Wagner Spray Tech 520000 Power Tex Texture Sprayer

Amazon.com Product Description:
With three texture settings to choose from, this power texture sprayer gives walls and ceilings just the right look, from traditional to contemporary. A built-in air turbine has more than enough power to texture the whole ceiling, yet is simple and lightweight enough, at less than 5.7 pounds, to whip out for small touch up jobs. No need for a separate air compressor and long air hoses, this texture sprayer is equipped with an easy- to-fill, onboard texture hopper and plugs into a standard 15 amp wall socket for quick and easy portability. The unit sprays the same materials the pros use, standard aggregated un-aggregated texture and diluted joint compound, and setup is easy with no tools required. Three nozzles achieve the desired texture, be it orange peel or knockdown for walls, or popcorn for ceilings. And the 2-position hopper converts quickly without adapters for spraying walls or ceilings. --Brian D. Olson What's in the Box Sprayer (05200003), spray nozzles, 1-gallon adjustable hopper.

Excellent tool for small jobs and repairs:
The Power Tex is a great tool for small jobs and repairs. It's a great option for a DIYer because of its simplicity, compactness, and low cost. I've used it on a number of around-the-house drywall jobs ranging from a 1x1 repair to a 6x6 repair. All of the texture, in this case, was orange peel but it could easily be used for knock-down. Not sure how the popcorn texture comes out. I have not tried it for a "big" job like doing an entire room. Compared to a traditional air compressor + texture sprayer, the Power Tex lacks a bit of the versatility and consistency of the former. You have no control over the air pressure and the nozzles are somewhat clunky. Otherwise, the PT compares quite well to the compressor. It is hands down better than the "can of texture" stuff you can buy at the home improvement store. I don't even know how to the compare the two. I will not even use the cans in hidden places like a closet. I have not had any problems with leaking in the trigger or globs leaking out the front. If this happens, I'd probably return it as defective and ask for a new one. One thing I can't stress enough... make sure you practice before you attempt your actual job. If you've used texture sprayers before, then you should know that ever one behaves a little differently. Some tips to get the best out of the Power Tex: * Use pre-mixed Joint Compound and mix with water for best results. The powdered stuff works fine, but is hard to get perfectly smooth. * Use a compound mixer and a power drill. * Mix up more mud than you think you need. The weight of the mud in the hopper helps keep a smooth flow into the sprayer. * Do not use plaster unless you know exactly what you are doing. * Practice a few times. Extra drywall, cardboard, whatever. * The 'texture' can be scrapped off when wet or washed off with water if you don't like the results. * Primer the untextured wall first. That makes it easier to undo your texture if you don't like the results. * You can *lightly* sand the texture if the knock down is too rough or if the orange peel has a few lumps. * If the texture is just a little too rough, give it an extra coat of paint. * For best results, texture a large area. If necessary, do the whole wall. * If you have a 1x1 repair, smooth an area of 2x2 and texture 3x3. If the repair is more than half the height of the wall, just texture from ceiling to floor. * Cover/tape everything. EVERYTHING. A few weaknesses: * Can't adjust air pressure (PSI). * Kind of heavy. I can't imagine doing a whole room with this thing. * Feels kind of cheap/flimsy. * Proper use is an art, not a science. * Loud. Use hearing protection. * Extension cord can be a hassle.

Yes its messy, isn't that the point?:
I don't know what to say other than it worked exactly (or better) than I would have expected. To other people's points, yes thin mud is generally better and reduces 'glopping' out of the nozzle (as does buying one of those mixer attachments for your drill and making sure its mixed well). BTW, if you get the aluminum mixer that looks like a big set of mixing beaters run it backwards or the sharp outer edge will shave off bits of plastic from the mixing container and you'll have these bits of plastic shards in your mud. (lesson learned). For each box of standard cheapo brand mud from home depot I added about 2 liters of water. I kept mine a bit on the thick side (like normal pancake batter) because I wanted a pretty rough and heavy texture for the garage and used the large (yellow) nozzle. I was impressed at the imperfections in my sheetrock work that I was able to hide using this. It greatly reduced my sheetrock taping time (I HATE sanding). Just don't try to put it on too heavy in a single coat or the texture just sort of mushes and eventually would run. Wait for it to dry a few hours before respraying areas needing a heavier coat to cover imperfections (this also helps it blend better). It took far longer to tape everything off than to spray. My only complaint at all with this unit would be with the hopper on top you are a bit limited in tight spaces (for me it was the horizontal torsion spring above the garage door, I could get spray up under it a bit, but couldn't get the device close enough to the ceiling to shoot down in back of it from the top) where a smaller pneumatic nozzle might be able to get to. But for the few hundred dollar difference in price, I can easily live with the results. I did my entire 3 car garage (its a big garage with high ceilings and a sheetrocked loft, so this was way more than 'touch up' and the power tex worked flawlessly. And yes its messy, your basically feeding goopy liquid into a high velocity stream of air. What else would you expect, it is kind of the point of texturing. You'll want painters sheeting over EVERYTHING and especially on the floor. Wear glasses if shooting overhead.

Wonderful product:
I bought this product because of the reviews here so it only seems right that I share my experience. I just did not want to pay thousands of dollars to have someone get rid of the popcorn ceilings in our newly purchased home. I also did not think it would be economical to buy hundreds of spray cans of orange peel after I scraped the popcorn. When I told the husband that I wanted to do it myself with this spray texturizer, he was skeptical but he went along with my purchase. Now, he is amazed at how wonderful our ceilings look. I got a couple of those big orange buckets from Home Depot, a few bags of Blue Line Wall Texture, a drill with a mixer bit, tarps, tape, a putty knife, a particle mask, goggles, and a ladder (which you only need if you have vaulted ceilings). I mixed the wall texture to just about a pancake batter texture and used the smallest (black) nozzle. It was really easy to use. It took me less than a minute to get the back and forth rhythm. I have perfect looking orange peel. NOTE: If you are a female, you may not have the upper body strength that most men have. Be prepared to have very sore shoulder, chest, and upper arm muscles. I highly recommend not filling the hopper to the top each time as it is quite heavy. Go about halfway. You may have to refill more often but your arms will last longer if you have a big job. Also, be careful setting the machine down if there is any mix in the hopper. Trust me, you do not want to have to clean up the mess if you tip over a hopper full of it on the floor.

Worthwhile purchase:
I recently had some remodeling done in my house. The contractor had installed new windows and dry-wall and re-textured the wall. After the contractor left my wife and I decided that the rest of the walls and ceiling looked shabby compared to the new wall so we decided to update the rest. We decided to try it ourself and I went online to research texture guns. The Wagner Power Tex Sprayer had good reviews and it was self-contained and needed no air compressor. The unit is simple to use and produced great results. We were so impressed with the walls and ceiling that we continued on and did more rooms. I am more than pleased with this unit and would recommend it to other do-it-yourselfers and even professionals. The unit is a little awkward to hold but once you get on to it, it goes fast. Like all texture guns, it is messy to use. I would suggest that you experiment on some scrap drywall with different mixes and consistencies of mud until you get the results you want. It uses a lot of material when you are doing a heavy texture such as a celing knock-down, so be sure to have enough on hand. Make sure that you thoroughly clean the gun after use. When spraying heavy, thick texture I had to clean the valve in the middle of my job because it had become sticky. I was very happy with my first experience and plan to use it more soon. Several friends have already asked to borrow it.

Does the job:
I bought this to take care of a large home improvement project that includes removing old popcorn ceilings and 3 room additions plus a garage and utility room. I don't have a big enough compressor to run a traditional hopper setup and don't usually need a big compressor for my woodworking hobby. I used it on the utility room after reading many reviews here about it. I thinned the mud (I bought the prethinned stuff) down and put it in the hopper. It wasn't as thin as some have suggested, but it was thinner that I would have thought was needed. Texturing is a messy job and there isn't any magic clean button on this unit. You will get it all over the place. Tarp up before you start. When full, it was somewhat heavy to hold, but not unbearable for a small job. Getting it high enough for the ceilings was a bit of an effort since I am not over 6 foot tall and you are supposed to be no more than 2 feet from the surface. The walls were a bit easier and rotating the hopper to the wall position was no problem, even with a nearly full hopper of mud. After using a wide blade knofe to knock it down I realized that I could have put more on to acheive the results that would match the rest of my house. It won't matter for this room. Cleanup was a snap and the results were great. This is an excellent choice for a do it yourselfer.

	Custom Search