Simple trick I learned for cleaning paint rollers faster

Last month I was painting my garage in Portland and got sick of spending 20 minutes cleaning each roller. A buddy who does drywall for a living told me to spin the roller dry with a five-in-one tool before washing it. I tried it and got almost all the paint out in 30 seconds flat. Now I just rinse it once and it's clean instead of standing there scrubbing forever. Has anyone else found a faster way to deal with cleanup?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancyramirez13d ago

Yeah that zip tie trick is genius and I took it even further honestly. I wrap a whole damn trash bag around the roller and cinch it tight at the handle with a rubber band before I spin it. The paint just collects inside the bag and I can toss the whole mess when I'm done. Also if you're using a five-in-one to spin it you gotta make sure you're digging into the nap hard enough or else you're just flicking paint around instead of flinging it out. I've ruined a few shirts learning that the hard way. For latex paint I can usually get three or four clean spins out of one roller cover before I even need to touch water. Just wrap it in a wet rag overnight and it's good to go the next morning.

mitchell.avery13d ago

Six spins before touching water is wild, how thick of a nap are you running to get that kind of mileage without the roller getting crusty? I've found that with a 3/8 inch nap on walls, by the third spin the latex starts getting gummy no matter how good I clean it. Maybe it's just the brand of paint I use, but are you doing anything special with how you wrap that wet rag overnight to keep the fibers from getting matted down?

corap6113d ago

Oh have you tried putting a zip tie around the roller cover before you spin it? I saw a guy on YouTube do that and it works like a charm. You just slide the zip tie tight around the cover then spin it with the five-in-one and all the paint flies off into a bucket or trash bag. It keeps the paint from splattering everywhere which was my main problem with the spin method. Plus you don't even need to wash it half the time if you're using latex and spinning it good enough. Just wrap it in plastic wrap if you're gonna use it again the next day.