Cleaning paint brushes the easy way.

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I use a coat hanger to suspend paint brushes in 5 gallon bucket of water.
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Paint is more dense than water, so let them sit for a day or two.
cvphoto4678.jpg

Most of the paint will end up at the bottom of the bucket.

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I rinse out the bucket and repeat until I feel brushes are clean.
Works on rollers too.
BTW all my brushes are FREE after a Menards rebate. I only buy the best, as long as it's free.
 
You don't have to go to that trouble for latex paint. A little soap and water and you can wash brushes out in the sink. Rollers I prefer to wash them with a pressure washer. I put the roller on a long handle and keep the roller on a flat surface until it's clean then spray water on it while it spins. Roller ends up looking like it was never used.
 
Wrap them up in plastic and store in the freezer if you have a project that is more than a day long. That way no cleaning required until the end.
 
The easiest way is to throw them away. Just kidding! Water works on latex paint but not on oil based paint.
 
(quoted from post at 04:12:46 12/04/18) I use a coat hanger to suspend paint brushes in 5 gallon bucket of water.
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto4677.jpg">
Paint is more dense than water, so let them sit for a day or two.
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto4678.jpg">
Most of the paint will end up at the bottom of the bucket.

<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto4679.jpg">
I rinse out the bucket and repeat until I feel brushes are clean.
Works on rollers too.
BTW all my brushes are FREE after a Menards rebate. I only buy the best, as long as it's free.

Thanks for the tip. :)
 
That is only good for synthetic hair brushes. For natural hair you use brush oil and work it into the heel so no paint can harden. Constant soaking will ruin a natural brush.
 
I've all but given up on cleaning paint brushes. I usually don't paint anything that needs an exotic brush so throwing away a $1-$3 brush is actually cheaper than investing in all the cleaning chemicals. Not to mention the mess and that the brushes end up getting hard and useless anyway. Not kidding. :)
 
Hobo, next time he asks for a brush tell him no don't have one, lent it to my son and it never made it back. that will end the asking. Of course that will make you the grumpy old fart worrying about a 5$ brush. So I guess you lose either way. I discovered an old tire hammer at my sons, rubber on one end steel on the other, I always wondered where that went. Said I think that's my hammer, he said no!!!! I've had that for a long time. I just let it go. I had really thought I had lost it around the farm some where....guess not. lol gobble
 
For my guys on B grade painting of our open trailers it?s harbor freight cheapo brushes. Use once or twice and toss. Isn?t Menards funny? The best glass bowls and lids we use for leftovers are from there. No more plastic and the glass was cheap. My wife is always nervous when I say, ?Hey got you something at Menards!?
 
The free brushes form Menards is good enough for me. I soak them for days with no loss of brush material. So is it possible FREE is better?>
 
I go to garage sales and buy used brushes for 50 cents or so and toss them instead of cleaning them.
 
Stephen ...... I'm with you on soap and water for latex brushes, even then they might eventually need replacing of course but I have some good brushes that I've used that soap and water system on and they are good for years. Mind you, I'm not painting every day. Rollers I use till the current job is over, I wrap them in a wet cloth and then plastic wrap overnight. Once the job is over, the rollers are thrown out.
 
Myself, I only use cheap brushes as I usually end up painting with oil based paint and the time and cost of solvents is too much to clean them so they end up getting tossed. The paint roller I'm currently using I've been using for about two years and have painted four houses with it.
 

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