What's the go-to paint sprayer?

OK, I’ve ducked, dodged, and otherwise done everything I can to avoid painting the garage for 3 years and now it really, really, really needs paint and there ain’t no avoidin’ it anymore. Before we go any further, it may help to understand that I really, really, really hate exterior painting, but I’m too cheap to hire it done AND I have 2 relatives that owe me about 500 hours of labor for all the work I’ve done on their houses, so I’m calling in my marker for the scraping and prep work.

I also need to paint the new shed up at my property, so there’s 2X the reason to get sprayer.

I’m done with brush painting. My arm wants to fall off just thinking about it. What’s the go-to sprayer system for the serious homeowner, guys?

The cup/gun Wagner Power Painter style deals look like a cluster #### waiting to happen. Filling that little cup looks like a mess, they are louder than heck, and my arm hurts just picking them up in the store because they are so heavy. If I’m totally wrong about this and they are really totally awesome, let me know. They just don’t look like anything I’d be happy with.

So what I THINK I should be looking at is the systems that draw from the can/bucket. I asked the Menards paint guy what the go-to was and he said the Graco Magnum X5. I asked, what about… No! Graco Magnum X5, he said. Don’t even think about anything else, you’ll hate yourself, you’ll live the rest of your life in misery and agony.

Anyone used this unit? Or any other of the higher end homeowner units from Graco, Wagner, etc?

And now the El Cheapo side of me has to ask…

Anyone used the Harbor Freight Krause & Becker unit? Under $200 with coupon. 977 reviews with an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars. It has almost exactly the same rating as the Graco X5 does on Amazon.

Honestly, the thing looks like it would get-r-done. Anyone used one?

Is this really a high tech piece of equipment where a guy has to spend big to get decent results?

Beyond these 2 paint jobs, I’d probably use the unit once every couple of years on average.

BTW, I get that there is much more prep and cover with a sprayer, but to me taping and spreading plastic is a hell of a lot easier than brush painting until I puke and my arm falls off.

Many thanks.

Grouse

I just read a review that said the Graco Magnum X5 only lasts about 60 gallons until the pump needs to be replaced.

Not sure about other brands.

I’ve put about 500gallons thru a Graco X7 sprayer and never missed a beat. However that sounds a bit over your price range. With your use amount it may be best to just rent one for a weekend.

Just a tip, spraying isn’t all that great and won’t hold up to weather if it’s just sprayed. Backrolling is highly recommended.

You know I thought about the whole rental thing. And I just don’t think I want to go that route because all of the renting and taking it back and what if there’s a weather situation makes it really a lot of fooling around.

Also rental of a high quality system which most of the rental places only carry a Pro system is not exactly cheap. Two rentals pays for a unit of the size and quality that I’m looking at.

Grouse

All I know is I’ve bought a few things from harbor freight and every one of them has out lasts my expectations. But I have no expertise with a paint sprayer

I had a good experience with the Graco x5 last year-painted my new garage. It’s a 32×24 and the actual spraying took me about 3 hours? Way more time in prep/masking. I borrowed the unit from my uncle who had not done a great job maintaining it so the filters were clogged and valve in the sprayer handle needed replacing. I think the key to getting reliable performance is diligent cleaning right when you’re done with use. I cant comment on longevity of the unit but even if it only lasted 60 gallons of paint it would be worth it in my mind (for $250-300). For reference our garage took about 5 gallons to cover.
I’m honestly thinking about buying one to paint our house now. Have a shed and some interior projects that led me to buy a cordless version but the small paint cup would make it impractical for large areas.
One recommendation which I had never done for handpainting (and maybe should have been) is to filter your paint to catch solids.
CJ Spray in Eagan is a great place for knowledgable service/parts.

Hope this helps!

Bearcat89 wrote:

All I know is I’ve bought a few things from harbor freight and every one of them has out lasts my expectations.

Yes, that has been my experience as well. I guess I put it down to the fact that a lot of tools–even power tools–aren’t really all that high tech now in 2018. You don’t have to buy a $400 set of Snap-on wrenches to twist a nut off with reasonable results. I have grinders, a buffer, and an osc multi-tool, all work great. That’s what got me wondering about the painter.

Twins Guy wrote:

One recommendation which I had never done for handpainting (and maybe should have been) is to filter your paint to catch solids.

Good tip, thanks. I’ve seen that also on Youtube vids, they used that big mesh bag. Will do.

At less than $200, if it lasts a couple of jobs, I won’t feel like it owes me. Longer is better, of course, but I’m sure the longevity is mainly down to how well do you clean it.

Grouse

I tried the Wagner a couple years ago and your assumptions about them are correct, a loud heavy uneven spraying POS. I did 2 interior walls of my garage and brought it back. I still haven’t done the 3rd wall lol.

Kind of an old thread, but since I am considering staining my house this spring I am looking for advise on what a decent option is for a sprayer. A little digging online has led me to a couple Graco options. Anyone used the Magnum Project Painter Plus Electric TrueAirless Sprayer. I think its a step down from the X5 listed above.

OK, I see this is a reseracted thread but it is different from the OP’s
In the OP;s thread I would say just scale it back and to a roll and back brush.

When staining you need to keep the stain application going on and oxidatationizing at the same rate to achieve the same finished look.

So, if you can roll and back brush a cerian square /lineal footage rate then THAT will be your most cost effective rout. jmo.

I plan to use a “solid” stain since that is what is on the house currently and we are considering changing the color. Thinking I might have to do two passes so any time I can save with a sprayer sounds appealing as long as I will get the right results.

I had a commercial Grayco. Sprayed like a garden hose, you had to keep moving. My buddy that painted cars for 40 years. Bought the $50 harbor freight cheapie to do some painting at his Dads house to sell it. Did the deck, shed and a bunch of other stuff. It quit working the last day. He took it back, they asked if he wanted another one or his money back. Two things spraying a garage. I found I used twice as much paint as brushing/rolling, and like everything. It’s not cheap for even “good” paint now. If you have hit and miss paint after scraping, and it’s wood siding. You will want to work the primer/paint in the bare and softwood areas with a brush to come out even. Spraying works best on a consistent, non porous surface. 3 guys 2 brushes and a roller. Should be able to knock it out in a day or 2, save sprayer money for golden sodas. Also found if you buy even a better sprayer, and it sits a year or two. The packing dries out and needs rebuilt. Or someone borrows it, and doesn’t clean it before bringing it back. Been there for both.

Since this thread came back up, here’s what I ended up doing.

I went cheap and bought the Harbor Freight “Krause & Becker” sprayer. Got it for something like $169 on sale, so I was out the door for less than 200 clams. Just couldn’t pass that up and I figured if it lasted just the one garage, it was worth it.

Fast forward to 2022. I have now painted:

– Old garage in 2018. Looked great or at least as good as it could considering it was in rough shape. It was a home-built garage from 1965 and I needed it to last another few years, which it did.

The HF sprayer worked awesome on this job, the whole garage was 1 color so masking was minimal. I taped and masked on Friday afternoon and sprayed early on Saturday. I was done and the unit was cleaned by noon. About 3.5 gallons of paint total.

– New garage in 2021. The old garage still looked good as far as paint when an excavator ripped it down. New and much larger garage built in its place.

Painted that one with the Krause & Becker as well. Worked great, almost 8 gallons of paint. I did the painting because the bid just to paint was crazy high. Even the contractor said my paint job was pro-grade, it took me way longer than a pro would take because I’m slow at masking and this garage has lots of complications. I painted the whole thing over 3 days.

The finish is smooth and even and absolutely flawless. I can’t see anything I would have done differently.

One hitch when I was starting this job. When I took the sprayer out of storage, the ball valve in the hose outlet was stuck even though I used pump oil to store it per the instructions. Found lots of vids on YouTube, looks to be a common problem with all kinds of airless sprayers, but just FYI don’t thing your pump went bad if your sprayer doesn’t work. 10-minute fix!

So basically the ROI on the Harbor Freight sprayer has been tremendous. Fast, great finish, and it’s still going. Clean it carefully, store it properly, and I can’t see why this unit wouldn’t do 20 house-sized jobs no problem.

Top tip. Just buy the 50-foot hose when you buy the unit. The longer hose makes life way easier, less putzing around moving the unit.

I also built a platform for the sprayer to set on and it’s bolted down to the platform. This makes the unit sit up off the ground and makes it easier to suck paint out of 5-gallon buckets. I built the platform to sit in an old red kid’s wagon so the whole assembly rolls easily when I need to move it.

Harbor Freight products are designed for jobs like this. No need for commercial grade sprayers when a HF one will do the trick! They have good equipment for the price. Especially for items that are specialized and you might only need it once or twice a year.