Rollers will leave a slight texture behind, more or less depending on the
amount of paint loaded in the roller and the type/length of nap on the
roller. Quality of the paint makes a difference as well. Personal
preference for me is a high quality latex enamel with a 3/8 nap roller. I
load the roller very heavily, go a quarter to a half of a roller width
beyond the last strip, and work it back in, floor to ceiling. On an 8'
wall, that works great and leaves a slight dimpled texture that tends to
dampen reflections and imperfections, but remains washable. To evenly
distribute the texture, start halfway up the wall with your roller.

On 20' walls, whatever method you use, there is a risk of a start/stop strip
being quite noticeable where you have painted the lower so many feet, then
got out your ladder and did the other so many feet, overlapping the lower
part slightly. To avoid that, paint floor to ceiling all the way across.
Long roller handles, scaffolding, etc. might be helpful.

If your walls are very smooth now, and you want to maintain a very smooth
surface, spray will be better. But - make sure you use a good airless
sprayer and do lots of drop-cloths. If there is a slight texture now, you
won't notice the difference with a properly applied roller job.

HTH.

--
Regards,

Dwight Duckstein, MCP




"Ari Shapiro" wrote in message
om...
A question for the painting experts in the group:

The walls of my living room are 20' high. I got a bid from a painter
who says that it is better to use a paint spray machine to paint the
walls of the living room, since the height of the walls makes it more
difficult to use rollers and that some unwanted streaking will occur
while using rollers. The spray paint, he says, will give a uniform
finish.

On the other hand, a few of my friends say that they have never heard
of anyone using a spray paint machine to paint the interior walls
while the room is furnished, and that their walls have always been
painted with rollers.

Can anyone confirm whether it is unusual to spray paint the living
room walls? Will painting with rollers yield uneveness or streaking?

Thanks!

Ari Shapiro