My neighbor's $75 paint sprayer vs my $400 brush job, which one was right?

So I overheard this guy at the Home Depot in Austin saying he sprayed his whole kitchen cabinets with a cheap Wagner sprayer and it took him 4 hours total, no sanding between coats. I spent 3 weekends hand-brushing mine with a Purdy brush and it still has brush marks showing in certain light. Is the finish quality really that different, or are we all just paying for the ritual of doing it the slow way? Has anyone here compared both methods side by side and actually seen a long-term difference in durability or appearance?

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williamt4410d ago

I read somewhere that the big difference is in the prep and the paint itself, not the tool. A sprayer lays down a thinner coat that levels out on its own, but you usually need to thin the paint and mask off everything. A brush pushes paint into the wood, which can actually hide small scratches better over time. My buddy in San Antonio did his with a sprayer and the finish looked great for about a year, then he noticed chips where the brush job on my grandmother's cabinets never chipped after twenty years. So I'd say you paid for durability and the ritual, he paid for speed and a prettier first week.