Airless paint sprayers?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ok, way off topic. I'm going to buy one of these for house painting. Anyone have any experience with any of them?

I looked at the Wagner Paint Crew, but the reviews on it arent that good. Cheap at $150 though. The Graco's are too expensive, I dont wanna pay $500.

I saw a pair of Campbell Hausfelds, an ez5000 for $199 and a much bigger 2/3hp model for $224. The latter is a great price, I've seen them sell for almost twice that but I dont have any experience with the brand.

Any suggestions? I dont want to rent one, its $70 a day and I'd have to rush the work.

Before someone asks, airless paint sprayers are the bomb. You stick a 5 gallon can of paint into it, cover yourself and everything you dont want painted, unroll 25-50' of hose with a spray gun at the end, and hose down a whole room in ~15 minutes. I have a whole house interior to do in the next month and two exteriors to do in the next few years and dont feel like paying out ~6000 to painters.

[sgeeeee]

I don't have any experience with the airless sprayers. I had quite a bit of painting to do (including my barn) about 4 or 5 years ago. After getting bids for the jobs, I figured I could buy ladders, a Wagner sprayer and just about every thing else related to painting and still be way ahead. I used the Wagner to paint my barn, paint my finished basement walls and to paint the exterior of my current house. No problems. It's worked great. You do have to get the paint to the right consistency and you have to clean it.

I was also given a Campbell Hausfelds compressor and spray attachement. I used it twice and don't really like it. I've found it difficult to keep it working consistently if you have a very big job.

The airless paint sprayers sound like they should be pretty slick. I guess if I was in the market now that's what I would be looking at too.

[BigMoneyJim]

My granddad's been a painter most of his life and doesn't like sprayers for painting houses (inside or outside). I don't recall his reasons; not sure if it's a quality issue, tradition issue or old crumudgeon issue. I think a little of each.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Which wagner model did you use? I saw the 'xtra paint crew' for $150 which is cheap, but you have to pour paint into its 'hopper' and keep it full to avoid spattering. A lot of reviewers said it took at least 40 minutes and up to 3 hours to clean after each days use. Most airless sprayers take 5-10 minutes of pumping water through them. The smaller wagner "guns" are ok for stain and very thin paints, but I had trouble doing a fence with one, it spattered a lot and took forever. But it was better than a brush...

The compressor/gun combination is cheap if you already have a compressor, but oversprays like mad and atomizes about half the paint into the air. Generally not good for anything other than a quick couple of pfffts. Thats the advantage of the airless...it just uses pump pressure to force the paint through the nozzle.

Jim - My grandfather was a painter too, among other things. Unless it was a brush or a roller, it didnt matter if an alien being came out of a box, painted the entire house inside and out, and charged a nickel...he wasnt going to like it.

To be fair though, its hard to get a smooth finish coat with a sprayer. The trick is to hold the sprayer level with the surface about a foot or so away and move your arm back and forth while walking...then after doing it back and forth, do a layer up and down, sort of an overlapping crosshatch. The overspray on the airless and compressor units can make a heck of a mess unless you've masked the heck out of everything. You have to wear a mask and a respirator. And the "paint dust", which is atomized paint that hangs in the air, can end up on surfaces in other rooms from where you painted. Airless units without enough horsepower and pressure can also struggle with thick exterior paints without thinning them, which somewhat takes away the advantage of starting with a thick paint in the first place. So there are downsides.

There are also new HVLP (high volume low pressure or something like that) that dont overspray hardly at all and produce a very fine finish, but they're not for big jobs...great for painting furniture, shelves, window ledges...that sort of thing.

But rolling a 3 bedroom house's entire interior over fresh texture by hand isnt my idea of a good time. Neither is paying a painter $2k to do it for me. And that was my brother in laws painter friends "wholesale cost". :P

Then I have my house and my dads house to paint sometime in the next few years...so I can amortize the cost of this sucker well past this first job.

[wabmester]

Jarhead, are you talking about something like Loctite Color Guard? I've never heard of anybody painting a house with that stuff. Isn't it like $90/gal?

[charlie]

Hey TH,

Can't you rent a sprayer?

Cheers,

Charlie

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Jarhead, are you talking about something like Loctite Color Guard? * I've never heard of anybody painting a house with that stuff. * Isn't it like $90/gal?

Wab:

I just went out to garage to find the brand name.
The stuff I used was Decoflex water-proof. (For Stucco siding.) Manufacturer is Ful-Tex
waterproofing products.

Most of the folks up here that have stucco siding have switched to this thick waterproof product. There are plenty of other manufacturers, I'm sure that have the same product.
As far as cost, the per gallon isn't bad at all. I think it was around $25.00 per gallon. But you only get about half the coverage, so you go through the gallonage pretty fast.
Would probably be ideal for your neck of the woods.
It has to be rolled on though, and takes a little more time, because of the thickness.
As I mentioned to TH, I was getting about 5 years before it had sand-blasted look with regular paint.
A guy I know up the road, used this 12 years ago, and
his stucco is in great shape.
Painting is not my favorite past-time, so like to have an edge if I can get it.
The guy I bought the product from said the paint would last longer than I would. I went home, looked in the mirror, and thought to myself, maybe he's right
If you have stucco, and need painting, try it you'll like it.
Regards, Jarhead

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Hey TH, Can't you rent a sprayer? Cheers, Charlie

Chuck -

I could, but as I mentioned I'll need one for at least 2 days for this project, and at least 3-4 days for the exterior projects. At $70 a day for a rental when I can buy one for $200-250 the economy just isnt there.

Jarhead -

Hadnt heard about that new paint, is that the elastomeric stuff? If it is, I was a little concerned about that paints ability to let the stucco 'breathe' and dispose of moisture. The other 'problem' is that I already have the paint. I bought 15 gallons of glidden evermore for the wifes house but the painter only used 5 of it. Of course they opened and mixed paint from all of the 5 gallon cans, so i have 10 open gallons of paint @ $20 a gallon and 8 gallons of $18/gal "gripper" exterior primer that I should use within six-nine months before it goes south on me. Just about enough to coat my house.

In any case, this house takes almost no weather. Single story, six foot high fence with tall trees and 20' hedges all around. No trim at all on it...flush windows and doors. My old 2 story mcmansion on the other hand...took all kinds of bad weather and between that and the crappy hardboard siding I couldnt keep paint on it.

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Jarhead - Hadnt heard about that new paint, is that the elastomeric stuff? *If it is, I was a little concerned about that paints ability to let the stucco 'breathe' and dispose of moisture. *The other 'problem' is that I already have the paint. *I bought 15 gallons of glidden evermore for the wifes house but the painter only used 5 of it. *Of course they opened and mixed paint from all of the 5 gallon cans, so i have 10 open gallons of paint @ $20 a gallon and 8 gallons of $18/gal "gripper" exterior primer that I should use within six-nine months before it goes south on me. *Just about enough to coat my house. In any case, this house takes almost no weather. *Single story, six foot high fence with tall trees and 20' hedges all around. *No trim at all on it...flush windows and doors. *My old 2 story mcmansion on the other hand...took all kinds of bad weather and between that and the crappy hardboard siding I couldnt keep paint on it.

TH: Exactly. There's always something. Now I find out my house has emphysema.
Hadn't heard about that possible problem. The guy up the road would be on his 3rd. painting, and I would have had to paint 2 years ago with the regular stucco exterier paint. Both show no wear at all now.
Our situation is much different than yours however. We get creamed with the wind driven rain in the winter.
Anyhow, have fun painting, and remember beer is good for you.
Regards, Jarhead

Quote:

Hey TH, Can't you rent a sprayer? Cheers, Charlie

I checked into this myself, when I wanted to put 4 coats of water based Polyurethane on my Basement Bedroom that I finished in tongue and Groove Pine.

The sprayer rental was a fortune! - I decided to go with a Brush. 4 coats a lot of work, but now I'm done until I'm dead.

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Which wagner model did you use? *I saw the 'xtra paint crew' for $150 which is cheap, but you have to pour paint into its 'hopper' and keep it full to avoid spattering. *A lot of reviewers said it took at least 40 minutes and up to 3 hours to clean after each days use. * Most airless sprayers take 5-10 minutes of pumping water through them. *The smaller wagner "guns" are ok for stain and very thin paints, but I had trouble doing a fence with one, it spattered a lot and took forever. *But it was better than a brush... The compressor/gun combination is cheap if you already have a compressor, but oversprays like mad and atomizes about half the paint into the air. *Generally not good for anything other than a quick couple of pfffts. *Thats the advantage of the airless...it just uses pump pressure to force the paint through the nozzle. . . .

My Wagner says it's a model 355E. That's probably the cheapest model they made at the time I bought it. You have it described about right. You spend 1/2 day masking and preparing your surface, 30 minutes to an hour spraying, and just as much time cleaning up. Taking a break once you get started spraying is not an option.

You have several of options for paint reservoir. There is an enclosed canister that holds about a quart of paint, a backpack bucket that holds about a half gallon, or you can stick some tubes straight into your 5 gallon container. Unless you have a strong, agile assistant, only the enclosed 1 quart container really works. This means you have to refill often. The assistant has to follow you closely and keep the hose in the reservoir and the reservoir close to your spraying hand.

I've had good luck even with thick exterior latex, but you do have to use the conditioner gunk to get the paint to the right consistency first. The sprayer comes with a tool to measure that. Cleaning all parts thoroughly is critical to the operation too, and you have to disassemble the thing and make sure you don't loose any of the little pieces in your bucket that tends to be filled with paint colored water when you do that. I wouldn't say that I'm in love with this piece of equipment, but for any fairly good sized job it beats hell out of a brush or roller.

I can't say much good at all about my compressor/gun except it was free and the compressor works for other things that I actually bought it for.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Funny, I actually have that wagner sprayer. Bought it 11 years ago off a clearance table at some hardware store. Never opened the box. Figured it was a 'toy' caliber sprayer and thought I might use it to paint a piece of old furniture or a garage door or something. Maybe I'll break it out and play with it a bit.

What I ended up doing (just a few minutes ago) was ordering the Campbell Hausfeld ez5100 directly from CH for $259 shipped. I could have gotten it cheaper at amazon but the CH one includes a power paint roller attachment that normally sells for $40 and amazon wanted $15 to ship it, sooo...

This one got good reviews from people who used it, and a couple tried that wagner paint crew, didnt like it, took it back, got this one, and liked it. Operation looks pretty easy...stick the tube in your can of paint, turn the knob to "prime" until it lights up, turn to spray, drag the 20' hose to where you want to work and pull the trigger. Cleanup is sticking the hose in a bucket of warm soapy water and spraying until the water isnt paint colored anymore.

I was going to get the next step up CH model at "tractor supply warehouse", a new "small farm store" that just opened its first store here in northern CA. Guess they're popular in Colorado. Unfortunately they were sold out of it, and the droids that work there told me their expert computer replenishment system would take "only 3 weeks" to get one back in stock. I have news for them...when you open a new store in an area with a home depot across the street and a walmart next door, you might want to actually keep product in stock or find a way to get it replenished a little quicker.

Good price though, $225 for a sprayer that sells in the $450-500 range at most stores. This littler one looks more "consumer friendly" than the larger one though, and people claim it sprays heavy latex exterior with no problems.

I'll give a report when I get it and get off my lazy ass and finish that house...

[BigMoneyJim]

Quote:

but the CH one includes a power paint roller attachment

My granddad the painter is spinning in his grave, and he isn't even dead yet.

Power paint roller?

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

My granddad the painter is spinning in his grave, and he isn't even dead yet. Power paint roller?

Well, at least he's not blowing milk out his eyes.

Quote:

Well, at least he's not blowing milk out his eyes. *

That's not milk that's latex paint

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

My granddad the painter is spinning in his grave, and he isn't even dead yet. Power paint roller?

Good line, I use that one all the time

Never heard of a power paint roller? Works the same as the sprayer, but you have a roller head on it. Pull the trigger or push a button on the roller wand and it forces a little paint into the roller. Non stop rolling. You can actually get just an electric power roller without the sprayer part for not a lot of money. Definitely a time saver if you're dead set on rolling. I may do a combination of both...roll the main part of the walls in the 'premium' rooms like the living room and master bed and spray the corners, closets and trim. We'll see...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quick update...I used the Campbell Hausfeld airless sprayer (ez5000) to paint the big shed behind my wifes old house today.

Liked it. Easy to set up, use and clean. Minimal overspray and "paint dust". Took me longer to mix the paint and cleanup than it took to put 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of exterior on the 10x14 shed. About an hour of setup and cleanup an 15 minutes of painting. I have no reservations about using this to paint the interior of the home. Should cut my painting time by 80%.

Basically plug in the unit, stick a plastic hose thats connected to the unit into the paint can, turn a knob to 'prime' until the thing takes up the paint, turn the knob to "spray" and adjust until you have enough pressure for a fine spray, pull the trigger and point. When you're done, stick the hose into a bucket of water, turn the knob to 'clean', and wait 5 minutes.

I was using about the thickest exterior latex you can buy, and this had NO trouble with it using the stock .013 spray nozzle. I had been absolutely assured by several experts that this unit wouldnt develop enough pressure for thick latex and a .017 nozzle would be a requirement.

Highly recommended. $199 at amazon (look for 'ez5000'). I got it from the manufacturer with the optional power roller for $250 shipped, but they arent selling them directly anymore.