Airless Paint Sprayers

I want to seal up our basement walls so we used a 1 gallon of water proofing paint. It barely covered the wall, so we bought another 5 gallons. It's pretty thick stuff and the directions say that you can use an Airless paint sprayer.

Does anyone have experience with these type of units?

I'd like to know if someone has used one of these for something thick like this, and if it works well, I'll find a used professional one and use it to paint future projects (shed, cabin, interior rooms, staining woodworking stuff).

The paint in question: http://www.menards.com/main/paint/interior-paint-stain/waterproofing/watertite-lx-waterproofing-paint-5-gal/p-1444452999693.htm

Anything to look out for? size (hp/gpm) requirements? Good/Bad Manufacturers?

Can you paint a car with a setup like this?

I've rented them from Home Depot for larger painting jobs, not sure how different the water proofing paint is from "normal" stuff. Definitely the way to go if you've got limited masking to do and large areas to paint.

BUT BE VERY DISCIPLINED on moving your spray pattern at a brisk pace, as they'll suck up a lot of material. It's very easy to go through an extra gallon or two.

Since this is a motorsports forum, I'll make sure the post is apropos by saying this would be a great way to plastidip a car.

I don't know if it actually is or not, but now this thread is "car related".

Edit: I need more coffee, just noticed the "can you paint a car with this?" Duh.

How think is plastidip? The consistency of the basement wall paint is some where between watery cream of wheat and ketchup maybe...

I almost posted this question in Toyman's SanFord thread but I didn't want muddle up the automotive painting side of the question with my basement paint consistency question.

I have one, it'll spray elmers glue if you want it to. I would NOT use it to paint a car.

Big walls, fences, barns, sure. Not anything precise.

As to your job, I did a large room in a barn a few years ago with it (raw oak) and sprayed 15 gallons of white paint in just over an hour. The wood just kept soaking it up, block will likely be similar with water-sealing material.

So no problem with the thick arse paint. Good to know.

Be careful. I don't know what you're using for waterproofing, but I used a Drylok product with a roller and it gave me a pounding headache. Spraying that stuff might put something in the air in your whole house.

We applied a gallon of latex based stuff the other night and it wasn't any different than normal indoor paint. Sure it stunk, but nothing out of the ordinary. Good thought though, I do have a respirator that is good enough to make staining wood and washing the block walls with 1/3 bleach water mixture have no smell.

I've used an airless sprayer a lot, painting my house and some rooms at work, and a pro painter borrowed my machine to do some offices at work. The results are good but not "car paint job" good. There's just such a huge difference between what you expect on drywall or metal door frames and what you expect on a car.

The machines are great at applying large amounts of paint quickly and well, though. I could paint an entire side of my old house in an hour and a half or so. (plus hours and hours for prep work, of course.)

On rough surfaces like old barns and granite foundations you will want to spray then work it the paint with a stiff brush to Cram it in to the pores.. other wise it pops off in sheets.... BTDT.