Customer Reviews
Simple and easy to clean 
2008-03-29
I bought this sprayer for those little touch up jobs that no one wants to do. The first time I used it I textured a wall I had added in a client's laundry room. After spraying two sample patterns I did the new wall and the match to three original walls was so close that the client couldn't believe it. Cleanup was a breeze and the HVLP technology saved a ton of set up time. Probably not designed for large scale projects but wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't do a whole house.
San Diego Buyer 
2008-02-26
It took about half an hour of practice. I set some cardboard up in the garage and practiced away. I had to keep adding water to the already premixed drywall mud. The mixture has to be much soupier than I thought it would. But I was able to do my master bath in about half an hour. It looks great. Very uniform. I can see that it would work very well for ceilings too.
Wagner Power tTex, Powerful tool, great results, (learning curve required) 2008-02-25
My celings look great, did two rooms in my basement, was planning to do knockdown, but was too scared to mess it up with the trowel since it looked so good already, so left it as orange peel, after painting, it looks great. DO START IN A CLOSET or someplace out of sight. my closet went on way to thick. Also, use the smallest size nozzle to start with, it will be easier to get use to then. I would reccomend this product, but you need someone with strong arms and back to hold up the hopper and gun the whole time you are spraying, it gets pretty taxing on the body, but worth the results!!
If you're thinking about buying it, DO IT! 2008-02-24
My wife and I just purchased our first home and she really dislikes popcorn ceilings. So she insisted that we have it removed and put up a knockdown texture in it's place. Then after a few estimates, the cheapest we could get it done to our whole house was for a little under $3000 which was more that what we were willing to spend with all the other things that we needed to have done to the house. So I priced out all the materials needed and my estimate came in at about $900. Keep in mind that this price is also including the cost of the tools needed (ex. 1/2" drill, trowel, paint primer, sprayer, ect.) which I didn't own.
Anyway, after going to my local Home Depot, they wanted about $60 a day to rent a sprayer and since I wanted to take my time, this really wasn't an option. I know that Wagner states that this sprayer is really for touch up jobs and not exactly for doing a whole house but let me tell you, I did my whole house and it worked great. After practicing a bit in the rooms first, my results were identical to a professional job at 1/3 the price. I will tell you this, it is a lot of work and the hardest thing about it is removing the popcorn and preping the room. I know some people say to use a garden sprayer and then they sell this neat little scraper at Home Depot that you can attach a bag to so you don't make a mess but that scrapper is junk. If you want to move fast, tape up the walls and floor using plastic sheeting and use a garden hose with a 10 or 12 inch taping knife to remove the popcorn. You'll barely scratch the sheet rock underneath and you'll remove the popcorn in under 30 minutes per room. The whole process is truly a huge mess but the end result is a very nice looking textured wall. I decided to go with the medium nozzle (yellow) and I ended up with a very nice looking texture that isn't as bold and some of the houses I've seen.
So if you're in the same situation my wife and me were in and you're fairly competent with tools, you'll be able to do the same thing because I'm a complete novice when it comes to drywall textures and I ended up with a great looking house. I'll also be honest and tell you that the first room I did, didn't come out as nice as the last but not because I applied the texture incorrectly but because I knocked some of it down too soon. Make sure you wait at least 20 minutes before knocking it down and after you spray a wall, take a step back and if you see any bare placed, just go over it with a quick trigger pull and you'll be amazed at what you're left with.
Great tool at any price. 2008-01-29
This is a good-value tool. I am a handy-man. I have rented professional rigs and thought I would try this cheap tool for a small repair job. It works and it works well. The instructions say to mix the plaster to a pancake like consistency. Experiment with your own, but I found a "thin" pancake mixture to work better. Clean-up takes about 3 minutes. Compared to the rental cost of a professional rig, it paid for itself in one day. I will now use it for larger jobs.
Very Pleased 2008-07-05
I was sprucing up the garage and had about 50 linear feet of drywall that I wanted to texture. I purchased a 3.5 gallon bucket of ready mixed texture from Home Depot for around $10, but it still needs water to thin down to the proper consistency. I ended up dumping the texture into a 5 gallon bucket which made it easier to mix. (You definitely need a drill with one of the mixing attachments)
I had also purchased some 3' wide plastic which I taped to the bottom of the wall to keep the floor clean. Well, this thing makes quite a mess, and 3' was not enough. I would have been better off just covering the whole floor, but oh well.
Definitely practice a bit - I ended up using the medium sized nozzle for the look I wanted. Also, loop the power cord around so that the connection won't pull apart - I stepped on the extension cord at one point and it pulled out, causing a big "spit" of mud on the wall when the sprayer died. One other thing to look out for is when filling the hopper - you can rotate it to the front for doing ceilings, or towards the back for walls. I set the sprayer on the floor and poured the texture compound into the hopper from my bucket - but with the hopper towards the front, as soon as I turned away to set the bucket down, the hopper fell over :( So if your going to fill the hopper by setting it on the floor, rotate the hopper to the back or be careful.
One other thing that I was glad I bought was a drywall "squeege" for the knockdown. It looks like a window squeege, with a rubber edge and is about 24" wide. It worked much better than a metal drywall knife that I also tried using.
All in all, it was a lot of work, it made quite a mess, but I was very pleased in the way it turned out. Clean up was very easy, and I would definitely but this sprayer again. Now that I have some experience with it, there are some places inside my house that need some work...
Huge money savings if are willing to work. 2008-06-12
I just finished re-doing the ceilings in my home. I had estimate of over $2500 to do the job so I orderd the Wagner Power Tex Texture Sprayer to do it myself. It worked perfectly. The secret is good preping of wall or ceiling and a little practice with the sprayer. I saved at least $2000 by doing it myself. I am retired and not a young as I used to be so it was a lot of work, but worth it.Wagner Power Tex Texture Sprayer #0520000
Even a 67 year old woman can use it! 2008-05-10
Wagner Power Tex Texture Sprayer #0520000
I ripped off wainscot paneling, drywall compounded the holes and tears in the drywall, sanded the walls and then attacked with the Power Tex. The results were amazing. You could not tell the old orange peel texture from the new! The only problem I had was the weight of the sprayer plus the diluted compound.
Wagner Power Tex 2008-04-21
Purchased this to do texture in family room, living room, and dining room. I have finished the dining room and living room and am really happy with the results. It did take some practice though before I could get consistant results. I bought some extra sheetrock and practiced outside to get the pattern and consistance I wanted. After my first practice session I was really disapointed, I practiced 2 more times on new sheets of sheetrock and was finaly able to get results I was happy with. I think this is a great product and does exactly what its supposed to but I would definately recomend some practice first.
Exactly What I Needed!! 2008-04-15
Great Product for the Do it your selfer. I used it to do knockdown on all the ceilings in my house. Worked perfectly everytime I used it. Looks professionally done.
