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I am thinking about purchasing either a Wager Power Painter or Wager Power Roller for use around the house. I am looking for anyone with experience using one of these products and for feedback on the quality of the product.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
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I would say skip it.
As an inexperienced painter I bought the power roller (the one that sucks directly out of the paint can) several years ago to repaint the walls and ceilings of our house and found that it is not worth the trouble. Definitely a yard sale item in the near future.
Ended up abandoning it after applying a gallon of paint.
Once you get in the groove it is hard to beat good ol' fashioned paint pan and regular roller and a good selection of brushes and the job went a lot neater with far less paint mess then using the power roller.
And a good extension stick can't be beat for covering large sections of walls and ceiling.
It is not much of a time saver if you factor in the cleaning afterwards (mandatory).
With the hose attached and limited reach even with the extension arms it is cumbersome spreading and smoothing out the paint as you go along.
Also your arms get tired faster compared to rolling with a longer extension stick.
You may be able to develop a good technique for using the gizmo, but for me it ended up being just that - another gadget that I did not need.
The sprayer may be a different story.
*The high-end sprayer does a great job on decks and fences - sorry, don't even know anyone who has used the roller.
*I agree about the skip. We bought the power roller prior to a painting party we had when we moved into our house. Not only did it not do as good as a roller, the cleanup took much longer. A year later we finished our basement, and I had to paint and prime more drywall than I could shake a stick at. I figured I'd give the roller another shot. Not only did it die less than half way through, but I found out that I spent less time painting the old fashioned way. It's a good idea, but fails in execution.
*At best they are toys, if you have a need buy a tool.Nope, nothing to add, that says it all.
*Alan,Thanks for the advice. I had a feeling that the power roller probably didn't perform as advertised on the box, but I needed to hear it from experienced users.I guess I'll stick to the old fashioned paint tray and roller method.John
*Hi, John - With the regular roller you could actually get in some meditation timeonce you get in the groove and I think the results will be more pleasing.Forget it with the power roller.Like a fool and not wanting to admit to a bad purchase I tried to use it for applying a load on the wall that I would then spread with a regular roller. You know, perhaps skip using the paint tray ? Nope, not worth a damn for that task either.Good luck,Alan
*John,I'm not a pro - probably wd. qualify as an "advanced amateur" painter. (I paid my way through grad school by painting houses - so I'm not completely new at covering surfaces with thin, colored films :-).) My experience has been completely different. I bought the power roller for the interiors of our house - and am glad for it. Yes, it is heavier, yes, clean-up takes longer (about 15 minutes).The paint does go on much faster - far less "wasted" time. And it only took about 1/2 a ceiling to learn how often to pump paint into the roller so that the cover continually had the right amount of paint in it - ie, enough to cover, not enough to spatter. I find I'm not tempted to squeeze just that little extra coverage out of each load - so I get more even coverage, too.Now, I'll buy a Graco of some sort for painting the outside of this house (three-story Victorian) next summer - and would have purchased one for the inside if the down payment hadn't strapped my wallet. And I don't know if the Wagner will stand up to all-day use; I've only painted a room at a time. (Joe, given your report, I may wait to paint my basement till after I get the Graco.)But for what I've used it for, I really like the Wagner. That's what makes horse races, I guess.Good luck,Richard
*John,You might consider using a longer than "standard" roller. I tried the next size up and it works fine for me, it covered more, less trips to load it and fewer roller marks. If you like to load the roller directly out of a 5 gallon bucket it might not work for you though. I also tried the next longer size roller but found it a bit to heavy and cumbersom.FWIW. I was talking to a Duron store employee once who told me that one of his regular customers rolls on 2 coats of "top of the line" primer and 3 "top of the line" top coats on all of his jobs, is always busy and doesn't advertise. Mike
*I've run about 100 gallons through my power painter. I tried the back pack and extension hose without success. It's a bit of a pain to continually refill the one quart cup. At best you only get about 3 cups out of it. On the upside, it is fast and reliable. You must clean thouroughly right after using which is time consuming, but worth it. I always spray all the parts liberally with silicone or WD-40 after cleaning. It seems to help with the cleanup and lubrication.
*Bob, don't you have a problem with the silicone contaminating the paint on the next job?
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I am thinking about purchasing either a Wager Power Painter or Wager Power Roller for use around the house. I am looking for anyone with experience using one of these products and for feedback on the quality of the product.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!