The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted a 5.2% growth for painters from 2020 to 2030. About 18,300 jobs would be created during this period. Focus areas for painters are endless, and there are tremendous opportunities for everyone. To enter the painting trade, you must know the tools for the job.
Professional Painting Tools List
Any professional painter needs the right tools to set them apart from DIY painters. Equally important is knowing how to use them to produce quality work that gives clients value for their money. Here are the professional painter’s tools you will need.
🔘 Painter’s Tape
A tape avoids painting mistakes while making your tasks more productive. Professional painters use tape to ensure straight lines, avoid paint on new surfaces, and prevent overlapping. Tape is also to areas where you don’t want the paint to go on or where you will use a different color.
Painter’s tape is usually blue or green for brand identification and to differentiate it from other tapes on the market. The color also stands out against most paint colors during application. A major advantage of painter’s tape is leaving clean lines after the job is done, unlike masking tape.
🔘 Filler
Before applying paint, wall filler repairs any surface imperfections, holes, or cracks. The filler comes ready mixed or powder. These are designed in varying quantities to offer a long-term solution to fill gaps, cracks, and nail holes,
🔘 Putty Knife
A putty knife is a handy tool for any professional painter to scrape away loose paint during the repair. Painters use this knife to apply putty or surface compound in cracks and nail holes. You can also use it to clean paint edges when applying paint on the edge, such as a baseboard.
🔘 Hand Masker
You must prepare your surfaces before applying paint. This includes masking off the areas for painting, texturing, finishing, and sanding using masking film or paper. Masking also prevents paint splatters, drips, and overspray that may cause damage and are difficult to remove. A hand masker makes applying masking material a seamless process.
🔘Tape Measure
This is for measuring the painting area before starting the job. Accurate measurements allow for the right amount of paint and avoid overspending or underquoting a project.
A tape measure determines the square footage of flat surfaces for painting. It also comes in handy when determining the lengths of surfaces such as baseboards, crown molding, and around windows and doors.
🔘 Stir Stick
Using paint without stirring leads to various colors that may peel off eventually. A stir stick is handy in stirring the paint to get your desired color. The stick is sanded to a fine finish from excellent-quality wood. Using the stir stick ensures that the color looks excellent after application.
🔘 Paintbrush
A paintbrush is for applying paint. It’s made of bristles clamped on a handle with a ferrule. Brushes come in different sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker brushes fill paint on surfaces, while thinner ones are for details.
🔘 Roller
Painters use rollers to hold a lot of paint that covers a more extensive area. Professionals use the rollers when handling ceilings and interiors. Brushes on these surfaces may leave marks, yet rollers give a smooth and uniform finish.
🔘 Primer
Paint primer is a base coat that creates a foundation for a flawless paint job. Primer cuts down the number of paint coats you’ll need on a surface and protects it from wear. It helps maintain the paint in place for a long time.
🔘 Paint sprayer
A spraying device makes painting overhead surfaces much more manageable. The sprayer will ensure you perform a clean job with outstanding results you can’t get when using a brush. A sprayer makes painting angles, corners, and edges easier.
House Painting Equipment List
House painters need appropriate equipment for efficiently handling interior and exterior jobs. Here is our list of painter’s equipment for house painting.
🔘 Ladder
A ladder is an essential accessory when handling a house painting job. However, a quality ladder is essential to avoid accidents. About 150,000 people end up in the emergency room because of ladder accidents. Ensure to use three points of contact when climbing and painting.
🔘 Angle Brushes
Sometimes, you’ll have to paint tricky places such as window trims, So an angled brush comes in handy to make the job easier and effortless. These brushes uniformly release paint to a surface as you cut in. an angled brush is stiff and precise to create sharp and fine lines. These are for painting hard-to-reach areas on surfaces.
🔘 Foam Brush
These brushes are for absorbing and holding all kinds of paint. Foam brushes give a smooth finish, and you throw them away after completing the job. These are ideal when working with oil-based paint, stains, or diminishes. Clean-up of these brushes is easy, and they are priced cheaply.
🔘 Paint Tray
A paint tray keeps a small amount of paint within reach for use before it dries up. You can use various household items to work as a paint tray. These should have the exact shape of the paint tray for better results. Some options you can use include a small container or its lead.
🔘 Paint Scraper
A paint scraper is handy when removing loose or peeling paint. Although other tools such as a power washer, grinder, or sander can also help, these need use with other components such as putty knives and shavers. The scraper allows removing peeling paint before applying a new coat to prevent it from peeling shortly after the paint job.
🔘 Drop cloth
Painters have to leave the surfaces free from stains and debris. So, a drop cloth is essential in ensuring this. It absorbs paint that may have ended up on the floor. When painting on other surfaces, a drop cloth protects whatever is underneath.
Commercial Painting Supplies List
If you started as a domestic painter and are about to take on your first commercial job, here is a list of commercial painting equipment you will need.
🔘 Scaffolding
A ladder works when handling house painting jobs, but commercial establishments need scaffolding. This is more secure and less likely to tip over. Scaffolding offers space for standing on and usually comes with a guardrail option. You can also add a platform to make work more efficient.
🔘 Pressure Washer
You must ensure that all surfaces are cleaned before any paint job. A pressure washer comes in handy to remove debris, dirt, and cobwebs to make the surfaces ready for painting. Washing the house before applying a new bond allows the paint to bond well with the undercoat. Cleaning off gunk ensures the paint goes on the surface smoothly without rolling on dirt.
🔘 Wide Rollers
Thick rollers make the paint job more accessible as they hold large volumes of paint, especially for thirsty surfaces. These rollers put more paint on the surfaces and dig into deeper surfaces. They also come in handy when handling high ceilings, large rooms, and wide walls.
🔘 Large Buckets
A bucket holds paint and coatings. Suitable paint buckets have covers to make them airtight so the contents don’t spill or get contaminated. A bigger bucket allows holding your brushes to make your job easier.
🔘 Extension Pole
Sometimes, rollers don’t need high places that need painting. An extension pole makes your roller handle long enough to paint high ceilings and tall walls. It saves you from stretching often or using a ladder. The pole gives you better leverage and limits strain on the arms and back.
🔘 Sandpaper
Sanding a surface allows a nice smooth finish after a paint job. Using sandpaper removes imperfections creating a smooth finish while boosting adhesion by creating small ridges for the paint to stick.
🔘 CaulK
Using painters’ caulk is great when handling indoor projects for aesthetic reasons. Applying caulk fills gaps and creates a bond to give the surface a professional finish. It’s useful when handling crown molding, baseboards, and wall joints.
🔘 Industrial Primer
Applying primer when painting ensures the coat’s longevity and boasts durability. Primer allows the paint to go on surfaces smoothly and spreads better. It also seals stains for the paint to adhere well to give you a clean finish.
Interior Painting Tools For Walls
Painting in the interior requires special equipment to make the job easier. Here is our painting equipment list for painting interior walls.
🔘 Microfiber Cloth
When dirt or debris sticks on your freshly painted walls, you’ll have to use a microfiber cloth to remove them. You must be careful not to catch edges or raised areas of paint. Don’t use a chemically treated cloth since it might leave residue on the painting.
🔘 Small PAINTBRUSH
A small brush allows for painting narrow or detailed areas such as window frames and around doors. It allows neater work and reaches hard-to-reach areas on the surface, such as corners. Small brushes do the job perfectly compared to bigger brushes.
🔘 Painters Tape
This tape protects painted surfaces from drips and runs when painting surfaces such as baseboards. It also comes in handy when making straight lines. Applying the tape in a straight line creates a clean and predictable line while painting. Using this tape also lessens cutting in when painting along edges or creating a line.
🔘 Rollers
Painting a wall with a roller is faster and highly efficient in getting consistent results. It will take more time to accomplish the same job with a brush. Additionally, rollers are more economical with paint compared to brushes. The porous surface of the rollers holds more paint and distributes it more evenly.
Exterior House Painting Tools For Walls
As painting the interior walls requires special tools, it’s the same with exterior paint jobs. Here is our list of tools for completing exterior painting jobs.
🔘 Ladder
A ladder allows reaching areas that you can’t reach without raising your height. Having a quality ladder is very important in painting tall ways. A good ladder is made from steel, aluminum, or wood. However, it should be lightweight to make it easy to move. Other portable ladders are foldable or extendable.
🔘 Pressure Washer
Exterior walls often contain gunk, dirt, debris, and cobwebs. Cleaning them up is essential before applying a fresh coat of paint. Cleaning using a pressure washer is easier since it saves time and effort.
🔘 Drop Cloth
Every painter’s worst nightmare is getting paint where it shouldn’t be, especially when it’s your first job or your first time working for the client. Fortunately, a drop cloth is a lifesaver. These come in various options and sizes, to choose the right one for your project.
🔘 Exterior Primer or Sealer
Primer is resin-based material painters apply as the first coat before applying paint for exterior projects. It effectively seals the underlying layer so paint can’t go through or soak the surface below. Applying a sealer is ideal when painting crumby or weathered surfaces to become the base for the primer.
🔘 Exterior Paint
Paint for exterior surfaces is made to withstand harsh weather elements. So, you must find quality exterior paint that won’t peel off when exposed to rain, snow, or sunshine. Quality exterior paint also prohibits mold, fungi, fading, and mildew.
🔘 Wire Brush
A wire brush should be included in your painters’ toolkit for being easy to clean. You can use it to remove paint, slag, rust, oxidation, and weld splatter. The wire brush helps remove loose paint on surfaces before adding a fresh coat.
Fence Painting Tools List
Homeowners want to paint their fences for protection from weather elements and mature rot. There are tools to handle a fence painting job.
🔘 Paint Scraper
You may have to shave off old paint using a scraper when painting a fence. It also removes excess paint and runs off. Using a scraper and wire brush, remove loose and peeling paint from a fence before applying a fresh coat.
🔘 Wood Filler
Also known as wood putty, wood filler repairs damage on wood fences, such as gouges and cracks. You must apply sand and primer when the filler is dry before you apply paint. Some fillers may not have the same look as paint, but primer can create an even look.
🔘 Putty Knife
Sometimes, you must apply and spread materials on surfaces you’re working on. Putty knives come in different shapes and sizes to match different purposes. You can use the knife to apply filler to seal cracks and holes in the fence before applying paint.
🔘 Paint Remover
Paint stripping is sometimes necessary when handling a fence painting job. The stripping removes traces of paint you don’t want before applying a fresh coat. Stripping also moves a substandard paint job. Using paint remover is necessary before you begin painting the fence.
🔘 Fence Cleaner
You must ensure that the fence is clean before you paint. It is essential to ensure that the fence is free of dirt and cobwebs. Failing to clean the fence inhibits paint from reaching the wood, and it will peel off sooner than later.
🔘 Fence Primer
Applying primer on a fence creates a solid protective layer that allows applying paint better. Primer conceals stains and creates an even finish. The amount of primer to apply depends on the current condition of the fence.
Tools For Prep Work
Preparing the surfaces is necessary before starting any painting job. So, you must have appropriate tools handy to make the job easier, including:
🔘 Caulking Gun
You need a caulk gun to fill cracks between the wall and woodwork to make the completed job without gaps. The gun eliminates causing a mess that may happen when applying pressure on the tube with your hands. Filling cracks with this gun improves the look of your work.
🔘 Sandpaper
Sanding a wall before painting eliminates bumps, roller lint, or other material that may be sticking to it. Rough edges on the walls are smoothed using sandpaper for the paint to stick evenly. However, avoid overdoing or not sanding correctly.
🔘 Vacuum Cleaner
Cleaning walls thoroughly before a paint job is essential. A vacuum cleaner eliminates dirt and dust for better paint adherence. The vacuum also eliminates debris that may be sticking to the walls. Afterward, you must wipe the wall with a damp cloth before you apply paint.
🔘 Drywall Tape Knife
This is a knife with a wide blade for spreading material while painting. You can also use the knife to apply layering tape for a smooth-looking finish. The knife also removes tiny uneven, dried materials on the wall before painting.
🔘 Brush and Roller Cleaner
After completing the day’s work, you must clean the rollers and brushes to prepare them for the next day. Leaving them with paint may make them stick, and you may not use them the next day. So, invest in some brush and roller cleaner for cleaning your tools after using them.
🔘 Tape
You must also stock some quality tape supplies in your painter’s toolkit. Painters’ tapes allow for making straight lines and covering areas you don’t want to be splattered with paint. The tape also protects ceilings and trims, making your work look professional.
🏁 Final Thoughts
Getting started in the painting industry requires having the best tools for painters. We’ve highlighted the essential ones you can use for each paint job. However, you also need painting contractor software to simplify scheduling and dispatching.
