How do you remove paint from brushes and rollers?

Answer 1

It depends on 1. the type of paint, and 2. whether it's dried.

If it's water-based (latex) paint, use water. It's best to do this in a multi-step process. For brushes, rinse the brush out while massaging the bristles to get as much paint out as possible. I put a little water in the bottom of a bucket, then swirl the brush in it, push the paint out, dip it back in, and repeat until the water is as dirty as the paint. Then pour this off into some sort of disposable container. Then do it again, and pour this off into the container. Set the container aside, we'll deal with it later. Now wash the brush with detergent (liquid laundry detergent or dish soap works well) until it rinses clean.

Roller covers are tougher. Get a five-in-one, a tool that looks like a putty knife, but has a half-circle cut out of one side. Scrape the roller to get as much paint out as possible. You can scrape it back into the can, or put it in your disposal bucket. Then follow roughly the same process as for the brush, dipping your roller cover in the water and scraping it out. Again, throw the first two rinses in the disposal bucket, then wash with soap and water.

Before you go through all that, ask whether it's worth the trouble. Quality brushes run up to $20, and can be cleaned in about ten minutes. Even the best roller covers are around five bucks, and they take about 30 minutes to clean. Plus all the mess that it creates. I think my time is worth more than ten bucks an hour.

Take your disposal bucket. If you let it sit for a couple of weeks, the solids will settle to the bottom. You can pour off the liquid into the drain, let the solids dry, and throw them in the trash. Or you can add some cat litter until it is all solidified and then throw it out.

If it's oil paint the process is roughly the same, but you have to use paint thinner to clean. Here you want to be even more stingy with the solvent, because it's a lot more expensive than water. I keep three sealable containers around. The first rinse jar is for the first time through, and the second rinse jar to further the process. Then a third rinse gets it completely clean. Toss the third rinse solvent into the second rinse can for next time. After a time the first rinse will get too dirty to use, so you'll have to get rid of it somehow. I pour it on newspapers on a hot day and it evaporates. Your local air quality board might disagree with that practice. The second rinse will eventually get too dirty to be a second rinse, so it becomes the first rinse. I wouldn't even consider cleaning a roller that way.

If the paint is solidified you'll need to get some paint brush cleaner. This is really nasty stuff that will dissolve plastics. Read the instructions, but basically it involves soaking the brush in the solvent for days, then going at it with a wire brush until it's clean. Again, ask yourself it it's really worth it.