Painting - Airless vs. Air Compressor

I'm going to be painting the interior of a big empty house and am looking for the most efficient way to do it. Have brushed and rolled alot, but think this would be a good project to spray.

Any thoughts on pro's and con's of both AIRLESS PAINTING and PAINTING USING AN AIR COMPRESSOR? I already have a compressor (but not the gun/accessories).

Also, is clean-up of one device over another easier? I think we're talking 10 rooms and 10 colors.

To me, they are about equal. Only thing, with the air sprayer, you have to lug the compressor arounds with you, as compared to the airless is a smaller, more contained unit. Most painters these days prefer airless.

jelmo,

I have used both types of sprayers and would suggest a standard syphon sprayer as used in automotive would produce a considerable amount of overspray.
If you use this kind of sprayer with your air compressor you will need one with an external mix nozzle to spray latex.

An airless sprayer is a better choice for painting indoors as they have a minimum of overspray.
There are two types. A high pressure type that has a pump head that can generate over 1000 psi. A hose fronm the head unit goes in a bucket of paint and a long high pressure hose goes to a sprayer.
This is the type professional painters use and are coming down in price for a homeowner model or can be rented.
The other kind that works on essentially the same principal is the small Wagner type airless.

Honestly, you can put out a fair amount of paint with either airless type but you will have to use a very wide mask on the ceiling/wall and wall/floor/moldings.

I think a roller/brush would be better.

I just bought a house and I'm in the same boat as you jelmo - 12 rooms -2 maybe 3 colors- I have a friend who has a sprayer - I've never used one. I honestly think I'll do a better job with a brush and roller... the ceiling would be easier with a sprayer tho. Need to make up my mind pretty quick.

There is no comparison in my opinion. Air compressors will produce the best finish possible on cars. They operate at 50 -60 psi and the material is very thin (not viscous). The airless forces very viscous paint out the tip at up to 3000 psi. The compressor style rig works best for house paint with a pressure pot. I have a wagner capspray HVLP pressure pot made for house paint and it works fine for thinned down varnish but for latex its crap. The airless is the only way to go. I have some friends in Hawaii that were painting a commercial building they were renting and borrowed my airless and a neibors air compressor. They spent the first day using the air compressor and the next using the airless and loved the airless. Almost no overspray and way faster. lol ......jeff

The people have spoken. Seems the consensus is for Airless, so I'm going with airless. Will report back with results. Thanks for your inputs.