OT: Painting

OK, I saw at Lowes they call them "angled sash brushes". But I'm not painting window frames, so I left out the "sash" part. ; ) In woodcarving gouges, a similar shape is called "skew" (which is what I originally was going to call it--a "skew brush"). They must put the "angled" in there for novices.. According to the dictionary, I see "skew" means oblique or slant. Never know what you're going to learn here. : )

Yes, I occasionally catch myself doing that. Not as much second day as the first, as I was putting more paint on a 2" brush, and had fewer fiddly details.

I made a point of timing myself yesterday. I painted a 16.5' x 7' side wall in very close to an hour. How do you compare?

I believe you, I've seen that different approaches (slots first, or second for instance) leave equivalent results. Slopping around the paint too much, starts to lead to too many more drips, and that's where I am drawing the line.

hmm. I didn't think of the ends, and I've never used anything besides water. OK, I'm half-way through the coating part (6 of 12 "sides"). I'll buy a new roller cover ($5), and try your strategy. My dish washing detergent is "really cheap" since there always seems to be a bottle next to our kitchen sink. I am quite willing to try your approach, since working at our indoor utility sink, which is low", plays havoc with my back, like working over the hood of a car.

Usually, at that point, I find myself wondering whether I can stand up. ;)

Thanks, I was curious whether there was a difference in the way they laid paint. It there weren't, you could argue that cheap ones might be effective as "disposable". Surely there is a review of performance online. I would find that interesting.

I have at least 2 of those things in mind. I know it will be a real time saver if it works on the deck (generic "Trex"--more porous, rougher texture than real Trex). If it works on concrete that will definitely beat using a "rub brick", which I used the first and only time. My neighbor even came out of her house to see what I was doing outside of her open window (a "screeching chalk"-like sound was generated). She didn't say so, but I could tell she wanted me to stop; my thought was that she could close her window.

Today, is a non-painting day due to weather, and another responsibility I need to prepare for. It wouldn't be any fun to "go to Disneyland" everyday, anyway. Balance. : )

I hope and trust others are gaining something from this thread too!

Thanks! Bill

Reply to
Bill
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Painting out of a 5 gallon bucket with a screen and a roller extension, abo ut 35 minutes from cut in to roll out one coat. 20 - 25 minutes to cut in d ue to the grooves, and cutting along each side up to a contrasting trim and up against the soffits, and 10 minutes to wall out over a primed surface.

Load the brush/roller correctly (evenly) and apply quickly to your surfaces and you can apply a lot of material to the surface and spread it out rathe r than reloading. When I paint siding grooves, the paint drip is running d own the groove in front of the brush for about a foot. I go half way down on one load, then go over it ONE time to smooth out the paint. Load the br ush once more and I have the groove in 4 or so strokes with two brush loads .

I get several jobs out of a my roller covers and it isn't unusual for me to have them for a year. I use the cheap green nap crap rollers when I have a job that is a one off for a landlord that has a paint that is difficult t o clean. Brown paints, red paints, etc., can be hard to get completely out of a roller, so those are my single job roller covers. More importantly I don't want to be constantly buying roller covers. That being said, I buy moderate quality covers for my guys as I don't want a guy making $15 an hou r cleaning a $4 roller cover for 15 minutes to get it really clean. I buy the good ones for me as I can make business calls using my headset while cl eaning.

Gotcha! Another reason to have that 5 gallon bucket with a lid. It's a sy stem. You are finished painting for the day, so you put the lid on it to s ecure the remaining paint. Or clean it out and let it dry so you can store your dried roller covers and rollers later. With the lid on it, you can si t on it while you are cleaning your rollers, brushes, etc.

Don't know about an online review but I can tell you there is a big differe nce. Mostly in durability and their ability to load paint. The cheapies d on't lay out the product as well, they tend to lose their nap fibers in thi ck paints or some of the ammonia laden paints (those are the mold control p aints). And when they don't hold as much paint, they require more frequent loading which means added time on the project. It doesn't sound like much, but if they hold 25% less paint then it adds a lot to a guy painting with one of those all day long.

You could come back here, start a new thread and post the results of your e xperimentation. That and the driveway sweeper nozzle are /great/ inexpensi ve prep and cleaning tools.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Best painting tool I bought was a spinner for brushes and roller covers, it has not put a bit of paint any where, but again BEST painting tool EVER.

Reply to
Markem

Best painting tool I had is a grandson that wanted to make a few bucks. He works cheap and does a decent job.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I got a real chuckle out of that. How true. I could take a dip in quality if I could "Tom Sawyer" the deal!

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I did better on day 2 than day 1, but I see I'm still "overdoing" it. If I'm not careful, I'm going to wear out my brushes! ; )

Thank you for sharing so many details about how you use different roller covers and how to clean them. Technically, you helped me to get through this job right (even after just 1 coat of paint, there is not a trace of anything at all bleeding through!) , and your comaraderie and moral support are very much appreciated. Obviously, I'm not done, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I really like learning new skills and techniques. There is a lot of "crap" written about painting on the internet, and, especially now, I can really see it for what it is. Evidently, lots of people who have used a brush thinks they are qualified to give advice on how to paint! I appreciate your sharing your expertise here! I will resume my work on the shed on Thursday, weather permitting.

I'll do that. I'll take some pictures first too. If Jomax works on the concrete, the results will be dramatic. I missed my chance to take one of the shed. Bill

Reply to
Bill

You could print out this thread, and teach him how to work fast! : )

Reply to
Bill

Okay, it took me almost exactly 4 hours to paint all 4 sides today, not including set up and clean up. The end is in sight (though I bought some stuff to staple along the bottom, once I'm finished painting). Just 2 sides left. (3*4=12 sides).

I did my brush and roller cleaning outside this time, sitting in a chair (instead of over the sink). The recommended dish washing soap (Palmolive) really made the roller nap feel nice. I slung the water out with an overhand throwing motion, as suggested, and I don't know how the roller cover liked it, but it felt really great on my back and shoulder (after doing that painting)! A little unexpected surprise. ; ) After being washed the roller cover looks much better than it's predecessor. I did a side-by-side comparison.

I am really thankful for the suggestions and camaraderie I found here! I learned alot, my project is all the better for it, and I'm happier than I was! : )

Bill

Reply to
Bill

The most innovative roller washing technique I've ever seen was by my daughter when she was about 14. When she finished painting her room she went out in the edge of the lawn and propped up the roller pole so that the roller was vertical and a foot or so off the ground.

She then stepped into a 44 gallon plastic trash bag, pulled it up and tightened the draw string. then she hit the roller with a stream of water from a hose. The centrifugal force cleaned the roller quickly and left a good looking nap. them she washed off the front of the bag she was standing in and hosed down the lawn where there were signs of paint. Then she shook the water off the bag, put the roller over her shoulder and came to the house.

Her mother and I were watching. As she came by us she said, "That's the way to do it". I said, "Interesting". Her mom said, "Honey, I would have just wrapped the roller in Plastic Wrap and tossed it".

Reply to
Jerry Osage

That's the way I wash roller covers but she did it the hard way. Just keep the roller vertical in the sink and spray down. The spatter is contained in the sink. Let the roller spin and it cleans up quickly.

Good roller covers aren't cheap. I don't throw them away after a single use.

Reply to
krw

Now you're cooking! That's a actually a pretty good clip. It appears you g ot the hang of it.

Resist all temptation to simply rinse with water. It doesn't get the job d one. Using soap not only saves the roller (plus, with really good paints w ater doesn't get the resins out) for futures use, but the clean roller give s a better job.

Don't take my word for it. These guys make the high dollar stuff and they specify soap in the cleaning process:

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I don't paint everyday, but always seem to be painting my repairs, a couple of rooms in a house, and a full house or two a year. We paint with roller s and brushes when we can't spray.

While I only a few dozen uses out of a roller cover, I have paint brushes t hat I have literally had for YEARS. If you take of them there really isn't much to wear out. Once the "flags" are gone on the bristles, they go to e xterior applications where they see at least a couple more years of use. F or the record, my employees get 1/2 the life out of a roller cover and the brushes that I do because it is cheaper to rush through cleaning for paid e mployees and replace covers and brushes more often than to pay them $$ to c lean a $ brush/cover.

One thing I forgot to mention while we are on cleaning. Never throw away t he cardboard/paper cover that was on the brush when you bought it. Never. The medium price brushes have a very heavy paper cover that has a notch yo u can use to put the brush in it. The better ones have a spot of velcro as a keeper. That is so when the brush is completely dry you can put it back in its cover. This does two really important things. It keeps the brush clean, but more importantly helps keep the bristles from fraying out. When you clean your brush, shake the water out, and squeeze the bristles togeth er trying to keep them as flat as possible, approximating the shape of the brush when brand new. Store in the cover. I had an old painter show me tha t and it added years to the life of the brush.

Good for you! Nothing like the feeling of a job well done except the feeli ng of when you are finished. Painting exteriors is a lot easier than peopl e think it is if they are organized and stay focused. I actually started p ainting professionally (as opposed to always subbing out my painting) about 20 years ago when I got tired of all the crap I was always getting from my subs. One day after I had dressed down my painting subcontractor for bein g late, he replied with "Aw FU, Robert. You can't fire me. You would be t otally screwed if I wasn't here."

He was right. But I fired him anyway. I had a lot of finishing work at th at time and put a full time painter on the payroll for about 6-7 years. So between him, all the subs I have had since then, the classes I have taken at Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore, I don't have any of the old dread o f painting. To me, it's just more work that pays pretty well, isn't dirty, isn't too physically demanding, and isn't dangerous unless I am up on a sc affold or tall ladder.

Glad things went your way on this job. Time for a beer and cigar!

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

You are both right, of course. The appearance of my single application of "one coat paint" applied over a fresh primer coat improved with the second coat. Though it *looked* acceptable by most standards (for instance, to my wife) after just one coat. Hopefully, the added durability will make up for the additional time and expense. My neighbor recently built a new shed about 6 feet away from mine which he coated with primer and one coat of paint. Although they are dramatically different colors, if you stop to look close, you can tell that, at least visually, the paint covers mine better! :-P

Reply to
Bill

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