Guides4Homeowners Useful Information & Guides
Why choose expensive paint rollers instead of the generic store brand? To give your paint a professional look and make DIY a memorable experience. Check out our top picks below. Whether you are painting your whole house, inch by inch, or you’re just making your dog’s kennel look Instagram-worthy, you need the right tools.
A top-quality paint roller is a must for your arsenal. After all, this paint is going to stay for at least half a decade, and we don’t want our house to look full now, do we? Picture this: The lockdown has been imposed again. You look at the walls and realize this is the perfect time to spend some quality time with your kids.
You go into the storeroom and find buckets of paint and the old brush you used the last time to paint the whole house, something you boast about even today. The old brush is all dry and dusted and is begging to be left alone. Traditional paint brushes are quite 20th century. They only cover a small part with one stroke and do not leave a good finishing.
Using paintbrushes for emulsion painting is as good as wearing slippers to a football match. Rollers cover a whole lot of area and are exponentially more efficient.
Top 5 picks: The best paint rollers for emulsion
The Talisman of the painting industry, ProDec, never ceases to amaze. Our top pick surely is the Paul Scholes of paintbrushes; composed, efficient, and works like a charm. ProDec has bolstered this roller with Twin woven acrylic refills for use on smooth and semi-smooth surfaces. Additionally, they have also ensured this isn’t just meant for emulsion paints, but masonry paints as well. This kit is also packed with two refills in case you got a long paint job ahead. This roller happens to be a bit on the heavier side, weighing around 600 grams, one of the reasons it holds paint for longer. Ideal for painting almost a quarter of the kitchen wall all at once.
Pros
- Good coverage
- Holds quite a lot of paint at once
- Extremely durable
- Comes with two refills
- Ideal for touch-ups
Cons
- Doesn’t have the best grip
- The roller inside is fragile
- A bit heavy
The Harris 4129 4″ Mini Gloss & Emulsion Roller Set is probably everything little Jimmy needs to paint his treehouse. This emulsion and gloss roller has been designed ergonomically to ensure a strong grip to ensure that your hands do not get tired for hours. The kit is packed with a woven pile and a foam paint roller. Everything you need to decorate your home and have a streak-free and smooth painting experience The comparatively short radius of the roller ensures that you can cut around the edges of the walls.
Pros
- Cuts around the edges
- Gives an even and smooth finish
- Comes with two sleeves
- Good for low scale painting
Cons
- Has poor coverage
- Not suitable to paint multiple walls
- Not ideal for first-time painters
Next in our list is meant for those who intend on spending the whole summer painting each and every corner of their house. The Bizwizz Tiger Stripe Paint Roller Set comes with SIX sleeves; once you get this bad boy, it’ll stay throughout Jimmy’s teens. Fair enough, isn’t it? For an affordable price, you get 6x roller sleeves 9 inches together with 1x Paint Rollers handle and 1x Paint Roller tray. Still, not too much equipment for an enthusiast, if you know what we mean. This kit is one of those things where quality and quantity are both ensured, with no compromises. A key feature is its large radius, which covers large areas easily to save time and doesn’t splatter paint all around.
Pros
- Ideal for long painting jobs
- Comes with six sleeves
- Covers a huge area
Cons
- Wears off easily
- Materials stick on the wall on some occasions
Maxim isn’t just a great name but a cool tool too. Maxim’s masterpiece, the Maxim 4″ Mini Roller Kit, is the veteran of all rollers. The Little Master, being the fan-favorite, does the job perfectly, as the name suggests. It is suitable for small scale paintings for stuff like kennels, tree houses, or maybe for professional artists. The Maxim Rollers are expertly designed specifically for delicate emulsion painting. It helps you easily do minute detailing in tight spaces.
Pros
- Perfect for detailing
- Extremely durable
- Works smoothly like a charm
- Comes with an extra sleeve
- Holds paint for a reasonable amount of time
Cons
- Will takes ages to cover large areas
- Not suitable for full-scale paint jobs
- Relatively expensive
The last entry in the list is the Leicester City of emulsion paint rollers, small, beautiful, infamous, and does the job like no one else. Harris has offered a masterpiece with this paint roller kit. It is packed with one handy roller, an extra sleeve, and an exquisite tray for the roller. It is perfectly designed for delicate and low scale emulsion painting jobs. It can also hold a significant amount of paint, albeit its small size.
Pros
- Very handy
- Exclusively meant for emulsion paint
- Perfect for touch-ups
- Covers hard to reach areas
Cons
- Not suitable for large scale paint jobs
- Relatively expensive
Aspects to consider before buying Paint Rollers For Emulsion
Choosing the right equipment to paint your house according to your imagination isn’t an easy decision. Or at least, not as easy as you think. Indeed, using a paint roller over a brush makes life easier due to its ergonomic built and design specially made for painting walls. Rollers come in various widths ranging from as thin as 90mm to wide 450mm rollers. There are two parts to a roller; the outer sleeve and the inner frame.
Larger rollers are usually recommended for larger and flat surfaces. They help you save significant time and effort. Smaller rollers are recommended for small and not-so-flat surfaces such as a treehouse or a kennel. Still, there is no correct or incorrect width for a particular job; the choice of roller also depends on a person’s personal preferences. Choosing a roller can be a confusing task. The guide below will assist you in making the right choice by underscoring the key aspects to consider before buying a roller.
Roller or brush?
Well, painting an entire wall with a paintbrush sounds kind of absurd. To cover walls efficiently without the tension of detail, a roller must be used. Brushes these days have very limited uses, such as reaching the places where a roller can’t reach or for making designs.
Roller trays
Roller trays are dishes that have paint tipped in of the sides; they are used to remove excess paint from a roller after dipping it in the paint. Roller trays can be covered with a cling film to make it easier. Cling films can simply be thrown away after use; you save time and effort since it saves you from cleaning the trays after use.
Picking the right frame
One of the obvious but crucial aspects to consider before buying a roller for emulsion painting (or any kind of painting) is the size and of the frame. If you need to paint ceilings, we recommend a longer frame. For detailing close surfaces, a shorter frame is recommended for delicacy. Roller frames usually are made of plastic, wood, or synthetic material; it can be a task to clean wood-based frames; we don’t recommend it.
The best type of roller for emulsion paint
Before moving forward, synthetic or man-made fibers are out of the question. Though synthetic and man-made fibers are good for oil-based paints, they are like poison for emulsion paints. Emulsion paints tend to splash relatively more than oil-based paints. Natural fibers hold more paint and don’t splash it due to their tendency to hold paint more intensely. You just cannot afford splashes since emulsion paint, once dried, sticks to the wall and it becomes almost impossible to get it off.
Textured surfaces
A mohair sleeve is the ideal one for an emulsion paint job; they are extremely absorbent, everything you need to finish the job quickly. Absorbent rollers take lesser time and ensure you don’t have to dip it again and again, saving an extreme amount of time and effort. This also makes sure that the paint goes smoothly and evenly and doesn’t go all over the place. Lambswool sleeves also share similar properties and hence are also a good pick.
Mohair and Lambswool sleeves are relatively expensive, but they do the job; you get your money’s worth. Better to spare out a few extra bucks than having an uncomfortable-to-look-at wall. Natural fibers tend to be durable as well, so you actually save a few bucks in the long run.
Smooth surfaces
Longer, natural fiber-based rollers are recommended for smooth and flat surfaces; flat surfaces do not take much time and effort, any good quality natural fiber-based roller will do the job. Avoid cheap quality rollers, or your cakewalk towards a beautiful wall will turn into a nightmare within the blink of an eye.
Steer clear of these things
Please avoid cheap rollers at any cost. Cheap or inexpensive rollers will cost you more than you will expect. The material of cheap rollers wears off easily, even while painting making a huge mess. Always go for a high-quality roller in order to avoid a calamity. Cheap rollers can also leave marks that are next to impossible to remove.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A lot of people raise doubts before buying a roller. Here are some of the questions which make buyers skeptical before buying a roller:
Q. Are paint rollers safe to keep around pets and kids?
A. It is strictly recommended to keep rollers out of reach of children or pets since rollers, once dipped in paint, become powerhouses for toxins and chemicals. Consumption of the same can be extremely dangerous or even fatal.
Q. Are Emulsion paint rollers reusable?
A. Even though washing rollers can be a monumental task, they can be used multiple times and can last for even a decade if used with care.
Q. Are paint rollers easy to use?
A. One of the biggest USPs of rollers is that they are extremely handy and easy to use. Painting using a roller is as easy as pouring yourself a glass of water.
Q. The frame of my roller doesn’t reach the ceiling; do I need to buy a new roller?
A. Frame extenders are available on the market to help you out with that. There are plenty of options available. So, finding the right one shouldn’t be that hard!
Q. Which size of a roller would be ideal for painting a 10ftx10ft wall?
A. There is no right size or thickness of a roller. The width of a roller could be directly proportional to the size of the area to be covered (In most cases).
Endnotes
Giving your house a paint job can be one of the fun ways to kill time and be productive simultaneously. Always remember not to choose a random roller, always choose the appropriate roller in accordance with the factors to be considered. Remember to cover your face while painting in order to avoid breathing toxins and fumes. Consult a doctor if you experience dizziness or nausea while painting.
