What Does A Painting Contractor Know About Paint Brushes That You Don't?

What Does A Painting Contractor Know About Paint Brushes That You Don't?

For many homeowners a paint brush is a paint brush, so why spend a lot of money on one.

First of all, there are a lot of factors you may want to consider before you purchase your next paint brush. An experienced painting contractor will consider the following when choosing paint brushes. As a homeowner you should consider the same.

1. How well does the brush pick up and release paint? This can make a big difference in how long it takes to complete your house painting project.

2. How long will the bristles of the paint brush last. Nylon is the longest-wearing filament used in brushes.

3. Can the paint brush be tipped easily? Tipping affects how a brush will spread paint. How a manufacturer has designed the tip of the bristles varies. Some sand the end of the bristles so they are not just a blunt end. Some use an abrading method where the tips are split. This makes a difference in how well it holds paint and how evenly the paint brush will spread paint.

4. The flexibility of a brush should also be considered. A paint brush with proper flex helps distribute the paint more evenly. It helps maintain its shape to avoid over spreading (Loss of control).

5. You want to be able to avoid pulling and pushing or flinging or spattering paint. A good quality brush will go a long way in preventing these problems and this my friend will save you a lot of time.

6. The next thing you need to consider is what type of finish you want to achieve. Do you want a fine or course finish? To achieve a fine finish you need a softer finer filament that has a more finely finished tip. This is not only important in terms of finish but also it will reduce how many times you have to dip the brush. This is another time saving feature.

7. What type of paint are you going to be using the brush in, latex or oil? Generally you will want to use nylon in latex paint only and China Bristle in oil paint. Even though there is nylon polyester mix brushes on the market that say you can use them in either latex or oil, I find you are better off using China Bristle for oil paints. The solvents needed to clean oil paint out your brush don't seem to damage the China Bristle brushes. However, solvents do have a negative impact on nylon brushes over time. Also I find that oil paint cleans out of China Bristle brushes in less time than nylon.

8. What size brush should you use? The bigger the brush the more paint it will hold, but there are things to consider here. For production, a brush needs to pick up and hold a lot of paint, then spread the paint evenly as you spread the paint over a distance. This reduces dip and spread time which in turn shortens the time it takes to complete your project. You need several different size brushes. For siding I recommend a 3%1/2 inch brush. This seems to be an ideal size for siding. It holds a lot of paint and yet it is not too cumbersome. For trim I recommend a 21/2 or 3 inch sash brush. The sash brush has the proper angle cut, and density of bristle that make cutting in your trim much easier. Don't use a 31/2 or 4 inch brush on areas where you should be using a smaller sash brush. The sash brush will make your job of cutting in the trim much cleaner, faster and far less headache. Also, don't use a 21/2 inch sash brush on large wide open areas where you should be using a 31/2 or 4 inch brush for production runs.

There are a number of high quality brushes on the market today. The Purdy line of paint bushes is used most often by my painters for all of the above reasons. You can't go wrong with a Purdy.

I invite you to visit our web site for more information on Tips Of Trade in the painting industry. I post new articles every month that can be helpful to both the painting contractor and the homeowner.
One final thought: Time and quality of finish is very important to a painting contractor and the less time wasted using cheep equipment the more productive and profitable he will be.

Nicky Taylor
President
Homeowners First Choice Painting Inc.
seiss@bellsouth.net

By: Seiss

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Resource article from Homeowners First Choice Painting Inc. Author: Nicky Taylor Copyright 2008 www.homeownersfirstchoicepaintinginc.com