How to Thin Paint for Your Paint Sprayer

My go to paint is Behr paint made into homemade chalk paint. I love the color variety it provides as well as how easy it is to get. I've also used Country Chic Paint (love!! and it's already mixed up into chalk paint) as well as Valspar ( from Lowes) and Glidden (from Home Depot).

No matter what paint you use, it has to be thinned (polyurethane is already thin enough to go through the paint sprayer without being thinned further).

To thin your paint you'll need:

Paint Sprayer Container

Paint

Mesh Strainer or Flour Sifter

Viscosity Cup (mine came with the paint sprayer)

Whisk

Water

Timer or Stopwatch

Pour the paint into the paint sprayer container, using a fine mesh strainer to remove any dried paint lumps. Those lumps will clog the paint sprayer while spraying and will make it a nightmare so it is best to make sure all of those are removed from your paint before you start spraying. Trust me on this one.

Next you'll want to add a small amount of water and whisk the paint and water to combine. Keep doing this until you think it's the right consistency. Since every paint varies in thickness, there isn't an exact amount of water to add to the paint. You'll want to only add a small amount of water at a time because if you add too much water you will have to add more paint. Usually I've already cleaned my strainer and closed up the can of paint, so it's much easier to just add water slowly and test as much as I need to until it's the right consistency.

When you think you have it about right, grab the viscosity cup and the timer or stopwatch. To test if the paint is the right consistency for the sprayer, dip the cup completely into the paint and start your timer or stopwatch as you bring the cup up out of the paint. You are looking for the paint to completely run out of the bottom of the cup within 25-40 seconds. I prefer the consistency of 30- 35 seconds, but as little as 25 or as much as 40 seconds works too.

To thin your paint you'll need:

Paint Sprayer Container

Paint

Mesh Strainer or Flour Sifter

Viscosity Cup (mine came with the paint sprayer)

Whisk

Water

Timer or Stopwatch

Pour the paint into the paint sprayer container, using a fine mesh strainer to remove any dried paint lumps. Those lumps will clog the paint sprayer while spraying and will make it a nightmare so it is best to make sure all of those are removed from your paint before you start spraying. Trust me on this one.

Next you'll want to add a small amount of water and whisk the paint and water to combine. Keep doing this until you think it's the right consistency. Since every paint varies in thickness, there isn't an exact amount of water to add to the paint. You'll want to only add a small amount of water at a time because if you add too much water you will have to add more paint. Usually I've already cleaned my strainer and closed up the can of paint, so it's much easier to just add water slowly and test as much as I need to until it's the right consistency.

When you think you have it about right, grab the viscosity cup and the timer or stopwatch. To test if the paint is the right consistency for the sprayer, dip the cup completely into the paint and start your timer or stopwatch as you bring the cup up out of the paint. You are looking for the paint to completely run out of the bottom of the cup within 25-40 seconds. I prefer the consistency of 30- 35 seconds, but as little as 25 or as much as 40 seconds works too.

Once I have the right consistency I wash off all the the tools for next time and screw the head of the paint sprayer onto the container. That's all there is to it! Super easy and can be done pretty quickly, especially if your chalk paint is pre-mixed like Country Chic Paint.

I hope this answered all of those questions, and if I made more questions for you please let me know! I know it can be intimidating, but once you've done it once or twice it is easy as pie.

In the next posts we'll talk about how to easily protect your space from over spray, how to spray an even finish and how to clean out the paint sprayer.

Can't wait!!

P.S. For a video demonstration on how to thin paint, visit the link below!