Gloss painting - I hate cleaning the brushes!!

angelavdavis

Buy cheap anti-shed brushes, wrap in cling film between coats then chuck them when finished. Life is too short for soaking paintbrushes in turps and its my one breach of the reduce, reuse, recycle methodology!

As others have found, I can never get them clean enough to use again and they are hard as rock when I go to reuse them.

never_enough

I hate to throw things away, but find it more difficult to get rid of white spirit. Not to mention being rubbish at getting them clean anyway. So I wrap my brushes in plastic bags or clingwrap, they're usually ok for up to a week. Then I bin them & try not to feel too guilty.

Chippy_Minton_2

Look I've said it once now I'll say it again BUY A BRUSH MATE. For £10 you'll nvere have to clean another brush again.

janet6267

Try using satinwood paint instead of gloss, smells less and brushes clean in water afterwards. I used B&Q colours everywhere to paint my kitchen and dining room, used it on the walls, wood and radiator. Cleaned brushes with water, looks amazing and no need to paint edges between wood and wall........I love it !!! Just a thought incase you are open to anything other than gloss paint.

vansboy

janet6267 wrote: »

Try using satinwood paint instead of gloss, smells less and brushes clean in water afterwards. I used B&Q colours everywhere to paint my kitchen and dining room, used it on the walls, wood and radiator. Cleaned brushes with water, looks amazing and no need to paint edges between wood and wall........I love it !!! Just a thought incase you are open to anything other than gloss paint.

Janet just beaten me to it!!:beer:

I gave up on gloss or oil based paints years ago.

At our last house house, all the doors & skirtings were stained in mahogony colour (Victorian house so looked fine)

Our flat is satin white - not Dulux, 'cos that's oil based - 3 years on & it's still white. Not sure how many gloss brilliant whites, would be.

& here, at the new place, done the same. In fact only difference is, I even used a mini roller, on the doors. Think it'd have a more noticeable grain showing, if it'd been brushed, but is OK.

VB

wallbash

Look I've said it once now I'll say it again BUY A BRUSH MATE. For £10 you'll nvere have to clean another brush again.

Yes has its uses. But many on this forum may well decorate a room a year

So its a choice between cleaning :eek: storage in the Brush mate ( a year is a long time,
bet i would knock it over in my workshop) or buying new brushes to start a new job.

Will stick to a new brush, ps the last thing I worry about when faced with a new project is land fill ! in the case of a brush.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

BB1984 wrote: »

I always leave mine in a cup of white spirit, then (assuming I'm using the same colour again) wipe/dry it off with a rag before using the next time.

Wouldn't leave it for months in this way though...!

BB

I do exactly the same.Sometimes I just buy cheap brushes and dump them afterwards though.Saves buying brush cleaner.

Yorkshire_Bred

Brushmates are very good but are expensive and the fluid for them is around £6 per bottle. The best way to store them is in an old tub, bristles dipped in water, just shake the water off prior to using.

Vibrant

For cleaning brushes used with oil based paint, once the job is finished, I wipe off the worst of the paint, dip the brush in white spirit and wipe again, then leave the brush standing in a jam jar of white spirit over night.
In the morning wash out the brush using washing up liquid, massage it well into the bristles.
Once the brush appears to be clean, massage a small amount of washing up liquid into the bristles and leave to dry, it wont then go hard.

If you leave the jam jar of white spirit to stand, you can pour off the clear liquid, to use next time.

This also keeps brushes used with water based paints in good condition (just the washing liquid bit, not the white spirit).
Washing up liquid is also very good for cleaning rollers.

nickj_2

for storing paint brushes , leave them in a pot of water , when you next use them brush them out on a bit of wood to remove excess water
if you leave them in white spirit you will have to rinse them out , otherwise you always get w/s dripping down from the stock