Spraying Household Latex

I have to paint some bare exterior concrete. It is heavily textured and I'm dreading using a brush on it. It will be a real PITA.

Since I recently bought a decent air compressor I'd thought I look into a spray gun. Harbor Freight has cheapies with one of them listing interior/exterior latex as being compatible.

At $17, is this too good to be true?

Or should I just suck it up, stop whining and use the brush.

Used their guns to paint my Tique; however, they were the gravity feed guns. Their guns are ok for light work, not daily use. Do not know about the latex. May have too water it down a bit.

Steve,
@ $17 it is too good to be true!! For what you what to do, I'd look at a Wagner Power painter. Steve's correct that the gun from Harbor is a siphon feed and you would end up having to thin it down so much to get it through the gun it's not worth the effort. Also you would need at fairly decent compressor to keep up with it. Probably about a 1 HP (20 amp 120volt outlet) This 1 HP is a true HP and not the "peak" BS hype that you are seeing now being sold to the unknowing homeowner. When buying a compressor for the home or shop, always go by the CFM rating and not the HP. Compare this CFM to your needs/tool you are planning on using it for.

siphon feed cup sprayer requires 9 cfm and I have found that you can not spray continously with that. Not to mention you have to thin it down way too much just to spray.A hvlp sprayer you will also have to thin quite a bit. Those wagners are kind of hit and miss sometimes they work great out of the box and sometimes they are not worth a crap!Call their cust. service and you will be on hold for at least 30 min. before they can get to you. I worked and used a lot of these sprayers and for latex it is best to use a piston pump sprayer. And as far as rolling it after, there is no need if you use the right size tip.Ask any proffesional painter..015-.017 (latex)

Well, it wasn't too good to be true. The damn thing worked well. I sprayed 400 sq ft of heavily textured concrete (similar to stucco) with 3 coats in one day. The gun needed to be cleaned every other refill but that was easy.

I reduced the latex paint slightly with about a 1 oz of Floetrol.

I ran the gun at 50 psi and my compressor duty cycled about 50% (5hp twin cyl, 20 gal tank).

It was my first time spraying anything that didn't come out of a aerosol can. Painting, for once, was actually pretty fun.

Chuck, that is a line from one of my favorite bands "The Hold Steady", the principal song writer is Craig Finn. I try not to dip into the same quote well too often, but Finn is an extremely literate and clever writer (IMO), I can't seem to resist.

His lyrics often blend many Biblical references and themes into his stories about on-the-fringe, down and out protagonists. Sometimes he is cynical, but I haven't sensed blasphemy. However, I don't know how the lyrics would be viewed by a person who has dedicated his life to the Word.

Their music is often described as early Bruce Springsteen crossed with the Replacements, which is to say BS with a little rawer edge and energy. Finn's vocals are delivered in a sing-speak style, often manic. Also, the songs are often big and anthemic with E-Street Band piano flourishes.

I don't particularly cotton to the Springsteen comparisons (too easy), so I usually compare them to Elvis Costello by way of the Replacements.

There should be plenty of samples of their music available on-line. If you like, I could send you some to taste. Cassettes, however, not possible.