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Paint brushes and rollers are used for the same purpose but have entirely different functions. Brushes of different shapes and sizes allow you to carefully paint tiny details and areas requiring special attention. It is an indispensable tool for coloring corners and edges. Large paint brushes are used for painting large surfaces, while small ones are used for processing joints and hard-to-reach places. There are also corner brushes that make painting corners easier.
Paint rollers pick up a lot of paint at a time and cover a large area, making them indispensable for painting walls and ceilings. If the brushes often leave behind strokes, the roller provides a smooth, uniform coating without tool marks and bright transitions.
Pros and Cons of Paint Brush
| 👍 PAINT BRUSH PROS | 👎 PAINT BRUSH CONS |
|---|---|
| + Easy to handle | – Rust marks on the paint |
| + Tool for working in tight spaces. | – It is not designed for modern finishing. |
| + Preferable to paint. | – The bristles falls out of the roller. |
Paint Brushes
First, decide how much work you need to do: choose a roller if you are painting walls, ceilings, or floors. If you are painting a small area, corners, or hard-to-reach places – it is better to use a brush. If the wall or ceiling decor you have in mind involves smooth, even lines without mixing colors, you can use masking tape. After the paint has dried, the masking tape is removed, leaving no traces of glue on the surface.
Brushes can be of different sizes and shapes and made of different materials (squirrel, core, hog bristles). The latter is usually used for repair work and is characterized by fairly stiff bristles. Sometimes the brush has a combination of natural pig and artificial bristles. These brushes work well with water-based paints, while alkyd and oil paints work well with natural bristle brushes.
Regardless of the material, a high-quality brush will not “shed,” leaving fibers on the surface. It applies to paint well to the surface without streaks.
4 Rules For Choosing The Perfect Paint Brush
(1) Fur coat material
Just know that specific material works with certain types of paint. Natural sheepskin or mohair rollers are suitable for oil paints and can handle any surface texture. Synthetics work well with water-based paints. If you use water-based paints, we recommend buying polyacrylic paint rollers. They do not leave lint and streaks, create a uniform coating, and at the same time are cheap.
(2) Size of the paint roller The
The optimal tool length for most household tasks is 23 cm. Smaller 17 cm products are suitable for painting furniture and tiny details. 12 cm mini rollers are ideal for painting corners, edges, frames, and hard-to-reach places.
(3) Handle comfort
If you have to paint a large area, pay attention to the ergonomics of the handle when choosing a painting tool. The more comfortable it is, the easier it will be to hold it in your hands for several hours. Another critical point is the ability to extend the handle with the help of unique accessories to use the roller for painting ceilings.
(4) Reliability and weight of the design
The frame should be light enough to hold the product for a long time and not get tired, but not flimsy.
Types of Paint Brush
Flat brush
The flat brush works with paints, varnishes, enamels, and varnishes. It is easy to handle, and it can easily take not places that are inaccessible to round brushes.
Radiator brush
The radiator brush is a variation of the flute brush, but unlike the flute brush, it has a more extended, curved handle. Because of this, it is easier to paint hard-to-reach places with a radiator brush. It is incredibly convenient when painting heating radiators, sectional structures, remote corners, quarters, and other non-rectilinear structures.
Round brush
Depending on the diameter, round brushes can be divided into thin and thick or fly brushes. Thin round brushes are designed to paint windows, architraves, doors, skirting boards, radiators, and even uneven profiled surfaces.
Thick (flying) brushes and round brushes are used to wash whitewash from ceilings and apply whitewash to roofs. Fly brushes for working in hard-to-reach places require an extension or a telescopic rod up to two meters long, making the work less convenient.
Pros and Cons of Paint Roller
| 👍 PAINT ROLLER PROS | 👎 PAINT ROLLER CONS |
|---|---|
| + Easy to use | + Expensive |
| + Rollers can cover a sizable surface. | + It can not be useful for small surfaces |
| + Variety of colors and paint finishes. | + The surface of roller has an small resource of use. |
| + Paint rollers don’t create the mess. |
Paint Roller
The rollers, instead of bristles, have a “fur coat” that absorbs paint. The fur coat can be made of fur, chemical threads, mohair, polyacrylic, color, nylon plush, sheepskin, or foam rubber. A fur coat paints walls, floors, ceilings well, and a foam rubber coat primes well and performs decorative plaster. A polyacrylic skin resembles a fluffy pile and is used for all types of paints.
For a flat wall, it is better to choose a short-haired fur coat for a wall with a texture – a fur coat with a longer pile.
It is unlikely that you will get confused about which type of roller should be selected for the required paint – as a rule, manufacturers often indicate this data on the roller label. A velor roller, for example, is used to apply varnish and other paints and varnishes to smooth surfaces. It does not leave traces of bubbles, affecting the painted surface’s aesthetic appearance.
4 Rules For Choosing The Perfect Paint Roller
(1) Bristle material
You can buy a paintbrush in two types – natural and synthetic bristles. Natural ones are made from badger or wild boar hair, while synthetic ones are made from polyester and nylon. Natural bristle brushes are for oil paints, while synthetic bristle brushes are for water-based latex paint. The natural bristles are soft and flexible, evenly distributing the paint in a thin layer without streaks. It is perfect for applying natural colors.
(2) Brush width
The width of the brush varies from 2.5 to 13 cm, and its choice directly depends on the area you are going to paint. Obviously, with a larger brush, you will paint large surfaces faster, and fewer strokes will allow you to achieve a uniform and high-quality painting. But if you need to paint over details, choose the most miniature product. Experts recommend choosing a brush slightly narrower than the surface. For example, if you paint a 10 cm wide window frame, use a 9 cm wide brush. An item of the same size or larger will overlap the edges of the frame, causing the paint to drip continuously.
(3) Paintbrush shape
Most painting tools are square or rectangular. They are best suited for holding and applying colorant to any surface. For a more accurate drawing of details, paint brushes with bristles cut at a slight angle are suitable.
(4) Bristle tips
Few people know that when choosing the perfect paintbrush, you should look at the material, shape, and size of the bristles and their tips. And they can be split or not. What benefits does this give you? Split-tipped bristles hold more paint and distribute it evenly.
Types of Paint Roller
Foam rollers
Designed to work with all types of water-based paints, primers, and adhesives, they cannot be used when working with paintwork materials on solvents since their solvent corrodes foam rubber.
Rubber rollers
They can be used as a structural roller for embossing the surface or as a pressure roller (for leveling and ironing wallpaper joints).
Conclusion
The choice of painting tool will always depend on the tasks. The brush is suitable for precise and high-quality processing of details, edges, and areas that require special attention. Knowing the difference between a paintbrush and a paint roller is essential. In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of both tools so that you can decide which one is best for your needs. After reading this article, we hope you understand why each tool is essential and which might be better for your specific painting project.
