How to Use a Paint Sprayer

Painting Preparation and Tools

Before you break out your paint sprayer and paint, it's important to mask off the windows, doors, floors and woodwork – basically anything you don’t want painted. To reach high areas, you’ll need a stepladder. Make sure it's tall enough so you can reach everything from approximately the second-highest rung. And when using your paint sprayer, wear a face mask to avoid inhaling overspray. Once you've perfected your spraying technique, you should be able to avoid creating drips and runs, but it's still a good idea to have a paintbrush handy in case you slip.

Adjusting Your Paint Spraying Equipment

You can spray any latex or oil-based paint or stain with a Wagner FLEXiO Paint Sprayer without needing to thin the material. Here's how:

• Select a vertical spray pattern, which produces a tall, thin oval of paint coverage from the sprayer
• Spray while moving the gun from side to side
• Keep the tip a uniform 6 to 12 inches from the surface while you spray, avoid arcing at the end of your stroke
• Adjust the distance and speed of movement to get full, even coverage
• Change the spray pattern to horizontal, which produces a wide oval-shaped spray pattern
• Practice spraying with an up-and-down stroke, using the same technique

Now that you have a feel for how the spray pattern behaves, you're ready to start painting.

Paint Spraying Interior Walls

Working systematically when painting a large surface, such as a wall or ceiling, not only prevents streaks and voids, it helps you monitor your paint coverage. Here are our tips:

• Shine a work light at an angle on the surface you're painting to help you spot areas that need more paint
• Start in a corner and spray in a back-and-forth motion, overlapping each stroke by about half the spray pattern on the next stroke
• Keep the gun moving at a consistent speed to avoid drips
• Brush out drips as soon as you see them and immediately spray lightly over the brush marks to cover them

You're ready. Now go forth and paint great.