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 ladder. Make sure it's tall enough so you can reach everything from approximately the second-highest rung. Another safety tip, when using a paint sprayer, wear a face mask to avoid inhaling overspray. Practice spraying on scrap material or included spray poster to get familiar with spraying and achieve your desired finish. You may need to adjust the sprayer settings based on the paint being used. Once you've perfected your spraying technique, you should be able to avoid creating drips and runs.

Wagner Paint Sprayer Equipment

How to use an Electric Wagner Paint Sprayer

You can spray any latex paint or oil-based paint or stain with a Wagner FLEXiO spray gun 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 with a Power Painter

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