Painters! Applying urethane alkyd enamel on cabinets. Ok without a sprayer?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am ready to paint my cabinets this weekend, and after looking at a lot of different paints I have chosen Behr’s urethane alkyd enamel.

Sounds like it’s great for an application like cabinets, and initially I really wanted to spray it. I was looking around for affordable sprayers, but came to some difficulty finding ones that were appropriate.

HVLP sprayers: I was leaning toward a couple of these, but almost none will shoot un-thinned paint. And the ones that say the will, the reviews say that no, no they don’t. Especially for finer things like cabinets. The paint I want says rather emphatically in all the literature “Do NOT thin!!!”

LVHP sprayers: I’ll be spraying cabinets that are already hung, so I don’t want a bunch of overspray.

Airless sprayers: Can’t afford a good one. Rather, I CAN, but I’m not sure I can justify a $300+ sprayer when I don’t know how often I would use it in the future.

Air sprayers: My compressor can’t keep up. Also, overspray.

So I decided to try one coat (over oil-based primer) with a brush and/or roller and see how it goes on. I DON’T, however, want to put down one nasty coat and have to fix it before trying a second coat.

Questions at hand:

[ul]
[li]Can I get a good finish with a brush or roller, and [/li][li][If so, how, or,[/li][li]If not, is there an affordable sprayer I can purchase that will give me a nice finish.[/li][/ul]

All else fails, I’ll rent an airless sprayer from the Orange Store if that’s the best option.

2

I don’t know what level of finish you are going for… Brushing and rolling in place will not get you a finish anywhere close to a factory/shop paint job.

No matter what you do you need to remove all the door and drawer fronts and paint them in a controlled area, ideally flat. Any sprayer will have serious overspray. You will need to mask at least 3’ from any cabinets to be sprayed–I assume than you would have to spray face frames in place? Again, drawers and drawer front should NOT be sprayed in place.

This is not a one and done job. If you are going to spray you need to practice quite a bit. It’s not easy to get a decent finish. Is having a pro do it out of the question?

If you decide to do it yourself, here are the steps I would take: Remove drawer and door fronts. Sand, patch dents, holes etc, sand again. Remove all dust with a vacuum and tack cloth. Rent airless sprayer from big orange. Make SURE you have the correct tip. Have some primed boards of the same wood as the cabinets and practice on them. You should be able to leave the gun in a pail of water and not clean it between every session. Once you like the finish, spray the fronts. Dry, sand again at 320 grit. Remove dust. Spray final coat. Clean the bejeezus out of the sprayer and return it.

And if you screw it up, then you hire the pros and pay a penalty.

3

Good tips, and I can tell they were given very seriously.

I’d love a cabinet shop-level finish, but I know I don’t have the expertise and equipment to pull it off. Hiring a pro isn’t completely out of the question…I just assumed it would be more than I can budget.

I painted an antique buffet several years ago with a brush, with oil enamel, and I was happy enough with that finish that I’d accept it on my cabinets. So that’s what I based my assumption on, since this paint is supposed to act like an oil enamel.

Is a brush application possible, for a decent (not pro) finish?

4

Yes maybe. You should try various products though, and paint them flat with a brush. Real alkyds (oils) have a long dry time which is a pain for reinstalling the fronts (kind of–24 hours maybe) but you get a lot of time for things to level and fix goofs. Paint everything as a flat surface and take your time. Do 2 thinner coats instead of one that drip or sags.

5

You can thin oil enamel, which is a big selling point. You’re looking for something thick enough to build and cover but thin enough to flatten. Behr has good products and the new water based alkyds are working well, but they are meant to be sprayed IMHO.

6

Don’t use high gloss. Every imperfection will show.

Semi gloss is a little more forgiving.

This fine finish roller is worth trying.
FoamPRO 164 Fine Finish Roller (High-Density Foam), 4", Pack of 1 Amazon.com

Consider wet sanding afterwards.

7

Cool! Rollers are on the way.

I have 4 shelves to experiment on, so really I have 8 chances to get it right. Then I thought once I figure it out I’d do the inside of the cabinets, then frames, then doors and drawer fronts so I can practice a lot before I get to the parts that really have to look nice.

My paint only comes in semi-gloss and satin, and I was leaning towards satin. That should be ok shouldn’t it?

8

Good luck! I was wondering the other day how your project was coming along.

9

Yes, satin is my preferred choice. It has just enough gloss to still be washable.