Using Rollers and Brushes

HANDLING PAINT:
Always have the store shake the paint finish for you-even though you may not use it for a couple of weeks. This can save you mixing time, since the pigment in the paint vehicle will be activated through shaking.

You can paint right out of the bucket with a brush. But, you need a roller pan with roller frame and cover. For additional mixing procedures on the job site, we recommend that you buy a mixing bucket -plastic or metal.

USING ROLLERS AND BRUSHES:

1. Roll the roller through the bottom of the paint pan, where the paint should not be more than 1/2-inch deep. Distribute paint over the entire roller and make it as even as you can. But don't overload the roller with paint.
   Start laying the paint on the wall in a zigzag pattern. Go back over the zigzag with parallel strokes at a 90-degree angle to the original zigzag.
2. Without reloading the roller, finish this area by carefully rolling up and down, overlapping the strokes slightly, or side-to-side if you have decided to do your finish strokes that way.
   Start and stop your strokes gently so you don't leave roller marks or "tracks" on the wall surface.
   Use plenty of paint; don't skimp. But don't overload the surface with paint. When you have completed an area, back off from the area and look at it from several different angles as well as up close. You may find skipped spots. Go back over these spots with a fairly "dry" roller cover.
3. Cutting and trimming is best done with a brush, although roller covers are made for this. It's really a matter of personal preference; we've found a brush easier to handle than a roller.
   Make a clean edge where a ceiling meets a wall of another color or along an edge where paint stops. This is called "cutting in."
   When painting a wall and ceiling different colors, the standard approach is to let the lighter of the two colors overlap this edge, cutting in the darker of the colors over it.
   If you have a steady hand, you can use the method detailed above for cutting in along trim and moldings. A faster method is to use a painting guide, as illustrated.
   On some moldings, you can mask them off with masking tape.
4. Painting double-hung windows take organization. You can mask the glass in the windows with tape laid up to the edge of the strips that divide the panes.
   Or, you can paint the strips freehand. The method for painting a double-hung window is to lower the top sash and raise the bottom sash. Paint the outside sash first as far as you can reach, then paint the inner sash.
   Reverse the position, of the windows, but do not close either sash all the way. After the windows are painted, paint the sill and casing around them. You can use an edger at the casings to prevent spreading paint on the adjoining wall surface.