Bad paint finish using 4" 'Mini Roller'

[firsttimetom]

Hi All,

I did some painting yesterday on a feature wall Chimney Breast, which is quite a dark brown colour. We originally painted it last Autumn, and then afterwards decided we wanted our TV wall mounted. So the sparks come out, chisel the wall, lay the wires I re plaster the chases and we are good to go - The plaster was sealed with a watered down matt emulsion.

Yesterday, I repaint the top coat. The shop where I got the paint did not have any 1.5" roller sleeves in stock, so I bought a 'mini roller set' for about £2, and the finish I have has got a few roller streaks - the roller itself was leaving a terrible edge, but I tried to make do as it was all I had. Head on, it looks great, but walk into the room and the sunlight hits it and you can see about 3 streaky lines.

I have enough paint for another coat, would buying a new microfibre roller (which I usually use) and giving it a nice thick coat get rid of the streaks, or could I make it worse, so just leave it (the latter is what the misses thinks, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist).

I could probably live with it as it is, but if one coat of paint would 'cure' it, then I would rather do it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheDec]

The mini roller set probably came with 4" sponge sleeves, used in this situation that is exactly the finish they would leave. Lightly sand back to remove any uneven texture dust off and use a 7 to 9" medium pile sleeve, if you want to purchase a microfiber sleeve that would be fine.

Dec

 

[firsttimetom]

Thanks for the reply - the set came with a sponge roller and a fluffy one, I used the fluffy one.

I do wonder whether I kept it 'wet' enough, it obviously holds nowhere near as much paint as a 9" Microfibre, which am used to, so it might have been user error on my part.

Also, I only left 2 hours between coats, would that have affected it at all, it does say allow 4, but as it was warm and appeared to be dry, went for it

 

[TheDec]

Well I suppose a number of factors could be involved here, but the fact remains that those type of rollers are the wrong choice for this type of work.

They don't tend to hold enough paint and often the user will apply to much pressure during application, "Hence the streaks" a light sanding and dust off should bring the surface to a suitable condition for you to continue.

Dec

 

[firsttimetom]

TheDec - you are a star - thank you

I had decided to just live with it and my girlfriend insisted it looked 'fine', but on my day off on Thursday, it was bugging me like crazy, so I just re did it.

Sanded as you advised, dusted off and used a decent 9" sleeve. I also changed my technique slightly and wasn't as heavy handed. The finish is fantastic - not a streak or patch in sight. Even the mrs noted when she came home and said how much better it looked (although she told me it looked fine before! women!).

 

[TheDec]

Glad it all worked out ok for you Tom.

Dec