DoorFly.com: 10 Painting Cleanup Tips For The Homeowner

DoorFly.com: 10 Painting Cleanup Tips For The Homeowner

Painting any part of your house is something that most homeowners eventually have to do. It doesn’t matter if it needs to be painted from weather damage, or it’s a simple wish to redecorate. Either one can create a need to get out the brushes and paint. When it is all done, the new paint job brings new life to the area.You’ll generally be glad you took the time to change the color or restore its fresh appearance. Then comes the time for clean up. This is never as fun as the painting, but it isn’t something that can be avoided either. Here are ten painting clean up tips that will hopefully make the process a little easier.

1. Use a plastic garbage bag. Put your roller tray inside a plastic bag before putting in paint into it. When you are done you can turn the bag inside out for use again and the roller tray is already clean for the next job.
2. Use plastic bags on rollers and brushes. At the end of the day you don’t have to clean up your brushes and rollers. Put them in a plastic bag and seal out the air. They will stay fresh and be ready to finish the project the next day.
3. Keep roller tray in plastic bag. If you need to stop painting partway through a project, you can save yourself some cleanup time. Just seal your roller tray in a plastic garbage bag, after use, and keep the air out, trying not to let the bag touch the paint. It will be ready to use when you remove the bag again.
4. Store paint in margarine tubs. For those small painting jobs, keep the paint you will use in small margarine tubs. They are easy to use for painting and can be thrown away afterwards.
5. Brushes and containers. You don’t have to have different brushes for each color. It will decrease the clean up time needed, if you used the same brush for more than one color.
6. Cleaning up splatters. The best time to clean up paint that has splattered is when it first happens. No matter how careful we try to be, there will be some accidents. They clean up much easier while wet.
7. Reusable Drop Cloths. Try to buy drop cloths you can reuse. Pick out ones made of canvas or heavy duty plastic that can be left to dry after painting then folded up and used the next time. It will save having to replace them when you use the cheaper disposable types.
8. Don’t Delay In Cleaning. When you do have to clean up, don’t put it off. Dried paint will not come out of a brush as easy as wet paint. The few minutes spent after painting on clean up will be less time consuming, than if wait until the paint dries. It may not come out at all, if you wait too long.
9. Rags. Be sure you have an adequate supply of rags. It is easy to spill or have accidents, and they clean off easier when you have fresh dry rags. They can be cleaned later, but the more you have on hand, the easier clean up will be.
10. Razor Blades. These work great on cleaning up drips on tile and windows. Even after the paint has dried, the razor edge will scrape the window glass clean.

Using these tips should help with the clean up you do after painting. There is no reason to add to the chore of clean up, when you have these easy methods to keep it simple and hassle free.