How to prep your painting tools before you start
Most of the painting jobs that go wrong do not go wrong because of the paint. They go wrong because the roller was dropping fluff, or the brush was shedding bristles, or there was a flake of last year's beige sitting in the bottom of the tray, and all of that ends up on the wall where you have to pick it off later. Ten minutes on the gear before you open the tin saves you an hour of touch ups at the end.
Clean the old gear, even when it looks fine
Dust, dried paint and general shed grime will transfer straight onto a fresh wall, so if you are reusing a brush or a roller cover, give it a proper rinse in warm soapy water and work any hardened paint out of the base of the bristles with a comb or an old fork. Let it dry all the way through before it goes near water based paint, because a wet brush will thin your first few strokes and you will see it once the wall dries.
Condition the new gear too
A new brush is not ready to go straight off the hook. They almost all carry a few loose bristles, so tug the bristles gently, rinse it, and get the strays out before they end up stuck in your topcoat. Do the same with a new roller cover, because a quick wash takes the loose fluff off and it helps the cover take the paint up evenly on the first roll instead of the third.
Check the tray and the bucket
Have a look in the tray before you pour anything into it. A reused tray usually has hardened bits stuck to the well, and they will lift and float into your fresh colour. Either scrape it out properly or drop a liner in, and if you are cutting in off a bucket rather than a tray, make sure that is clean too.
Sort the handles and extenders
These get treated like an afterthought and then they ruin your rhythm. Make sure the roller frame is seated properly with no wobble in it, and if you are running an extension pole, lock it off tight, because a pole that creeps shorter while you are working the top of a wall will have you back on the ladder anyway.
Stir it, then load it properly
Paint settles in the tin even when it was mixed for you, so stir it through before you start. Then load the brush by dipping about a third of the bristle length and tapping off the excess rather than wiping it on the rim, and roll the cover back and forth in the tray a few times to get paint right through the nap. A roller that has only been dipped will spit on the first pass.
Protect what you are not painting
Drop sheets on the floor and over anything you cannot move, masking tape along the skirtings and the architraves, and a rag in your pocket, because a smudge wiped off in the first 20 seconds is nothing and a smudge found the next morning is a repaint of that section.
If you are not sure, ask
There is no such thing as a question that is too basic in a hardware shop, and plenty of people who have been painting for years still load a roller badly. Bring the brush in if you want, or tell us what you are painting and we will tell you what to put on it, and you get the same answer whether it is your first room or your fortieth.
Shop related products
- UNIFIBER 230mm Roller Kit. Frame, cover and tray together, which is the easy starting point.
- Phoenix 230mm Plastic Paint Tray. A spare tray so you are not washing one out mid job.
- Uni-Pro Canvas Drop Cloth 1.5m x 3.6m. Canvas stays put underfoot, plastic slides around.
- Uni-Pro Universal Power Mixer. Goes in a drill and stirs a full tin through in seconds.
Did you know we also stock the Uni-pro masking tapes in the shop in 24mm, 36mm and 48mm, along with the 30 day green and the 14 day blue for anything that has to stay taped up for a while, plus the full utility brush range. They are not all on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.
The rest of it sits in our paint and accessories collection, and the colour itself gets mixed and tinted to order in the shop.
- What tools you actually need in a home shed
- How to sand timber properly
- Patching and sanding timber before you stain it
I still wash a brand new brush before it goes near a wall, which sounds fussy right up until you are picking bristles out of wet paint.
Cheers,
Candeece
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