Paint rollers

[CJC]

Hi there, I know its a bit of a random question, but hoping to solve one of my pet hates with decorating.

I hate cleaning rollers, therefore I thought I would get a pack of them and just dump them each time. Therefore does anyone know of any good packs that aren't too expensive which they recommend. Only reason for asking and not just buying them is because in the past I have brought rollers and found that if they had colored specs then it leaked onto the walls, so thought I'd get a general opinion on good ones.

Does anyone think there is a better pile length to get for general painting of the walls and ceiling.

sorry for the rubbish/lame questions, I think I'm on a roll.

Thanks for any advice you have

[Slider]

I am with you on this - hate cleaning rollers. We buy ours from Wilkinsons, think it's about £2.99 for a roller and tray. They are white with a grey stripe going around the roller. Have had no problems with these.

[George]

Damn! just take them out the garden or yard and get a hosepipe on em...clean in no time.

[Tim S]

CJC coughed up some electrons that declared:

Here's a trick I use, subject to the following important warnings

***Warning - applies to water based emulsions only!*** ***Tested on a light weight furry type plastic-tube-cored standard length roller, apply common sense for other rollers*** 1) What I do is to rinse them under running water the best I can (5 minutes). With somesqueezing from top down the length of the roller, this gets the bulk of the paint out. 2) For the remainder, I stick it in the washing machine on a *no-spin 30C* wash with plenty of Persil, but no softener. Voila, perfectly clean roller. Squeeze water out and hang to dry.

Whether you think it's a good idea to subject your washing machine to this is upto you, but I've not had any problems provided step (1) above is followed reasonably thoroughly. I would not attempt this without step 1 as the paint solids may well sludge in the drain pump or filters, which would be a Bad Thing(TM).

Cheers

Tim

BTW - don't wash danish oil soaked rags in the machine - makes it stink for ages...

[The Medway Handyman]

Yup, cleaning rollers is a PITA. I've been using the B&Q el cheapos fo the last few years, but I've just tried the Wilkinson ones & I think they are much better at a similar price.

With brushes, I've found the Screwfix el cheapos 6 for £2:50 ish very good indeed.

[Angela]

I have this and it's very good:

[Man at B&Q]

good:

to see the small pictures, but it looks like an electric drill and a bucket of water are involved?

MBQ

[Slider]

Think it's one of those gadgets where you wet the roller first. Attach it to a drill then spin the hell out of it until all the paint flies off!

[mark]

I tend to use the B&Q own brand - for about =A32 you get a tray + roller

• 2 roller sleeves. So you can do 2 sessions with one set - means you have to clean the pait tray at least once though. But I have bought over 20 of them this year so far!

Mark.

[Man at B&Q]

You can get more than one session per roller by wrapping in cling film between sessions.

MBQ

[Slider]

Or putting it in a carrier bag and wrapping the bag around the roller stem

[George]

• 2 roller sleeves. So you can do 2 sessions with one set - means you have to clean the pait tray at least once though. But I have bought over 20 of them this year so far!

Mark.

So thats £40+ spent because you are too lazy to clean the roller.

[Peter Johnson]

The trade centres usually have roller packs on offer. See

at the moment they have an Acorn mini roller pack, frame and 10 foam heads for £2.99 plus VAT. They probably have different combinations in store.

[Angela]

You attach it to an electric drill spin it to get the paint off, swill it in a bucket of water then spin it again and it's both clean and pretty much dry. You apparently only need to spin for 10 seconds but I count to 20 just to be sure.

I use a black bag lined box to catch the paint that spins off

[Angela]

Here's a way fo cleaning them:

[Angela]

Here is a video of it working

[John Weston]

Just what I do - just before putting my shirt in the washing machine and cleaning down the patio :-) I've learnt to avoid the last step by doing it on the grass - just before cutting it...

[geoff]

In message , John Weston writes

All of which reminds me (completely OT of course) of the sign I saw on the door of an Indian supermarket today

"Budweiser - 79p a paint can"

boggle