Through decades of doing restoration work, I’ve done all sorts of cleaning and house repairs. However, painting was among the bread-and-butter of my businesses. Using a roller may seem simple, but using it correctly will save you time and money. In this guide, I’ll teach you how to paint with a roller, plus the secret to dealing with drips and spills.

Before we get into the technique, first make sure you have the right tools for the job. I’ve made this easy with my post, Tips On Buying The Right House Painting Tools. It not only discusses what to look for, there’s a handy shopping list at the bottom.

For those who are visual learners, this short video will walk you through most of what you need to know. Though if you have textured ceilings, I suggest also reading through the tips below.

Preparation

Before painting, be sure to get the room ready to paint.

• Get the tools you will need ready for the job.
• Move furniture and items out of the paint area.
• Half-fill a bucket with water and place a facecloth in it before you start. This is for when you spill paint, and you will. Just wring out the cloth and wipe up the paint before it dries.
• Place the drop cloth at your starting point. Make sure it completely goes against the wall.
• Place the roller paint tray in the center of the drop cloth.
• Place a paint tray liner in the tray.

Check Before You Start

Before you start painting, take a good look all the way around the room, where the wall where meets the ceiling.

Some textured ceilings, especially popcorn texture, the texture will overlap onto the wall. This will make it very difficult to cut in.

Before you start to paint, using a good 2-inch plastic putty knife, remove the excess ceiling texture off the wall. Careful not to remove the texture off the ceiling.

Fill Roller Paint Tray

Put some paint in the roller paint tray liner. Be careful to not over fill the tray.

Put the paint in the deep section of the roller paint tray, but not up on the ridges.

The ridges are for evening out the paint on the roller so the roller does not have to much paint on it.

Put Paint On The Roller

Before you buy a roller frame and sleeve be sure to read my post on Buying The Right House Painting Tools. It provides essential information on what to look for when buying a roller and sleeve.

On a smooth wall use a 3/8″ nap roller sleeve.

Dip the roller lightly into the paint, rolling it slowly to cover the whole roller sleeve.

Then lightly roll the paint roller over the ridges in the paint tray to remove any excess paint.

Make sure there is enough paint on the roller sleeve, but not to where it is dripping.

How To Use A Paint Roller

First, decide where you want to start and which way you are going to paint with the roller.

As the handle side of the roller puts slightly more pressure on the wall, you’ll want that side of the roller facing the direction you are painting. In other words, if you are starting a room on the left, moving to the right, the roller handle should be on the right side.

This will allow the lighter side of the roller to feather the paint as you move.

Getting An Even Finish With A Roller

The video at the top of this post demonstrates the technique for rolling, but here are the keys tips.

• Mentally divide the wall into an upper and lower half (i.e. 4-feet sections from the top on an 8-foot wall).
• Start about halfway down the top section (about 2-feet), and one roller width in (about 9 inches) from the corner of the wall.
• Do a straight line up, then down from where you start. Then slowly work backwards to fill in the gap not painted.
• When rolling, maintain a smooth steady pace. Do not try to roll too fast, or the roller will sling paint off in a spray.
• Roll as close to the ceiling as you can without stopping, but do not touch the ceiling.
• Roll as close as you can to the edge, but do not touch the other wall.
• Don’t take the roller off the wall. Ideally, keep the roller moving as you transition to the next step. Stopping completely will cause clumping or leave a heavier paint mark.
• Roll paint evenly, being sure to overlap each section you are painting.
• Each time you dip the roller you start one roller length away from what you just painted. Then you work back to the unpainted section covering it completely.
• Every four-foot section of wall, roll the bottom of the wall so you keep the painting even. That’s four-feet on the top then four-feet on the bottom.

The purpose of doing it this way, you are trying to apply the paint overlapping the paint while it is still wet.

If you try to roll all the way down the wall at once, this may thin the paint out to much, leaving streaks.

Continue Painting

You want to continue this method until you have finished the room.

If you need to stop, always stop at the end of a wall. Doing it this way will give you a better result.

Cutting In The Edges

If you prepared earlier, you should have removed any ceiling texture off the wall already.

When you have finished rolling the wall, you need to cut or blend the paint in around the edges.

Using a good 2-inch cutting brush, dip only 1-inch of the brush in the paint.

You want to wipe one side of the brush, leaving the paint thick, but not where it is dripping.

As you raise the brush up to the wall, keep the side with the most paint facing up to prevent drips.

Now you can start cutting in the wall at the top first. Cutting in the wall refers to painting the small sections the roller did not get. For example, around the ceiling and the baseboard. That’s the area you can’t get with the roller.

Next you cut around any doors. Finally, around the baseboards.

Cutting An Uneven Ceiling Edge

In rare cases, even with smooth walls and ceilings, the top edge of the wall where it meets the ceiling is not straight.

It may have small highs and lows at the top edge.

Even when you cut it in perfect, it may still look bad.

But don’t worry, this is how you can make them look better.

It’s better if you notice straight away that the ceiling isn’t straight. However you can just re-cut the walls if needed.

To fix the issue. When you cut them in, overlap ever so slightly on the ceiling.

If you do it right you should not notice the paint on the ceiling at all.

When you stand back and look at the wall it will look like it is straight. Word of caution do not go too far on the ceiling.

It’s best to do a small test area and see how you are doing before doing a large section. That way if you are too high on the ceiling you can just touch-up that small area.

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