A fresh coat of paint can breathe new life into your home. In fact, painting your home in the right colors can add as much as $6,000 to its value.

Painting with a roller is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get this done, but it does take some knowledge and practice to get it right. Here are the basic steps you’ll want to follow when painting your home with a roller.

Decide Whether Painting with a Roller is the Best Approach

First, it’s important to note that rollers are not right for every painting project. However, if you’re paining a large expanse of wall or a ceiling, a roller will speed up the process and give you an even, professional-looking finish.

Once you’ve determined that roller painting is the best approach, move forward with the following steps.

Gather the Right Tools

There are few things worse than getting part-way through a project and finding that you’re missing something you need. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, you’ll want to gather up the following tools before you start:

  • Interior latex paint
  • Roller frame and cover
  • Extension pole
  • 5-gallon bucket with a lid
  • 5-gallon plastic or steel bucket screen
  • Metal spiral power mixer (and a drill)
  • Wood paint stirring stick
  • Paint can pour spout
  • Painter’s tape
  • Drop cloth
  • Plastic sheeting
  • Latex gloves

Prepare the Room

If your room currently has wallpaper, you’ll need to decide whether to paint over or remove it. If you decide removal is the way to go, now is the time to get it done.

Once this task is complete, take everything you can out of the room (including furniture, area rugs etc.), and put down a drop cloth.

If there are large items in the room that you can’t remove, cover them with the plastic sheeting and secure it using painter’s tape.

Since a roller can’t make sharp edges, you’ll need to take steps to ensure you get a clean, sharp edge. Depending on the steadiness of your hands, and your painting skill levels, you may choose one of the following three options:

  • Use a paint edger
  • Tape the opposite wall with painter’s tape
  • Cut-in the paint by hand

In whatever way you decide to proceed, make sure you take the time to do it right. A messy paint job is often worse than if you had not bothered to paint the room in the first place.

Mix Your Paint

The pigments and solids in your paint can start to separate within just a few days after buying it. Give yourself the best chances of ending up with a beautiful paint job by making sure that you mix the paint thoroughly before you start.

You’ll want to do this with your power mixer attached to a drill. If you’ve had the paint for a while, you may also need to thin it before you start.

Set Up Your Bucket

Unlike many paint jobs, you won’t pour your paint into a tray when you’re using a roller. Instead, move to a place that won’t be damaged by paint spills (like the backyard) and pour the paint from the can into your five-gallon bucket.

Use the pouring spout to regulate the transfer. Otherwise, if you pour the paint too fast, you’ll end up with bubbles. It’s best to add no more than three gallons to the bucket at a time. This will give you ample space between the top of the paint and your screen.

Next, add your screen over the lip of the bucket. It’s okay if the screen dips a few inches into the paint, but you’ll want at least nine inches exposed. If you don’t have that much, pour some of the paint back into the can.

Load the Roller

You’re almost ready to start painting! The next step is to slide the roller cover onto the frame and dip it into your bucket of paint. Be careful not to immerse the entire roller frame into the paint or you’ll end up with drips.

Once the roller cover is fully soaked in paint, gently roll it up and down across the bucket screen a few times. Don’t press too hard, or you’ll end up with grid marks on your walls!

Apply Your Paint

Once you’ve confirmed that the roller is dry enough that it won’t drip, begin rolling paint onto the middle of the wall. Move up and down in a “W” pattern, painting a 4’ x 4’ area at a time.

Avoid creating lines by always picking back up against an adjacent wet edge. When the paint stops going on smoothly, you’ll need to reload the roller cover, this time only dipping it partially in the paint, and then getting rid of the excess using the screen.

Keep repeating these steps until your wall is finished. If you need to deepen the color, go back to the center area and start again. Don’t wait too long to apply your second coat or you could end up with a textured finish instead of a smooth one.

Finally, finish up your edges. After the paint has dried, you can repeat the entire process to add a second or third coat as needed.

Make Life Easy – Leave it to the Pros!

Now that you know the steps involved in painting with a roller, you might wonder whether you really want to take this project on. If you don’t, don’t worry!

The professionals at Accurate Painting of NW Florida can take care of everything for you. Contact us today to discuss your project and get a free quote.