover is low.

Project tips for using a sprayer:

• Prep prep prep. Do you think you got everything covered? You probably don't. This is the most essential part of spraying. Remember that if you have keep stopping to make sure that you have everything covered you're loosing the time benefet of spraying.
• Use the right tools and use them correctly. Go to your local paint store and make sure to leave with the right tools and know how to use them. Again, if you want any significant time saving you have to be quick with prep tools like masking machines and effective with material like painters plastic.
• Plan ahead. Nothing is as easy as it seems. Walk around the house and think about how you're going spray each area and think about how to approach hard to reach places and how to make sure everything is covered.
• This is a big one if you are planing on painting outside. Cut back your vegetation! A week or two before you plan on starting your project do a little maintenance on vegetation near the house. If you can keep your plants a few feet from whatever your painting you can save time and keep your plants paint free.
• Rent last. Save money with shorter rent times by making sure you have done all prep work possible prior to renting the equipment.

Do not use an oil based brushes with water baised paints.

Use the right tools for the job. I would like to take a little time to let everyone in on a common mistake people make in painting their homes. They use the wrong brush for the wrong paint. When it comes to painting with Latex (water based) paints you need to use a brush made for that. Ox-hair brushes are too commonly found being that most paints these days are water based. Ox-hair brushes are generally cheaper so many homeowners will buy these brushes. The bristles will swell in the water based paint making control difficult and the brush drippy. When using a water based paint, like latex, look for a nylon, nylon-mix, or china bristle brush. It will save you time and make painting much more enjoyable.

For professional brushes check out Purdy.

Canned texture is the tool of choice when it comes to retexturing those smaller patches in the wall. Did you have to patch a hole where the door knob hits the wall? Just use light weight spackling and smooth the area out. Use a wet sponge on the edges and wait for a few hours to dry. Warm a can of Spray texture in a tub of warm water. Lightly spray. Don't expect perfection but for small areas this works well to hide the repair. Canned texture is much more preferable to "ant sprayer" type texture appliers.