Can You Paint A Fence With A Roller?

If you’ve already come across our ‘how to paint a fence’ article you might’ve noticed that we didn’t put too much emphasis on using a roller to paint your fence. With that in mind, you, and countless other people might be wondering “Can I paint a fence with a roller?”.

Today we’re going to explore this topic in depth to analyse the pros and cons of using a roller to paint your fence.

Can you paint a fence with a roller?

Whilst you can paint a fence with a roller, you’re more likely to get an even and attractive finish when using either a good quality paint brush or an airless paint sprayer if you have the budget.

What’s the problem with using a roller to paint a fence?

Whilst you’ll more than likely be thinking about the amount of time you’ll be saving by using a roller as opposed to a brush, what you’ve probably not thought of is the fact that there’ll be SO much touching up to do.

As the roller isn’t going to be making 100% contact with the surface (which is especially true with feather edge fencing), there’ll be plenty of spots where paint simply doesn’t get applied. This will leave you with an unsightly patchy finish and worse of all, you may not even notice until the paint has dried.

So what should you use?

These days there are plenty of good paint sprayers on the market in the UK that are perfect for painting fences in incredibly quick times. You don’t need to go flat out and get yourself a professional standard Graco GF XX – a simple but affordable Wagner spraying system will still do a good job.

Using a paint sprayer has the obvious benefits of getting coats on in super fast times and taking very little toll on your body which is especially useful for those who are unfit, ageing or have injuries.

The most laborious method for painting a fence is using a brush. But whilst it takes plenty of time and effort, you can’t knock this tried and trusted method as you’re almost guaranteed to get a great finish.

The obvious benefits of using a brush is the fact that you have much more control on paint distribution, you can lay off to ensure the paint is spread evenly and of course it allows you to get into every nook and cranny which is especially useful for feather edge fencing.

Final thoughts

Whilst you can use a roller to paint fences you’re better off using either a brush or a sprayer. The brushing method gives you much more control when compared to a roller whereas the spraying method is much quicker than using a roller. In my opinion, it just doesn’t make sense to choose a roller – especially if the sun is shining and you’ve got the whole afternoon at your disposal.