• Wall Paint Brush Designs
• Wall Paint Brush Holder
• Wall Paint Brush Sizes
• Home Depot Paint Accessories
• Professional Paint Brush

The quality of your tools can make or break the finished look of your paint job. Ahead, learn the key considerations involved in choosing the right roller frame and cover for your next project.

BobVila.com and its partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Wooster Golden Flo Roller Cover. (Image credit: Amazon.ca) Price: $8.52. Valspar Polyester Angle 2-in Paint Brush. Valspar's Wall and Trim brush is ideal for almost any interior painting project. It's thin, tapered design provides ultra-clean lines with trimming around windows, door frames, and molding.

There are many do-it-yourself projects that allow for scrimping on costs without any negative effects on your results—painting, however, is not one of them. For a professional-looking paint job, you need to start with quality tools.

You’ll likely reach for a paintbrush when cutting in or painting trim, but covering the bulk of the wall or ceiling with paint becomes a much simpler, speedier job when you use a paint roller. Not only that, but the right roller-and-cover combination works to spreads paint smoothly and evenly, so you aren’t left with brushstrokes, patchy spots, or other imperfections.

Paint rollers and covers are simple and generally quite affordable tools, but there are many options to choose from. Ahead, our guide explains what to consider and what to look for, and it offers details on our top-favorite picks among the best paint roller and cover options available.

1. BEST ROLLER FRAME:Wooster Brush 9-Inch Roller Frame
2. BEST ROLLER COVER:Purdy Dove Cover
3. BEST VALUE ROLLER COVER:True Blue Professional Paint Roller Covers

Finding the Right Paint Roller for the Job

1. Select an easy-to-grip roller frame.

A roller frame—the skeleton of this reusable painting tool—is basically a comfortable plastic handle connected to a roller cage (the part of the frame that slips inside the roller cover). Typically, roller cages have plastic caps at either end supporting the compression metal “ribs” that fit inside a cover and hold it securely in place, but you’ll also find roller frames with sturdy plastic cages.

Roller frames are sold in sets with covers for convenience, but you have more control over the quality of your supplies when you purchase it separately. When comparing frames, look for these optional features:

• Ergonomic handle. If you expect to spend a lot of time painting, even just more than one room, it’s worth paying a little more for an ergonomic handle that is shaped to reduce strain on your wrist.
• Ball bearings. Quality roller frames have ball bearings to provide smooth rolling movement and a more perfect paint finish.
• Threaded handle. While it comes on most roller frames, do check for threads or clips at the bottom of the handle so you can attach an extension pole for tackling ceilings or the tops of walls.

Photo: istockphoto.com

2. Narrow down to your options for roller length.

Roller frames and covers come in several different lengths (and while most frames come in a fixed roller width, some of the large ones are adjustable in size, using small clips or prongs to secure the cover instead of a cage). You’ll need to match the lengths of your roller frame and cover if you want to do the job right.

• 9-inch rollers are the best size for the majority of projects tackled by DIYers. For starters, these paint rollers fit easily into a 5-gallon paint bucket. Plus, these are large enough to cover a good size swatch of wall in one roll yet not so long that they are difficult to control around trim and other details.
• 12-inch or longer rollers can be somewhat heavy and unwieldy and, therefore, are more often used by professionals than DIYers. If you really need to cover a stretch of wall in a hurry, however, you might want to choose one of these oversize rollers.
• 6- or 7-inch rollers are a good size for painting baseboard molding or small furnishings. These rollers are also useful for getting into corners or reaching behind the toilet to paint the wall.
• 4-inch mini rollers are great for touchups, small furnishings, tight spaces, or careful work around fixtures, windowsills, or other obstacles. They also come in handy for painting the insides of cabinets or bookcases.

3. Choose the right roller cover material based on your paint and project.

Covers come in five common material options, which vary in terms of what paint they work best with, how much they hold, and the texture they create.

• Wool or mohair roller covers, with natural fibers, are the best choices for applying oil-based paint, but they work well with any finish and cover a variety of surfaces smoothly. Wool picks up a lot of paint, and so provides excellent coverage with just one coat.
• Synthetic roller covers—including polyester, nylon, or Dacron—are the right choice for water-based latex paint because they resist matting. You can use a synthetic cover with any paint finish and on most surfaces. Though synthetics don’t pick up and hold as much paint as wool does, they are generally very durable.
• Roller covers that blend wool and polyester can be used with either type of paint and any paint finish, so are a great choice if you often switch between oil-based and water-based products. These versatile roller covers give the best of both worlds: They pick up a lot of paint and last a long time if cared for properly.
• Newer to the painting scene, microfiber roller covers (identifiable by the diagonal stripes on the plush cover) work with latex as well as oil-based paints with a matte, eggshell, or satin finish. These rollers provide a very smooth finish, almost as if sprayed on, and are suitable only on surfaces without much texture. However, there’s a bit of a learning curve to achieving an even finish with a microfiber roller because they pick up and release more paint than the average cover, so practice on cardboard or another throwaway surface before tackling your walls.
• Foam roller covers don’t last as long as the other options and, for that reason, are sometimes considered “single use” covers. They are best for rolling semi-gloss or high-gloss latex paint over smooth—not heavily textured—surfaces. Use them for quick touchups on trim, baseboards, furniture, or other small projects.

You’ll also want to consider the core of the roller cover; a good one is made from some type of resin or plastic. Cheap rollers have cardboard cores, which don’t hold well and often come apart after just a few uses.

4. Know what nap you need for your surface.

The nap of a roller cover refers to the length of its fibers—yet another important decision to make based on the project at hand. Different naps are good for different surfaces. As a general rule, the shorter the nap, the smoother the surface you’ll use it on. Using a long nap on a smooth surface tends to create a bumpy finish, while a short nap on a rough surface will often tear apart or shed fibers into the paint.

• 1/4-inch nap is best for very smooth walls, ceilings, cabinetry, and other surfaces without texture, including metal.
• 3/8-inch nap is good for lightly textured surfaces, including most interior walls.
• 1/2-inch nap is a good length for moderately textured walls, paneling, and painted brick or concrete.
• 3/4-inch nap is best for heavily textured surfaces such as bare brick or concrete or textured interior walls like popcorn-textured ceilings.
• 1-inch nap and above is useful for painting stucco, cinder blocks, or rough brick.

Our Top Picks

Here’s a step by step guide on how to paint a wall with a brush. The walls of a building whether residential or for office are usually the most noticed when in that building.

One can easily notice whether it has old paint or if it is dirty, and so the need for a touch of paint to make it look good to everyone who uses the building.

Wall Paint Brush Designs

Getting to change the way an old paint looks on the wall would involve in most cases, repainting the wall, doing this with a brush is one of the ways of getting the old paint out of the way.

While you are painting the wall with a brush, it’s been advised by professionals that certain procedures be followed because you don’t want to have your wall messed up.

Using the brush to paint the wall involves an outline of processes which can be quickly articulated hereunder;

1. Load the Paintbrush
2. Apply as well as distribute the paint
3. Smooth out the wall paint

• Read Also: How to Paint a Wooden Fence with a Roller

Table of Contents

How to Paint a Wall With a Brush

1. Load the Paint Brush Rightly

Watching someone paint the wall with a paintbrush might seem so easy and stress-free, but a closer examination would reveal that if the paintbrush is not rightly loaded, the painting process and its outcome could be very disappointing.

There is an appropriate way to load the paintbrush in order to have an amazing paint finish.

First, consider the very primary aspect of moving the paint about while you paint. Conventionally, you either pour a quantity of paint in a painting bucket or carry it around the can of paint.

Wall Paint Brush Holder

The normal metal paint can with a wire handle is usually easy to carry about, but luckily, this type of container is now being replaced with easy-to-move plastic paint jugs which possess built-in handles.

When using a metal paint container, you are going to need a fitting tool which is also called Can Claw. This tool connects onto the container while providing a stable handle to move the paint about painting the wall.

From experience, moving about with a paint container while painting whether cutting in about wall edges or painting trim is quite tiring.

Varying paint buckets can be obtained in the market. The convenient bucket is small-sized enough to carry a good quantity of paint, and it comes with disposable liners.

The bucket features a piece of magnet built on the side that grips metal ferrules in paintbrushes which helps you to pause and take a break from your painting work without a need to lay down or clean up your paintbrush.

The use of the small paint bucket is much convenient than moving a big container of paint around, especially if you have got to work on a ladder.

However you wish to carry around the paint, the following is the recommended way to rightly load your paintbrush:

• Immerse the paintbrush in the paint to about one-third of the bristle length. This prevents the paintbrush from becoming overloaded thereby stopping dripping of paint.
• Tap the two edges of the paintbrush lightly at the Paint bucket side. This fills the brushed interior adequately ready for painting.
• The third thing to do is; don’t scrape off the paint from the brush through dragging crossways on the bucket edge. It eliminates the paint, pads the bristles as well as make the brush ineffective.

Apply as Well to Distribute the Paint

It’s normal to make use of a roller for expansive, flat wall sections while a paintbrush is good enough for Cutting in.

This is an act of painting the wall corners, ceilings and window/door trim. Those parts of the wall that eluded the cut in are thereafter painted with paintbrush or roller.

• Read Also: 15 Faux Painting Ideas for a Bathroom

A paintbrush typically does well in cutting in as it offers the most control while working. When rolling the major sections of the wall, it’s okay to start by cutting edges as well around the woodwork first, and then commencing with the roller.

A right-handed person should cut in the wall around the ceiling corners from the left-hand side to the right-hand side.

A left-handed person should paint from the right-hand side to the left-hand side. Such pattern offers you visual control on how good the wall paint is flowing.

Hold the paintbrush just the way you hold a pen, press the paintbrush on the wall so that the brush bristles are flexed and remember to use the slender edge of a paintbrush when you cut in.

Carry out your cutting-in motion by applying a sequence of overlapping dabs, gently proceeding along the edge being painted.

If you’ve got to paint a massive wall section, the following technique will suffice;

1. Position the paintbrush at an angle of 45 degrees and then paint that section of the wall by applying many diagonal strokes.

Wall Paint Brush Sizes

One more time, press the brush on the wall surface so as to get the bristles flexed. Here, it’s cool to have the paint heavy.

2. The next thing to do is distribute or spread the paint onto the massive flat area using the paintbrush horizontally.

3. Smooth Out The Wall Paint

After applying and distributing the paint on the wall, the next stage is to smooth out the paint. This can be carried out through the following steps;

Gently draw the paintbrush lightly and then across in extended smooth strokes in order to level out painted section and remove brush strokes that are in varying directions.

A popular rule simply says “always paint to wet edge” – it implies that you should never allow the paint to dry out completely while you stroke onto it with a newly loaded brush. This causes very noticeable lap marks.

Raise the paintbrush from the section being painted at the finish of each stroke. This act helps to faintly “feather” the stroke of paint.

Home Depot Paint Accessories

• Read Also: What Happens When You Paint Over Rust?

4. Take Care of the Paint Brush After Working

Professional Paint Brush

Wash out latex paintbrushes in soapy, warm water and rinse off the paint in uncontaminated water, and shake dry.

Try to smooth out the brush bristles again into its original shape. This ensures that the brush lasts long.