If you’re a painter that uses airless sprayers, as many of us do, how many times has your day been absolutely ruined by overspray? It’s one of the biggest obstacles we face on the jobsite - always needing to mask off surfaces, protect with dropcloths, and use cardboard shields. The list of expenses is endless! As we move out of spring and into the heat of summer, we’re in the middle of exterior painting season, and it’s the perfect time to do fences and decks as well. At Paint Life Supply Co, we’re always on the lookout for tools to make your job easier as a painter, and this one is a game changer. 

The Dipless Brush is a hybrid paintbrush technology that takes the traditional two-step process of spraying and back-brushing and makes it into one easy step, with one simple tool! This brush attaches to most standard airless paint sprayers and equipment, and you can use it with any airless spray tip. The process is trigger-automated, meaning that it’s pressurized through the airless sprayer and the paint comes out right onto and through the bristles. 

The best part of this product is how you’re able to limit overspray over using an airless sprayer. Control your overspray and drips further by being specific about which tip and what PSI you’re spraying at, but because the Dipless Brush delivers the product directly into the bristles, you’re able to minimize and eliminate overspray. There’s no need to worry! Depending on your process, this may take slightly longer than the airless spraying and back-brushing method, but you’ll make up that time not needing to mask as much, and if you’re using Stain & Seal Expert’s stains, you’ll hardly need to mask, if at all. I like to still keep some cardboard shields under the fence to catch anything that may fall from the brush or fence. 

Using the Dipless Brush you’ll also be saving product that won’t be lost to overspray when using an airless sprayer. So, the stain you’re using will be going farther, even if you’re absolutely saturating the fence pickets. And it’s 100% dipless - no need to dip the brush every ten seconds - just simply squeeze the spray gun trigger. 

You’ll also be saving money on masking materials - plastic, paper, tape, you won’t need them! Masking materials are usually single-use items, making this product a more economic and environmentally friendly option. With a simple squeeze of the trigger on the spray gun, the Dipless Brush delivers product where you need it, when you need it, allowing you to more precisely apply your product. So, overall you’re going to save time and money - especially in the prep area!

Due to the design and functionality of the Dipless Brush, you’ll be able to cut-in while applying product to a surface without having to remove the brush - just spray and back brush the application surface in one easy step. You’ll be increasing productivity - one person is able to do this entire process, unlike the two-person method of spraying and back-brushing for added penetration. The other person is now free to work on another part of the job! 

Currently there are two sizes: a 5” wood block brush and a 5 ⅜” plastic block brush - the brushes have nylon bristles. The Dipless Brush is made in the USA and intended for long-lasting repetitive use. From my testing, this product isn’t heavy or awkward to use - you’ve just got to find the setup you desire; what type of gun, do you need an extension, etc. 

The Dipless Brush is currently available at diplessbrush.com. Starter kits are $149.95 and replacement Dipless Brush heads are $119.95. Please refer to the website for the most accurate and current pricing and specials. 

The perfect combination

I recently got to test out and start using the Dipless Brush on a large multi-day privacy fence project to re-stain it. Without the Dipless Brush, I would have had to spend a lot of time and money masking off the house. In some places, the fence came right up to the house, plus the amount of plant life was a pain to get around, even when using this brush! And I haven’t even mentioned the large gaps between fence pickets. Facing all of this information, I figured it was time to give the Dipless Brush a try. 

The perfect stain to complement this product is the stain from Stain & Seal Experts. You can check out this blog post for a full deep dive into their company, stains, and the Expert Stain Machine! But, I’ll cover the basics so that you can understand how using these two products together made this project a dream. 

Ever since I discovered Stain & Seal Expert’s stains, my staining game has forever been changed. These stains are non-drying, self-leveling, and penetrating, which makes doing decks and fences a breeze. 

Non-Drying: One of my favorite features of these stains is the fact that they are non-drying oils. This means that you don’t need to spend time masking off the metal hardware on a fence - wipe it down with a rag at the end of the project and watch it easily come off. Meanwhile, if any overspray from a drying-oil got on the hardware, you’d have a really hard time trying to clean it off. With this fence project, I really put this to the test - there were several gates with a lot of metal hardware and frames that I was able to not worry about getting stain on, and then wipe off at the end of the day! 

Self-leveling: This is a big one for fences, and I was getting a lot of comments on my social media of people wondering about drips, pooling, splotches from the opposite side, and an uneven looking surface. Well, with Stain & Seal Experts, none of that is an issue. The product is self-leveling, which means that over time, it will settle flat and on the surface. There’s no need to get down low to spray or brush the bottom of the pickets - the product will self-level and make it so that every part of each picket will be fully saturated - even on vertical or hanging surfaces. If I wasn’t precise with my application, the stain will do the rest of the work and level out. It’s good practice to go back over and back-brush everything one direction, but the point is, with this stain, you can get by without doing that and it’ll still look amazing. 

Penetrating: These stains will just keep on penetrating! This feature goes hand-in-hand with the self-leveling feature - as it levels, you can rest assure that every fiber of the picket is fully saturated. Penetrating stains add something to the wood - enhancing it’s beauty and longevity. The life of the fence or deck will be increased. While I was working on this fence, the stain began to penetrate to the other side before I was even done with that side!

These stains are available for purchase on paintlifesupply.com, and they are environmentally friendly products with low VOC (volatile organic compounds) levels. On this fence, I used a semi-solid stain in the color Cape Cod on rough sawn cedar. 

The application

The first thing I needed to figure out was what the setup I wanted was. I started by connecting the Dipless Brush to an inline gun for the easiest handle and ability to spray. Then, for additional reach around plants and to the top of the fence, I added a gun extension. There were sections of the fence where I was unable to use the gun extension, and it was much harder to stain and have enough leverage over the brush. 

Something else I use almost every time I’m spraying is a hose whip. With a hose whip, the spray gun and attached brush can be moved around a lot easier. A regular airless hose has a larger inside and outside diameter, and with a hose whip you’re going to have less wrist and arm fatigue. Our custom hose whips are ultra-soft with a smaller diameter, and come in cloth or wire braided. On this project, I was able to have the maneuverability that I truly needed to get into hard-to-reach and small areas. Learn more about using a whip here!

This project was a multi-day staining project, and even though there was some light wind a few of those days, I still felt comfortable enough to not wear a Tyvek suit or a respirator/mask. Isn’t that cool, though? This is a tool that lets you still stain fences when it’s windy out - you can’t do it when airless spraying - the liability is too high. You’re also able to use it in tight spaces a lot better than an airless sprayer, which you always want to be a little bit back from for safety. 

 I am always a fan of wearing gloves, and I was doing so for this project as well. When using oils, I typically like to use a pair of latex gloves underneath my work gloves, for some extra protection. Plus, the work gloves are going to give me a good grip on the spray gun. I also had a few rags with me to wipe excess off of the hardware once I was finished with a particular fence panel. But, I still lined the bottom of the fence with cardboard shields to catch any excess drips, of which there were a few here and there. 

With the Dipless Brush, you’re able to use any tip. But remember, the bigger the tip and the higher the PSI - the more potential overspray you’re going to get, even with this product. The more drips you could potentially get, as well. I used a few different tips on this project to experiment with the brush, one of the best was the Titan HEA 311 tip which I was using at around 1000 PSI. Control how fast the product is coming out with the exact tip you choose. 

Before you start, make sure you test the moisture content of the wood with a moisture meter. The fence I was working on was five years old, but I tested it anyways and found that it was 100% dry. It’s always better to check to make sure that the wood is going to be dry enough to accept the stain. 

There’s no need to load up the brush before starting - just dive right into the staining process. To avoid drips with the current design of the brush, I would brush using the brush horizontally, and very occasionally vertical. Both ways are an efficient method to get the stain on the surface. The Dipless Brush makes the staining process more pleasant, I would say. You’ll definitely be a lot cleaner at the end of the day. Plus, it saves you time and you don’t have to worry about overspray? If that sounds like something you’re looking for, then maybe you should try this brush out. Buy it at diplessbrush.com.