Repaint a room, renovate a piece of furniture, create a canvas… Busy with sometimes tedious painting work, we can sometimes forget to take care of our equipment, which can lead to waste and trips to buy tools. replacement at the DIY store. What if instead of forgetting them in a corner, you took care to clean them after use or treat them if it’s too late to save the hardened bristles of the brush and recover your roller mummified by paint? Whether you are a DIYer or an artist, you could give a second life to these products dried out by lack of maintenance which can be very expensive. Here’s how to return your unusable brushes and rollers to their original state. Enough to prevent them from getting damaged and save money the next time you have to paint!
How do you keep a brush or roller from drying out between uses?
Seeing the clock ticking and night falling, we sometimes reluctantly have to postpone our painting work until later. If we know that we will get back to it within 24 hours (or 48 hours) maximum, we can absolutely take precautions to prevent paint from drying. So, there is no need to clean your applicator: you can continue easily the next day. To reuse your equipment, we advise you to wrap it in a plastic bag, plastic film or aluminum foil. If you are wearing gloves to paint and the brush is small, you can cup the brush in your palm and turn the glove over to cover the bristles. Afterwards, secure your protection with masking tape.
To prevent the roll from drying out and hardening, you can also consider wrapping it in plastic or aluminum. If the size is right, you can even slip it…into a clean Pringles box. Finally, note that the tray can also be wrapped to protect the paint. So you just have to unpack everything the next day and get back to it. without wasting time, without hardening and without loss of flexibility in the hairs !
How to clean your brushes to prevent them from hardening?
If you no longer need it, take advantage of the fact that the paint is still fresh on your brushes to achieve easy cleaning. This means you won’t need to scrub or scrape too much and use potentially irritating chemicals to remove dried paint. However, the cleaning method and the solvent to dilute the stains will depend on the type of paint used.
Cleaning a brush covered with acrylic paint or water-based paint
Soak the bristles of the brush in lukewarm water. Then rinse well and do not hesitate to use Marseille soap or painter’s soap to shampoo the hairs and remove the last traces. To do this, wet the bristles, run them over the brush gently to collect product without damaging the bristles, then rub it against the palm of your hand before rinsing.
Cleaning a brush covered in paint (or oil paint)
For this type of paint, we generally use white spirit poured into a large jar, leaving for several hours, or even overnight, with the lid or plastic film held in place with an elastic band. Then all you have to do is rinse. If you prefer to avoid toxic products, know that there is an alternative to white spirit: Ecological substitute for white spirit. Based on citrus fruits, it is used in the same way as its counterpart.
Very important: to dry your brush, avoid using a hair dryer or any other heat source that could ruin the bristles and deform them. Opt for drying where they will be hung upside down or flat on a clean flat surface.
How to recover your dry and hardened brushes?
Have you forgotten to clean your brushes and the paint is now dry? To save your hardened brush, you will again have to act according to the type of paint. Before treating, you can nevertheless scrape off the excess paint taking care not to damage the bristles or the handle. To trim, you can use a knife or a spoon here.
Soapy water for a lightly soiled brush (acrylic or water-based paint only)
Mix hot water with soap (dishwashing liquid, Marseille, etc.). Leave the brush to soak for around fifteen minutes, rub, rinse well and reshape the bristles carefully.
White vinegar for hardened brushes
Heat white vinegar and let your old used brushes soak in it for around thirty minutes (or more if necessary with the possibility of extending this bath to a full night). This will work particularly well on nylon bristles where you will see the paint come off effortlessly! After this, rinse with soapy water and clean water, brushing and rubbing the hairs.
Acetone, the last resort to save a hardened brush
This chemical doesn’t smell very good and isn’t great for your health, but it can really help catch up if nothing else has worked. Just let the bristles soak in until the paint melts. Then remove the last dirt with soapy water and a long rinse with clean water.
Other ideas for cleaning a hardened brush
Some people give their brush a laundry softener bath for a few hours. Then simply scrub and rinse with soapy, then clear water to remove all traces of fabric softener and paint. This will remove the paint and soften the hairs. Furthermore, some also use vegetable oil (especially olive oil) to soften a hardened brush. This requires several hours of waiting in the oily bath before scrubbing to remove the colored gunk before following with cleaning with soap and water. And of course, it is also possible to opt directly for paint stripperbut this solution is less economical and ecological, in addition to being less gentle on the hairs.
How to clean a paint roller?
The paint roller is a very practical tool, but you have to learn how to clean it in order to use it again. Here again, to clean the rollers without damaging them and effectively, you will need to use the right products. Furthermore, after washing, avoid storing a roller that is still damp. This risks indeed make it mold.
Cleaning a roller covered with acrylic paint or water-based paint
Above the paint can, scrape the roll with a spoon to eliminate (and recover!) as much material as possible. This way you avoid wasting. Then remove the handle and immerse the roller in a basin of hot soapy water. Allow around 3 tablespoons of liquid Marseille soap to clean and allow at least one hour to soak. You can then wring out and rinse everything with clear, lukewarm water. It is possible here to use a high pressure water jet to rinse well. Finally, let it dry well with open water.
Cleaning a roller covered with glycero paint
Ici, soapy water won’t be enough or just after treatment, when rinsing, to fine-tune. Opt instead for soaking for several hours in white spirit, its ecological substitute or even white vinegar. Then, rinse well and let dry as long as necessary before storing it in your garage or workshop.
Recover a roller hardened by paint
As with brushes, here we can rely on previously boiled vinegar bath in a saucepan or in the microwave. Be careful here to have enough to properly immerse your equipment. Then, pour this liquid into a basin and immerse your dirty rollers in it. Leave to soak for an hour (or more if necessary). Finally, use soapy water to refine the result, rinse well and let dry.