Trying to paint "roughcast"

I am not a pro painter but helping out someone who wants to get a quick sale on a house. My wife and I have taken on the job but it very soon became apparent that simply applying Santex Masonry paint with a thick roller or brush was like painting layers of popcorn. It's horrible stuff to paint and the job is taking forever. I am using a common garden spray gun to mist water onto the surface before painting but with minimal improvement. A better approach was to dilute the paint as a thin wash to get into the deep recesses but again a very slow process.

My next port of call is perhaps an electric spray gun no more than £50 which I cold invest in for later home decorating tasks, but would also handle the masonry paint watered down ?

Any advice from the professionals would be appreciated. Thanks.

I used this kit to paint my mums bungalow. Not quite as stippled as yours. I only paid £20 for it in B&Q on a special though.

Elbow grease is the only way.

Well it's just impossible to paint, however many coats you give.

I sprayed mine , was much coarser than yours . Took a day and a half to paint front , rear and flank.

I have a ~£40 spray gun which is plug in electric, you carry the compressor on a shoulder strap. Does a good job, though I have only done a fence and 2 sheds with water-based paint. I watered down quite severely (getting close to 50/50) and it still went on really well, and only needed 2 coats. You could probably get away with 1 coat if you only water it down a bit. but with a cheap gun, the compressor will really struggle with anything too think and you'll get splodges that shoot out and make a mess.

If it's not too windy then it's a lot better than brushes at getting into gaps, and in your case, in between lumps of popcorn

I had mine done last month. Shellcast, but equally difficult. You can't just use a brush. Also, whilst it might help you sell the house, it's not going to last more than a few years. May not even last one.

You can rent a spray gun. I'd recommend that. A fifty quid gun won't work. But you don't just slap it on. What I had done was

1) Take out all the screws, attachments, fill the holes and cracks, etc.
2) Mask off everything that doesn't need to be painted and remove the downspouts
3) Scrub off any moss
4) Power wash the walls
5) Spray stabiliser onto all walls.
6) Coat 1 with a 50 / 50 mix of paint and water
7) Coat 2 with a 90 / 10 mix of paint and water
8) Clean up, put the downspouts back, etc.

They did actually use a brush for the garage as it was too close to the neighbour's garage. Even the slightest wind with a spray gun and it drifts everywhere. The painters said as a matter of course they don't tend to use a gun within 10 yards of a neighbouring property.

What I'd say too is that if that's too much since you're just selling the house, try just cleaning with fungicide then a power wash. Makes a big difference.