Tools

The primary tools of house painters and painting contractors are the paintbrush, the paint roller, and more recently the spray gun, all of which are used to apply the paint to the desired interior or exterior surface.

To the untrained eye, house painting equipment such as paintbrushes or paint rollers may all look the same, but there are differences between them in terms of their characteristics, their suitability for different kinds of jobs, their reliability, etc. All paintbrushes used by house painters have bristles, made of different materials (natural or synthetic), and they have different characteristics that make them more or less suitable for applying particular types of paint. For instance, brushes with bristles made out of synthetic materials are generally preferred for the application of water-based paints, since many natural materials expand when in contact with water.

Paint rollers, invented in the mid-20th century, are especially convenient to apply paint in great quantity unto larger surfaces. Spray guns are the newest tools in the profession painting contractor’s arsenal, and they are also very useful in applying paint on large surfaces. They are of different types, including high-volume low-pressure (HVHP), and low-volume low-pressure (LVLP) spray guns.

The development of modern industrial manufacturing processes for paint, as well as for brushes, paint rollers, and spray guns, has made the specifications of these tools more standardized in the painting business. House painters and decorators, as well as the manufacturers of these tools, have professional organizations that are responsible for setting these industry standards.