We are in the process of painting our new house. The trim carpenter will be starting in a few weeks and I plan to prime and paint the trim before he hangs it. The final coat of paint will go on afterwards. My question is, other than the primer, how many coats of white paint does poplar trim need? Also, I was thinking of buying a Fuji Mini Mite 3 for spray painting the trim and interior doors. Does anyone have experience using this sprayer?

The Fuji is a very nice HVLP machine.

Two topcoats is sufficient for a durable finish.

If you're going to have to touch up after the install (nail holes), it will need to be sprayed or the touch up will be obvious if done with a brush.

Michael

All of your nail holes will need 2 coats of paint after they are filled and sanded smooth so it may be a waste of time to do any finish coating prior to installation since you will need to do 2 coats after it is hung anyway.

So would I be better off just priming the trim before it is hung and then spraying two coats afterwards? How much overspray does the Fuji produce? I am already in the process of painting the walls and would need to cover them if I use a sprayer on the trim after it is hung. I know that is a little backwards from the way most painters around here do it but I hate to cut in around trim and cabinetry. Also, the trim carpenter is busy until mid-January so I thought this way I could still make progress on the house while I am waiting for him.

Would taping a three foot piece of brown paper above the baseboard trim be enough to control the overspray? I guess I just need to experiment but I'd like to have an idea of how it will go and in what order before I pluck down the money for the sprayer. Thanks.

Yes it is better to spray the 2 coats after install IMO. Don't forget that all the joints in painted trim get caulked and that caulk has to be painted along with the nail holes or it will collect dust and yellow in no time. When I caulk I always smear some caulk on the wall as part of bridging the gap between the wall and the wood....you do this with a wet finger. If your walls are already finish coated, you will be getting caulk on your finished walls...another reason to do walls last.

A HVLP will always produce less overspray than an airless and I think 3 feet is plenty of protection from overspray.

Did you purchase the hvlp sprayer?

Please let me know how difficult/easy it was to clean the primer from the spray gun. I want to start using my hvlp rig for spraying primer and paint on smaller woodworking projects, but I am concerned about something like bullseye primer sticking to and making a mess of my gun.

I use my sprayer for waterbased laquer replacement when putting a stain and sealer coat on cabinetry and I really have to stay on top of the cleanup.

Thanks
RC