How long can a paint roller be used?
I have used paint rollers for days until a job was finished. When I reach a stopping point for the day I seal the roller head into a plastic grocery bag to keep it from drying. The first time I coat it the next day it returns to life and works just fine. The key is making sure you seal it as well as possible in the plastic.
Is it better to use a roller or spray machine to paint the interior of your home?
Look up a painting company and volunteer to work as an assistant. I'm sure they will be glad to use the free help. While working notice and even keep notes as to how they do each task. Sure you will have to do the crappy jobs but a couple times out if you take good notes you will know how. In the mean time look at as many ehow.com videos you can find on painting. YouTube and even books are another source. Within a week of just doing that you should know what you need to do. Then paint your own house.
Have you used a power roller to paint?
dont bother, i tried one once, it was a piece of junk, you cant let it continually feed paint while you roll, instead you need to load it - roll for a while until you notice the roller running out. once thats done, then you need at least half an hour to clean the thing. take it all apart ( dont lose the pieces ) wash each part in soapy water ( assuming you used latex). if you dont get each piece clean you risk contaminating the next batch of paint or plugging up the tube. they usually give you a thing to screw on the end of a faucet and you run the roller through it to wash the paint out, which takes forever. all in all it takes about an hour and a half each time you haul it out to use it and put it away after you're done. save yourself the time and aggravation, buy a decent roller setup and if you're going to be using the same color within a few days wrap the paint soaked roller in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge - it will be primed and ready to use the next time. if you use oil based paint - you're in for double the cleaning time and all the fumes associated with using paint thinner ( i know better ways to spend my time)
Is it better to spray paint or roller paint?
Both methods have their plus and minuses. You need to decide withich is best for you. Spraying is not a DIY project if you have never used an airless sprayer before. You need to develop a feel for the process before you become adept at applying the paint so you don't get drips and runs. Spraying applies paint that when dry has a very smooth texture, not the ever so slight stipled texture that you get when you apply paint with a roller. That's OK if you are spray painting with flat paint, which hides wall imperfections just by the nature of the flat finish. When you spray with a semi-gloss, if you have wall imperfections, they are going to stand out with sprayed on paint. Rolled on semi-gloss will do a better job of hiding wall imperfections because with rolled on paint you get that very slight stipled look that comes from the roller. Keep this in mind: if you ever have to do some wall repair after you spray, you are going to have to spray again to get your wall repair to blend in with the rest of the wall. If you roll the first time, it's far easier to blend in that repair when you roll the second time. In essence, for the DIY'er, it's far easier to paint by roller than by sprayer, and potential wall repairs later are far easier to paint and blend in with the existing wall.
Whats best to use to paint a ceiling , roller or brush , ?
I would love to help. Here's how. Put a roller pan liner in a roller pan, fill with paint, get a 2 1/2 inch sash brush ( you know the angled brush), 3/8 roller preferably 9in. Start by painting the edges with the brush as far as you can reach making sure not to over reach. When your done with the brush just place it in the pan out of the way so that you can use the roller. Then roll immediately after you brush then move ladder and continue. If you allow the paint from the brush to dry it will leave brush marks. This will cut your time in half. Maybe some professional painters will take this advice also. Good Luck Moskie257
Can you re-use your paint roller?
Check out the roller covers you're buying. If their inner tube is made of cardboard/paper, they probably won't stand up to more than one good use and will start to disintegrate when you clean them. The plastic tube ones will last for a while, provided you can clean them well. But, if even a little paint dries on them, they're officially useless. Cleaning a roller is a pain. Don't bother if you're painting with oil based paint. If you're doing oil based and the job will run over to the next day, put the roller in a plastic bag and seal well. And put it in the fridge to hopefully slow down any drying action. If you're doing latex paint, you can also put them away in a sealed plastic bag, but you can also wash them, too, but it takes a while, especially if the roller has a long nap to it that holds a lot of paint. It's really important to get ALL of the water out of the roller or you'll get all kinds of drips messing up your paint job. The one thing I find essential, and it's a little expensive at $15 or so, but you can use it forever, is the good old spin-style brush and roller cleaner: http://www.amazon.com/Shur-Line-Professi... That thing will spin your rollers dry quickly. They will also do the same thing for your paint brushes. It's an ingenious invention that separates the real professional painters from the weekend warriors. Just spin the roller, or brush, in a five gallon bucket (to contain all the "overspray" from the spinning). Once you use one, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it!! Another poster was correct - it's not about the cold so much as it is about stopping the air and evaporation. But I think that putting your rollers in plastic bags in the fridge is a good idea, at lower temperatures, things tend to dry more slowly. Do NOT put them in the freezer - freezing temperatures will cause paints to break down and behave terribly. From personal experience I tell you do NOT put them in the freezer!! Bad idea!!
Are you sure you meant oil paint when writing this question? If so, why would you use oil paint on a ceiling? (And over such a large surface area that you need a roller?)Oil paint was developed to take a very long time to dry. You're going to be waiting weeks, of not months, for the paint to stop being wet.If you're painting a mural, you should do all of your underpainting in a fast drying medium like acrylic, with only the finishing details in oil, and at that point you'd be using small brushes, not a roller.Any roller should work just fine, I just urge you to reconsider the type of paint you plan on using for this project.
Yes, you can clean a paint roller and it’s easy if you know how. Latex paint only!First rinse it in a 5 gal. bucket of water or a utility sink, remember this is just rinsing most of the paint out.Next use a water hose to spin the roller, I do this inside a 5 gal. bucket in a little used part of the backyard because centrifugal force is going to fling dirty water everywhere. The trick is to get the roller to spin fast. You can do this in the sink with the faucet to but it can get pretty messy.If you’re going to be cleaning a lot of paint rollers you might consider getting one of paint roller cleaning gizmos. They all seem a little to expensive to me tho.Here’s a YouTube link to help explain it:DON’T DO THIS WITH OIL BASED PAINT! ONLY WATER CLEANUP LATEX PAINT.Jim YPS This is a random YouTube video not me. Just the first I found with a guy using a water hose.Late TIP: If you get the roller spinning fast enough it will be dry enough to use with the new color immediately, you don’t need to wait for it to completely dry.
Should I use a roller or paint gun?
I agree with the previous commenter. I'm a contractor, and the only time I ever spray is in a newly constructed house, just after the drywall is up. If you use a sprayer, you'll have to mask off every single surface you don't want painted. My vote is don't even think about it. Use a good roller (invest in a rolling pole, so you can make good time). If you're using the same colors throughout the house, you don't even have to clean up at the end of the day. Just put the roller in the paint tray, and put the whole thing in a trash bag. That will keep it fresh for use the next day. Same with your paintbrush and work bucket. Just wrap them up and come back to it later. For what it's worth, I'd think twice about the semigloss paint. The gloss will magnify any imperfections in your walls. If scrubbability is the issue, then go with a good quality "flat enamel" or "matte enamel." This gives you less sheen, which will hide surface flaws, and still be completely scrubbable. I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and semigloss on most walls does not turn out to be very attractive. At any rate, best of luck to you.