
When you’re painting a house, the focus is, unsurprisingly, on the paint. The colours, the glossiness and the thickness are all running through your head while you plot your picture perfect home. There are so many factors that go into a high-quality paint; it gets all the love. Meanwhile, the real workhorses of the project, the ones willing to get messy in the deepest cracks and crevices of your siding, they’re neglected! We’re talking, of course, about paint brushes and rollers, the unsung heroes of any painting project; we’re here to give them their well-deserved time in the sun. That is, of course, assuming they’re not covered in paint; we don’t want anything drying on them!
First, the difference between the two. Obviously, paint rollers and brushes are different; you’ve seen both, but what are they both good at? Paint rollers are good for long, smooth surfaces; think walls on the inside of your house, ceilings and doors. Paint brushes, meanwhile, are used for areas where more precision is needed; the sidings of most homes are painted with a brush, because the surfaces are often constructed out of multiple parts that create a wide variety of textures with divets and bumps.
Brushes come in a variety of different types. Animal hair brushes are especially useful when applying oil-based paints, whereas nylon and polyester brushes are better for latex and other water-based paints. They come in a variety of sizes as well; smaller brushes are best for trim and windows, while larger brushes make painting the side of the home a lot faster. There’s also different angles the brush can end in; square ends are useful for applying paint over a flat surface, while angled brushes are handy for trim, hard-to-reach areas and windows.
Paint rollers are just as varied as their brush cousins, despite their less storied history. Paint rollers are covered with a nap, the woven material the paint is actually applied to. This nap can vary substantially in thickness; heavier naps are good for textured surfaces, because the large amount of paint they can accumulate can make its way into the crevices of surfaces like stucco and brick. Thinner naps, conversely, are handy for smooth surfaces where you don’t want thick layers of paint. The size difference between paint rollers isn’t as extreme as with brushes; they basically come in either 9 inch or 4 inch long varieties, where the longer ones are better for large walls and the smaller ones are good for doors and cabinets.
At Madani Group, we’ve got respect for these unsung heroes of painting; that means we’ve developed techniques using each brush and roller for the appropriate job, meaning a faster, higher quality project for you. High-quality house painting can’t happen without the right rollers and brushes, and for that, we salute them.