Proper Care Of Paint Brushes And Rollers
If you plan on painting your home in the near future, you will most likely head to a hardware or paint store to pick up supplies. When using paintbrushes and paint rollers, there are several steps you can take to ensure they last for more than one usage. Taking these steps will help prolong the life of your paint products and supplies so they continuously work well at adding color to your walls.
Cleaning Paint Brushes
After using a paint brush to add color to walls, rinse immediately with lukewarm water to remove paint from the bristles. Consider purchasing a golf club brush to use on your paintbrushes. These are constructed with plastic bristles on one side of the handle and brass bristles on the other. Brush the plastic side through your paintbrush's bristles as you rinse it to help remove paint. If there are areas where paint has already started drying, the brass bristles will take care of its removal without damaging the brush in the process.
Soaking Paint Brushes
Paintbrushes should be soaked for several hours to help loosen the paint from the bristles before doing a final rinsing and drying session. When soaking paint brushes, they are susceptible to bending bristles if they are leaning against something. Pour some solvent into a mason jar and add water to dilute if the instructions specify to do so. Clip two clothespins to the paintbrush's handle. Rotate one clip so it is pointing in the opposite direction of the other. Lower your paintbrush, bristle side down, into the jar. The clothespins will keep your brush raised up so the bristles do not touch the bottom of the jar while it soaks.
Trimming Paint Rollers
As you use a paint roller, fuzz may become present on its surface from snags or pulls it gains when it is rolled across the wall. To keep a paint roller in the best of shape, removing this fuzz is necessary so you don't apply paint unevenly the next time you use it. After rinsing and drying your roller, remove loose fuzz with a lint roller. Trim the frayed edges on your roller with a pair of scissors as well.
Storing Your Supplies
After your paintbrushes and rollers have been rinsed and dried, they should be properly stored until they are needed again. It is best to keep the bristles of brushes and exteriors of roller surfaces from touching other surfaces so they do not become altered in structure, leading to uneven paint application. Hang brushes from hooks you install to the ceiling in your garage or shed. Rollers can be stored vertically by sliding them over dowels you glue onto a piece of wood.