Well, some do it all types are actually not bad painters, but this is very, very rare. Anyway, whether or not you spray or not really doesn't matter. A pro uses the sprayer to get the paint on faster. Whether or not it is sprayed, the actual paint gets rolled no matter what. We call this backrolling, meaning application of the paint with a sprayer, then physically rolling the paint while it is still wet. If you just spray it on and leave it, it's fairly likely that the paint will dry uneven and look crappy. The roller helps to even everything out. The only time I would spray walls or ceilings and not backroll is if there was a heavy texture or popcorn, which would disguise the uneven look you may get on smooth drywall.

I would go with latex. I don't use much Pittsburgh, but I am sure they have a premium acrylic paint. You just need to be sure you buy their top line paint. I would use BIN on the sills or an acrylic bonding type primer. BIN would be safest because it sticks the best and will kill stains, but it stinks. A conditioner is a good idea if you are worried about the paint drying too fast. It depends on how fast you can move and how good of a painter you are. Dynaflex 230 is a fine choice for caulk. You do not want to use that for filling holes though. Caulk is only for filling gaps between two pieces of wood. For the holes, you can use any shrink free type of spackling, preferable something lightweight so that it sands easily, but definately do not use Red Devil and any type of product that says it is has a vinyl component. I just use the tinted drywall mud for filling holes. I leave a very small mound of it on top of the hole to account for the shrinking and then when dry, sand it flush. And, when I say small, I mean really small....so many DIY'ers when using this technique lay so much spackling on top of each nail hole that they end up having to sand forever. I don't think it is realistic to to just pick up a sprayer, practice on a few doors and then spray your trim with good results. The trick to really great spraywork is that you want to put the paint on heavy, but not so heavy that it runs and sags. Finding that zone can take years of practice. Some people can pick up a sprayer and learn it pretty quick though, but I just think this is a very small percentage of people. If you have natural great hand-eye coordination, then maybe you can do it. It's very hard to fix paint runs.

I haven't been able to get back on Garden Web since my initial post...finally, some GW therapy!!! Thank you all for so many great tips. I feel pretty confident that these chairs will turn out just fine since they are brand new and don't appear to need any prep work (which I'm not so good at). And the tips re: less is more approach vs. spraying too much on at once is a huge help because I'd have soaked those chairs in the 1st go around!! I am definitely going to get that spray paint handle to save my fingers. I need my pointer fingers in tip top shape with all of the pointing I do with 2 year old twins..."go over there for your time out" "your toys belong over there" etc :-) Lauraelle - that set turned out so great!! My chairs are a tiny project compared to the set you did. You've inspired me!! I'll try to learn how to post pics on this website and attach some before and after pics once I'm done. These pics won't be nearly as exciting as Lauraella's since it's really just 2 little chairs but at least you'll get to see what you've had a hand in helping me do :-) Thanks again.

I did read one publication (I think it was a us govt pamphlet from the early 20th century) that said metallic paint reduces btu output, but haven't seen anything else on the topic. They came from the factory pre-primed and the seller recommends painting them. As a practical matter I don't know how you would preserve cast iron without painting it. These systems are-over designed anyways. They'll put out a 70 degree delta t from the odt, which you hit only a small percentage of the time, with a margin of error. The entire system is within the insulated envelope, and generates heat as long as the thermostat and/or the TRVs call for it. That heat will distribute throughout the house more easily than escaping it. Maybe in old systems where the boiler and uninsulated pipes sat in an uninsulated basement, a small amount of thermal resistance at the radiator posed a problem, but in a properly designed modern system I find it hard to believe it will ever be a real world problem.