You Need to Do This Before Using a New Paint Roller Cover

Family Handyman

Just because there’s not a big bold sign on your brand new paint roller cover telling you the hacks you need to know to paint evenly and smoothly, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any! In fact, there’s one very simple piece of knowledge that’s going to make your painting project turn out a whole lot better.

The hack to remember before using your new roller cover is to “condition” it.

Paint roller covers are made from several different materials. There are wool or natural-fiber covers and then there are synthetic (man-made) fiber covers. The best roller covers are made of a mix of wool and synthetic.

Prior to using your brand new cover, you need to condition it. To do this, you’ll want to place the new cover on the paint roller, fill a spray bottle with water and then spin the roller and spray the roller cover until it’s noticeably wet.

Next, remove excess water by dry spinning the roller, allowing excess water to spin off. Then roll the cover onto a bare, clean surface, like a piece of cardboard. This conditioning process ensures any loose fibers on the roller cover are removed so that they don’t get into the paint and onto your wall or ceiling. Note that if the roller cover will be used with an oil-based paint, the cover should be conditioned with the solvent used to thin the paint, instead of water.

This quick and easy process of conditioning your brand new paint roller cover results in a more flawless paint job. Save time and money by learning how to clean your paint rollers the right way—and without a lot of effort!