How to choose right tool for application?

It is important to apply paint products with quality tools to gain the best possible result. Quality brushes and rollers form thicker and smoother coat of the paint product on the surface, which provides perfect appearance and long life of the coating.
Quality tools make application easier and quicker. The choice of the right tool depends on the type of works you are going to do and a paint product.

BRUSHES

Brushes are made of natural and artificial fibers, such as nylon or polyether.
It is better to use brushes with natural fur when you apply alkyd-based or oily paints but brushes with artificial fur can be also used.
Use the brushes with artificial fur solely for acrylic and latex paints. They keep the form and stay tough no matter how much water the paint contains.

The choice of the brush size is also a very important thing and shall be made in each definite case. Big brushes are intended for coating of large areas and the small ones are intended for small areas.

Pay your attention on the following features of a brush to create smooth and perfect coat of the paint product:

• the ends of the fur shall be fissile and flexible enough;
• the fur shall be longer to the center of the brush and shorter to the edges;
• the brush shall be 1,5 longer than its width

Keep the following directions for application with brushes to receive quality coat on the surface:

1. A new brush contains dust and has broken hair. It is recommended to wash the brush with soapy water and dry after that several hours before use.
2. Dip the brush into a paint product and then squeeze it to the inner surface of the container of the paint product. Repeat it several times spinning slowly the brush till the whole fur is wet to the half-length.
3. Apply paint product with a thick layer and then shade it with a dry grainer brush. Dip the brush into the paint product not too deep, and tap with it gently (without squeezing) at the inner edge of the container in the process of application. It helps to spread the paint product in the fur of the brush evenly.
5. Make a final shading towards the product has the biggest size. Cover the border-lines of the layers of paint product before the previous coat starts drying, otherwise the border areas will have thicker layer of paint product and after drying can wrinkle or will be different in colour.

If apply on the wood the finishing coating is performed along the fibers. If apply on the ceiling the finishing coating is performed toward the light income for the brush traces will be less visible.
Squeeze the brush with a spatula or a scraper to remove rests of liquid paint products after application. Then clean it with dry cloth, wash in a thinner and line it dry.

PAINT ROLLERS

A paint roller is a convenient hand tool for painting and plastering. It is easy to use and demands no additional conditions or equipment. A paint roller helps easily coat large areas, apply wallpaper glue and coat walls with decorative stucco. It has a simple construction and needs no special engineering skills when use. The cylindrical part of the tool can be made of plastic, wood or aluminum. The fur is the working part and fixed on the cylinder of the roller. Its aim is to absorb the paint and then apply it on the surface.

Basically the paint rollers are intended for coating of large areas, like ceilings, walls, floors, because they make the process of application quicker and easier. But the rollers have one significant drawback: it is difficult to coat small and narrow areas of the surface with them. That is why, you possibly need paint rollers of several sizes and one or a couple of brushes.

There are paint rollers for definite types of work. They can be define as mini-, medium-, façade, frame, professional, special and universal. In other words, paint rollers are intended for floor, wavy surfaces, aggressive and structural surfaces, laminating and squeezing of wallpapers.

Pay attention to the material of the paint roller fur, when you chose it:

• natural materials: fur of a ship, a lama, a goat, velour, mohair, thick felt, natural rubber
• synthetic materials: polyether, wadding, vestan (artificial fur), polyacryl, polyamide.

Paint rollers for application of acrylic and latex paints shall be made of synthetic materials. Oily and alkyd paints can be applied with a paint roller made of natural and synthetic fibers.
A roller with velour fur is intended for almost all kinds of paints because it is resistant to aggressive thinners. It applies painting solutions rather evenly but increases consumption rate a little.

A roller with natural fur has a good application rate and absorbs much paint for each dipping. But this tool spoils quickly and before each use it is necessary to roll it out to remove all pilled hair.

It is considered that the most reliable paint rollers are with polyamide hair. They can be used with all kinds of paints. They are durable and practical.

The length of the fur hair is very important when you choose the paint roller.

Загальне правило таке:

• smooth surfaces (plastic, wood, metal) shall be coated with a short-haired paint roller;
• textured surfaces (mineral-based) shall be coated with a long-haired paint roller.

To apply the paint evenly and without runs it is important to roll the paint roller out on a special tray or on a sheet of a carton or plywood before application. The paint roller will contain enough paint for coating.

In case to use the same roller for application 2 or more colors of the paint, it is necessary to roll out the roller thoroughly on a sheet of a carton or plywood till you will make sure that the previous one color has disappeared. Then start applying the paint on the surface.

Do not use one and the same paint roller for application of different types of paint, even if the roller was washed well with an appropriate thinner.

SPRAYING GUNS

There is no quicker tool for paint application then a spraying gun if apply on large areas.

There are 2 types of spraying guns:

• Common (compressed-air), which operates with the help of compressed air;
• Airless spraying gun, which needs no air for paint application.

Directions for preparing, exploitation and care for the equipment of compressed-air and airless spraying guns are set in their technical data sheets.

How to use a spraying gun:

1. Make sure that a spraying gun is clean before application. If it is dirty, clean it with a thinner (white spirit). Mechanical cleaning of a spraying gun is forbidden
2.  The paint shall be diluted till workable viscosity and filtered well. Viscosity of the paint is set individually for each spraying gun.
3. The best jet size of the spraying gun for paint application is 1-1.4 mm, which provides even, fog-like spraying. The form of spraying plume depends on the construction of the atomizer head and stated in the technical data sheet of the spraying gun.
4. The distance from the atomizer head to the surface shall be 20-30 cm. In the process of coating the distance is recommended to be kept. If the distance is shortened, the paint will creates runs on the surface. If the distance is extended too far, the paint dries before it will reach the surface and creates a rough film.
5. Before starting of application set the form, direction of the spraying plume and consumption of the paint product. The spraying plume shall provide thin coat without runs and extra paint on the surface. Hold a spraying gun vertical to the surface.
6. Move the spraying gun keeping the same distance from the surface smoothly and evenly without rushes. The first line is applied from up to down of the surface. Every next line shall be applied in the opposite direction with the previous one. Help yourself with a brush to avoid runs and extra paint on the borderlines and in the corners.
7. It is necessary to keep the spraying gun maximum vertically to the surface when the application is performed on a horizontal surface.
8. Move the spraying gun along the surface of the corners and projected parts without letting the spraying plume comes off the outline of the product.
9. For coating of inner corners and keep the equal thickness of the film it is necessary to coat each surface, which forms the corner, separately.
10. Wash thoroughly the spraying gun after the end of work. It is forbidden to leave rests of the paint material inside.
11. It is not recommended to perform the application with a spraying gun when the weather is windy and wet.