How much mess is involved spraying a kitchen?
Is all this going to turn my kitchen into a bombsite?
After “What will it cost?”, ” the second-biggest concern in people’s minds tends to be, “How much mess is involved spraying a kitchen?” They worry about their kitchen covered in rogue, runaway spray droplets.
Well, the simple answer is …. very little.
Especially when you compare it to the upheaval and disruptment involved replacing one and having to live without it for 3, maybe 4 days. That’s why thousands of property owners every month are having their kitchens sprayed. It’s one of the fastest-growing sectors of the construction industry.
Why do people do it? There are three main reasons. The first is cost. You can save up to 80% of the cost of replacement, and you can see the cost here, whether your kitchen’s small, average or large.
The second is that it’s more environmentally friendly than disposing of an old kitchen on a landfill.
The third is the time it saves. Some small kitchens can be sprayed in a single day and ‘average’ sized ones take two (obviously larger kitchens take longer), so you’re back up and fully functional ASAP. Watch this video to see how our efficient, streamlined process enables us to do it in a day.
Now I could have said, “no mess at all” instead of “very little,” but to be honest, it depends on who you choose to spray your kitchen! A big part of the job is masking up to ensure that there’s no overspray or excess dust from sanding and as you’d imagine, some companies are more diligent and careful about this than others. Pick the wrong one and you’ll be scraping spots of paint off your kitchen surfaces for weeks.
Here’s what we do to ensure your property is as pristine when we leave as when we arrived.
What we do BEFORE spraying to avoid mess
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The kitchen floor will be covered with canvas or plastic sheeting, as will any kitchen furniture that can't be moved.
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After that we remove all the drawers and doors and mask up everything that won't need spraying - worktops, cabinet insides, walls in close proximity.
Spraying exaggerates the slightest mark or blemish and if your doors aren't sanded to a glass-like finish before spraying, they'll stand out like a sore thumb.
But if you sand the doors while they're still hanging, if it's not done properly you can huge amounts of dust in the air (a vaccuum attached to the sander can't get it all). This can take a long time to settle, so while the finished doors might look great, dust will be settling on them for the next 12 hours or so and you end up with the dreaded 'orange peel' effect instead of the flawless finish you want.
- Where space allows, we sand the doors and drawers in a portable sanding booth we'll erect in the kitchen (it looks like a small pop-up tent) or outside if weather allows. This ensures all the dust stays inside the booth, where it's taken outside by an extractor fan. This ensures NONE of it ends up in your kitchen.
What we do DURING spraying to avoid mess
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The main thing people are worried about when they ask "Is there a lot of mess involved?" is paint overspray. Well, once we've collapsed and removed the sanding booth, we replace it with a completely dust-free spraying booth, in which the doors and drawers are sprayed. Just as with the sanding booth, this ensures that any overspray gets extracted outside instead of settling in your kitchen. The only place our paint goes is where we both want it to go!
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Obviously the carcasses have to be sprayed where they are, so we sand them by hand instead of machine to minimise the dust that gets in the air, plus we use HVLP spraying equipment. Many companies use machines, which spray jets of 100% paint at very high speed. No air is involved, so they're called 'airless' sprayers. This is great for the sprayer, because it takes them less time to cover the object they're spraying; the DOWNSIDE is that the spray is harder to control, and you end up with a lot more overspray. In addition, up to 75% of the paint can 'bounce off' the surface due to the high pressure at which the paint is sprayed, ending up God knows where.
We use what are called HVLP (High Volume, Low Pressure) sprayers, which produce a very fine atomisation that's part paint, but also part air. This produces a better finish but it also means it takes slightly longer to spray something. However, we think it's worth it as it enables us to control the spray more, so the chances of overspray in your kitchen are greatly reduced and a much higher percentage of the paint actually sticks to the door or cabinet due to the lower pressure used. We'd use airless when spraying a very large area like a wall, but for kitchen doors we think HVLP is better.
An added benefit is that HVLP sprayers are much, much quieter than airless ones, so you won't be deafened by us working in the kitchen while you're watching TV in the lounge!
Our advice is: if you're worried about how much mess is involved spraying a kitchen, pick a company that's spent the money and invested in HVLP sprayers.
Our advice is …… if you’re worried about how much mess is involved spraying kitchens, choose a company that’s invested in HVLP equipment.
What we do AFTER spraying to avoid mess
- Once we've replaced the handles and rehung the doors, we'll clean everything up. We'll remove all masking materials and take them with us, wipe every surface clean and even mop the floor. Your kitchen will be as pristine as when we arrived. Some customers say it's even cleaner!
And we promise not to leave until you’re 100% happy that everything’s spic and span. In fact if you find any evidence of mess after we’ve left, not only will will we apologise and come back to clean it up if necessary, we’ll refund 10% of the price to recognise your inconvenience (that’s just ONE of our amazing service guarantees; read about all of them here).
So all in all, the answer to, “How much mess is involved spraying a kitchen” is … there IS a risk of mess …… but not if you choose us!