With all the painting options available out there, it’s easy to get lost when choosing which tool is the most suitable for a particular kind of job.
It gets even harder once we take into consideration the fact that sometimes there is no universal law to follow as to which particular tool should be used for a particular painting job.
As subjective as the decision is though, thankfully, some guidelines seem to make it easier to make out decisions, especially when it comes to choosing between a paint sprayer or a brush for painting a fence. Let’s take a look at some of them below.
Our recommendation
The short answer as to whether use a paint sprayer or a brush to paint a fence, we’d say, just go with a brush.
Now apart from this, no doubt some certain situations and circumstances may call for the use of a paint sprayer, but these situations are so rare, that for most cases you will be fine using a brush.
Why a brush and not a sprayer?
Well, it’s quite easy: your neighbors are not going to like your sprayer so much. And we can assure you, neither is the grass or the plants you or your neighbors might have in their garden.
One of the few negative aspects of using a paint sprayer is that it tends to cause a lot of oversprays. Because of the pressure involved, paint particles or whatever material you choose to go with will inevitably mix with the wind.
In the process, generally, you lose about 30% of the coating material, vanished into thin air, which can unintendedly settle on other locations around.
This is why it is a saying that goes: if you want to paint a fence, your neighbor’s car, any other thing in a 10-mile radius altogether, use a paint sprayer. So if you want to paint just your fence, do it with a brush.
Cases when a paint sprayer is more suitable than a brush
As mentioned earlier, there are some exceptions to this, when a paint sprayer is better than a brush for painting a fence.
For instance, in places where properties aren’t too close together and there is no one living on the other side of the fence, sure, you can use a paint sprayer.
Also, you should take into consideration the amount of job that has to be done. If the fence is fairly large, a paint sprayer can come in handy where brushes may make you tardy.
So as you can see, there are some cases in which you can use a paint sprayer.
Conclusion
Paint sprayers have their strong points for sure, but painting fences isn’t one of them.
*You can read more about the pros and cons of airless paint sprayers on my other article.
Paint sprayers are not well-suited for small tasks anyway. Taking into consideration all the prep work that you should do before using a paint sprayer, isn’t really worth the time.
There are certain exceptions, as mentioned above, but these cases are rare enough that the general verdict remains: brush over sprayer for fences!