The 9 Best Texture Guns

For anyone texturing whole rooms, the Marshalltown Sharpshooter 2.1 is the hopper gun drywall crews tend to reach for. A dial on the nose picks one of seven hole sizes, so one gun moves from fine orange peel to heavy knockdown without swapping parts. An angled adapter keeps the hopper upright over your head, and the trigger locks for long passes. The catch is air: it wants a steady flow that a small pancake compressor can't keep up with.

If your compressor is a modest garage model, the Wal-Board Texture Pro 500 was built around that problem. Air flows only while you squeeze the trigger, so the tank doesn't drain between passes, and the manual rates it for far less air than most hopper guns ask for. A wide nozzle plate spreads light textures quickly, and the hopper has a lid for overhead work. It's a young model, so its durability is still unproven.

The Wagner Power Tex skips the compressor: a turbine inside the body runs off a wall outlet, so you plug it in and spray. Three nozzles cover popcorn, knockdown and orange peel, which suits a homeowner doing a room or two. The turbine pushes much gentler air than a compressor, so the mud has to be thinned to pancake batter. Holding it overhead through a long ceiling job wears out your arms, and the warranty is short at one year.

Buyers who want a known tool maker without paying pro prices should look at the Marshalltown QLT QuickShooter. It pairs a die-cast aluminum gun with a plastic hopper, and an angled adapter comes in the box for ceilings. The trigger locks open for long passes, and it handles orange peel, knockdown, splatter and acoustic finishes. It sits in the maker's economy line, and so few owners have weighed in that its long-term record is hard to judge.

Plenty of DIYers start with the Hiltex 31229, a plain, low-cost hopper gun for one or two rooms of orange peel or knockdown. It comes with three nozzles for fine to coarse spray, a locking trigger and brass air fittings, and it cleans up with water. The design is generic and sold under several brand names. It also uses a lot of air, so a small pancake compressor will run almost nonstop to keep up.

Drywall pros who match texture on small repairs often carry a hand-pump gun like the Laco TG600. You pump the handle to build pressure in the jar, so there's no hose, compressor or cord to set up for a patch the size of a door. Three brass tips cover orange peel, knockdown and acoustic ceilings, and the whole gun comes apart for cleaning. It's a pricey tool for occasional repairs, and pumping by hand is too slow for whole walls.

First-timers get the whole setup with the InoKraft TexCraft: gun and hopper plus a knockdown knife, sponge, cleaning brushes and hose clamps. An elbow fitting tilts the hopper for ceilings, three nozzles change the pattern, and the trigger locks for long passes. Those extras save a store run before a first knockdown job. It still needs a compressor that holds a steady flow, and the brand is too new to have much of a track record.

For a room or less, the Homax Pneumatic II is a light hopper gun made for a homeowner's compressor rather than a contractor's. The trigger sets the airflow, so you can feather the spray around corners. Fine Homebuilding judged its sibling model sturdy, simple to clean and backed by a clear manual, though only right for small areas. The small hopper means frequent refills, and it can clog when the mix runs thick.

A patched doorknob hole doesn't need a compressor, and the Homax Texture Touch Up Kit is built for that scale. The hand-squeezed sprayer comes with dry wall mix, two packets of popcorn mix and a knockdown tool, so you mix, spray and flatten in one go. The wall mix covers only a few square feet. Getting a close match to the old texture takes practice on scrap cardboard, and the spray can come out uneven.