How to: Paint a Wall With a Paint Sprayer

As my folks have always been color-adverse, it was time to get some color in their lives. Let’s take a field trip to use the Wagner Flexio 5000 paint sprayer.

Using a paint sprayer still requires prep and many of the same tools as painting a wall with a roller. Here are the tools we gathered:

• Edging paint brush
• Painters tape
• Drop cloths
• Rags
• Extension cord
• Goggles
• Dust masks

Hot tip: protecting outlets and switches with plastic wrap and tape makes for speedier painting.

To begin, we removed outlet and switch plates, covering the electrical parts with plastic and painters tape. Doing this allowed us to spray right over them.

Hot tip: masking off areas not receiving paint 24” wide avoids overspray.

With a brush, I then edged as one would do normally. Though, if you mask off surrounding areas, tape a plastic drop cloth to the top of the baseboard and protect the ceiling, one can avoid this time-draining task all together.

The Wagner Flexio 5000 is straightforward to use, even for beginners as we both were. Luckily, Wagner has designed a tool that was simple to assemble and operate.

Using a plastic sprayer cup liner bag sure makes clean up later even more effortless.

It’s important to test the paint sprayer to get a feel for things, how it sprays, the spray area, and to get the technique down. Plus there are narrow and wide spray patterns so test those out as well. Wagner includes a handy test paper with clear instructions providing the perfect lesson.

Getting a feel for it “for real” takes an extra second but once rolling along, the pace picks up.

Once we got the feel for the sprayer, it was time to paint the wall using the iSpray nozzle. Steady motions and sticking within 6”-8” of the wall are key to a smooth, pristine, even finish. Even my mom had an easy go of it!

Pretty fast it becomes obvious how efficiently and quickly an area can be painted with this sprayer.

One of the great things about the Wagner Flexio 5000 sprayer is that the heavy parts are not in your hand which makes handling and maneuvering the sprayer manageable, even on a ladder. 

I didn’t mask off areas, using a piece of cardboard instead. I did end up with a little overspray so be sure to mask off appropriately. If you do get paint on the floor then read this guide on how to get paint off hardwood floors for advice on how to remove it.

Look how far the air hose stretches while on a ladder!

Clean up is a cinch as there’s no paint-filled hose to clean, merely the paint container, the tip, and the top, all parts that disassemble in seconds.

Fill the canister with water, running it to shoot out the remaining paint.

The sprayer head disassembles for cleaning.

Thanks to the sprayer too, the paint dried faster than rolling so we were able to reassemble the living room sooner.

A job well done thanks to the Wagner Flexio 5000 paint sprayer!

Disclosure: This post was written in collaboration with Wagner. All opinions are my own.