Always start with a clean surface

Start with making sure your surface is completely free of dust, dirt, and debris. A pressure washer does a great job of cleaning off decks and fences. Let it thoroughly dry about 24 hours before moving on with your project.

When using a paint sprayer, make sure the following areas are protected from overspray.

• Ground near the fence
• Adjacent walls or fences
• Nearby trees and shrubs

The Wagner Control Pro 130 comes with the parts and accessories needed to paint your fence or deck. If you're using stain, however, you will need a spray tip for airless spraying stains. 

To get started with using this paint sprayer, there are some prep things you need to do before you start spraying. Consult the included manual for more details, but in summary, you’ll need to:

• Step A: Prime the airless paint sprayer with water.
• Step B: Prime the airless sprayer with your paint (or stain).
• Step C: Test the spray gun (without the tip) to make sure that paint (or stain) is actually flowing through the spray gun.
• STEP D: Test the spray gun (with the tip) on a piece of scrap wood or cardboard to make sure it's spraying properly.

Practice with your sprayer first.

You always want to see how the paint color and spray pattern will be with a new material. Therefore, before each project, do a test spray on a piece of wood or cardboard. Practice keeping the nozzle about 10” - 12” away and overlap each spray by 50%. If you notice runs, it means the spray gun is too close to the surface of your project.

The included Wagner spray poster, or large flattend cardboard boxes are perfect for familiarizing yourself with the CP-130 airless sprayer. Once you feel comfortable spraying the material, it’s time to complete your project!

Keep the paint spray gun as close to a 90-degree angle to the ground as possible. Move with the sprayer gun up and down and side to side when working on your project. Determine how much paint or stain you’ll need and buy extra just in case, so you don’t have to stop mid-way through your project for a supplies run.

Pro Tip: Remember, newer wood surfaces, or covering up darker colors may require more paint than recommended. If you're unsure of how much to buy, speak with a paint professional at your local paint or hardware store.

Consult the owner's manual for complete instructions on how to clean up the paint sprayer. I used a water-based paint on my fence, and these are the cleanup steps I followed:

• De-pressurize the spray gun.
• Empty the left over paint back into the paint can.
• Clean out the hopper (tank) with fresh water.
• Once tank is clean, add fresh clean water.
• Run clean water through spray gun until it runs clear (without the spray tip).
• Prime the rest of the clean water through the small plastic hose until it runs clean.

A little landscaping can be the difference between good and great!

A pretty fence needs plants and pretty flowers! I decided to turn the area into a small garden. I’ll later add some wood chips as mulch it to help keep those pesky weeds away. It's silly to think that I was worried about the paint color! I think anything else would have been completely boring. This blue-gray "Flat Top" color jazzes up the space. I also added a fence around the area to keep out animals like stray cats.

If you've got a fence (or a deck, or some other indoor or outdoor project) where the thought of using a paint brush or a roller breaks you out in hives, definitely consider using the a Wagner paint sprayer. It gets the job done much faster and the clean-up is pretty easy, too!

This sponsored post was created by Thrift Diving. Head to the blog for the full post and details.