We’re finishing up a job that includes painting the entire condo… I HATE painting, but business being what it is, we’re doing it ourselves. Last week we did the downstairs uneventfully. The last few days we’ve been doing the upstairs. Every room has been a different color, and has included darn near every brand. BM, SW, Behr, ICI. Went to HD to pick up the Behr color and decided while I was there, I’d save a stop and pick up roller covers. My eye was caught by a cover touting a Teflon coating or additive, and claimed that more paint would transfer to the wall. Price was OK, figured how bad could it be so I got a pack.
Did 3 rooms upstairs so far and while downstairs every room has required two coats, upstairs every room was done in one coat, and well. Now… I can’t say for sure that the magical rollers were responsible but, I was prettyyyyyyyyyy surprised. One room was Behr, one ICI, one BM. One peach color, one yellow, one blue all over white. And the interesting thing is that in one room in particular, the rolled surface covered better than the brushed cut in perimeter to where we have to redo the cut in!
Again, don’t tell me I’m nuts… I’m not convinced there isn’t a better explanation, but I’m gonna buy more tomorrow and see how the last room goes, which is the same color as a downstairs room that required 2 coats.
Wish I could remember the brand, they were white with a bright green core. If there’s interest I’ll edit tomorrow and add the brand name. Mid price range, IIRC.
PaulB
Replies
It's not uncommon for the roller to cover better then the cut in.
A little to much brushing and you'll be to thin.
I have used those rollers and like them. Seems like they let go of the paint better. I try to get them and so far have found them at Lowes but not at hardware stores. Not sure if HD has them.
Yupp, HD has them. That's where I got em.PaulB
give us a review and brand,if it helps with painting i'm all in.larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
I remember seeing a comercial for those, I cant remember the name but I know exactly what you're talking about
I heart Festool
Probably Shur-line. I have not been all that impressed with them. They advertise easier cleanup. I think I prefer the yellow Purdy or white Wooster.
Normally not cost effective to clean any of the standard ones IMHO. I do have a couple of the roller/brush spinners (actually also Shur-line) and they are worth the cost and effort if you do want to clean a roller cover. I normally put them in a zip lock, take them home after a job and let them sit in a bucket of water, spin then rinse and spin.
OK..FWIW, I'm a believer in these rollers. The final room was done thoroughly in one coat. The same paint, over the same color required two coats with our previous rollers. As far as I can tell, these are a HD label item, as I didn't see any other names on them.
YMMV etc etc etc.PaulB
Not all Home Depots carry the same products so the roller covers you mentioned may not be available everywhere. If you plan on doing more painting, stock up on those roller covers now because they may not be available next week. I haven't seen them at my local HD.
I have tried a variety of roller covers and other than some particularly cheap ones that I threw out (which I had picked up at HD), I really haven't found much correlation between price and quality. I've settled on the contractor grade covers that my local paint store sells. They are 90% as good as the name brand at 1/3 the price. Since I don't re-use covers, it's almost a no-brainer.
One difference between the contractor covers and the name brand covers (Purdy, for example) is longevity. If I'm painting multiple rooms over multiple days with the same cover, the contractor covers begin to mat down and won't hold as much paint. I'm usually painting each room a different color so even that's not typically an issue.
Here's a roller cover story...
A while ago, I picked up a 3-pack of Purdy covers at HD. They were shrink-wrapped so tight that they came out of the package almost square. I figured they would round themselves out through use, but they didn't. Every roll went bump-bump-bump-bump-bump-bump-bump-bump. I finally gave up and brought the 2 remaining covers back to the store to return them. They told me they needed all 3. I explained that it was full of paint, but they said they wanted it anyway.
Ok, so another trip. This time with all 3 covers, one of which was in a plastic bag loaded with paint. When I got to returns a different cashier was there and she looked at me like I was crazy and asked why I brought back a used cover. I don't think she believed that's what I was told to do. Sheesh! But I did get my money back.
Has anyone tried the REAL lambskin rollercovers? I personally have been using these for the last 3 years and swear by them. Very few drips when painting the ceiling and the hold a lot of paint. Also, it might just be my imagination but the clean up a lot faster so they are easier to reuse. I use the 1/2" nap and it is good for textured walls. They are a little pricey ($10 each) but they last a long time. Thats my two cents.
~Will
My standard cover for finish painting is a 1/2" lambswool. I think they are the nicest to work with of the ones I have used. I also like the roller texture they impart when generously loaded with paint.Bill