Nightmare paint roller marks!

MrThrifty

Have been doing up a new house over the years and the painting side of things has always been a nightmare. The basic problem is that whenever I paint a room, it's left with roller texture marks afterwards that you can see when the sun shines in or at night-time when the lights are on. Have done loads of research on the web over the years and I seem to be doing everything right (ish!) in terms of technique but the end result is the same.

I have tried different types of roller, paint conditioner (Floetrol - seemed to make things worse!) and thinning the paint down but to no avail. At this stage I'm pretty sure the problem is due to the paint drying too quickly and not flowing out after the final 'rolloff'. But I don't see how to get around this. Is there anyone out there in the business who knows what I'm talking about and what I need to change. It's a real bitch being left with the marks after all the preparation and work involved in every paint job.

I always use Dulux trade matt paint (it seems to cover much better than other paints) and my current technique is as follows. For a wall, I lob the paint on a 2 foot wide section from the top to around a third down, sometimes halfway down if the roller has a larger nap. I then load the paint on to the lower section/s, then roll it either up and down or sidewards briefly to smoothen it out and then finish off by a final rolloff downwards, working from left to right, before starting on the next 2 foot wide section. I have tried the W or M pattern thing but the paint on one roller refill just doesn't go far enough, even with a fuzzy 1/2" nap roller. I’ve actually got the best results so far from overloading the roller and putting a really thick coat of paint on and then rolling this off. Only drawback is that the finish looks like there was textured wallpaper underneath and I still get the occasional roller mark. Actually, while I think of it, I used the same technique to paint the outside walls of the house with WeatherShield paint and there seemed to be no marks afterwards, but maybe the slightly shiny finish of the paint or rough wall surface helped hide them.

This problem has plagued me for years. Any help would really be appreciated. I am seriously considering in desperation offering to help a painting contractor for free for a week to learn what I’m doing wrong! But they’d probably want to keep a mile from me after seeing the results so far!

Rancid

I take it you're using a new roller for each coat of paint and not just reusing the first one?

Putting too much pressure on the roller... and rolling it out too thinly can cause roller marks, where you see a difference between the more thickly applied paint and the thinner more rolled-out paint.

I'm not a "painter" but I've painted every room in my house many times in the last 20 years and have used Dulux, Crown and Woodies paints all very successfully with ordinary (cheap!) rollers.
Best results from using fresh roller for each coat of paint and never putting real pressure on the roller. Load it, apply it either vertically or horizontally, then finish off with vertical strokes.
You need to get a feel for the amount of pressure to exert. Resist the urge to keep rolling to "use up" the paint in the roller, just reload and carry on.

I'm guessing with the Dulux Weathershield you were using an extending handle for higher walls? In a way, this would have automatically reduced your pressure on the roller.

MrThrifty

Rancid wrote: »

Putting too much pressure on the roller... and rolling it out too thinly can cause roller marks

I think you may be on to something there... I probably do try to get more paint from the roller than I should and then when it comes to 'finishing' off, the roller can be dried out at that stage and so can tend to absorb the paint back off the wall!

For most rooms to-date, I've been using what I now think are crappy B&Q rollers for smooth interiors with only ~3mm of nap. With these, I found you had to press hard just to get good contact with the wall along the length of the roller. But for the outside of the house, I used much more spongy rollers (probably with a good 1cm (I know, I should be talking inches!!) of nap). With these, I found you didn't have to use half as much pressure!

Coincidentally, I actually coated a room yesterday with one of these rollers (Dosco short pile) and had much less marks than usual, but still had what I think are called lap marks where the vertical 2 foot sections on a wall overlap. I have to recoat tonight so will try putting less pressure on the roller when applying paint and reload more often. Should be an interesting experiment! Will update tomorrow...

Rancid wrote: »

I take it you're using a new roller for each coat of paint and not just reusing the first one?

I have to laugh! I think I actually managed to use the one roller for all coats of the upstairs of the house! My logic was that even if you prewash the rollers, they still lose a load of fluff when first used so that's why I like to reuse them. But having said that, the penny has dropped that rollers are so cheap that it's not worth cleaning them all the time when changing paint colours etc.

What type rollers do you use out of curiosity?!

Acoshla

I've used the crappiest B&Q paint to paint our entire house in the last year, with a combination of rollers and paintbrushes (crappy cheap B&Q rollers too) and have never had that problem, the paint always looks fine when it dries, no marks. Because I'm a weak girl I never use a lot of pressure, just enough to spread the paint evenly, I have no system or way of doing it, just roll the roller up and down until the paint is spread!

I would always get more paint when there is still a bit on the roller, so I think yours being dry and with very little paint left on it could be a problem alright. It's not like I leave a lot of paint on it, just when the paint stops coming off the roller evenly (and to be very technical when the roller doesn't sound very squidgy) I get more paint.

Rancid

Dosco rollers should be perfectly good, I think last time I bought 2 packs of 3 rollers in Woodies and I'm guessing they were Woodies own brand.
Years ago, I used to laboriously wash each roller after use, dry it to reuse but tbh, they're so cheap it was never worth the effort.

I do think it's worth using a new one for each coat of paint, you really do get a better finish. I

And just recently I used a Harris suede/velvet 9inch roller to apply a satin finish to plain interior doors and I did both sides of 8 doors in an afternoon and happily threw away the roller when I was finished!
I got the smoothest best finish you could imagine, far superior to anything a brush could do.

Let us know how you get on with the "less pressure/more paint" experiment!

irelandspurs

Rancid wrote: »

Dosco rollers should be perfectly good, I think last time I bought 2 packs of 3 rollers in Woodies and I'm guessing they were Woodies own brand.
Years ago, I used to laboriously wash each roller after use, dry it to reuse but tbh, they're so cheap it was never worth the effort.

I do think it's worth using a new one for each coat of paint, you really do get a better finish. I

And just recently I used a Harris suede/velvet 9inch roller to apply a satin finish to plain interior doors and I did both sides of 8 doors in an afternoon and happily threw away the roller when I was finished!
I got the smoothest best finish you could imagine, far superior to anything a brush could do.

Let us know how you get on with the "less pressure/more paint" experiment!

Wrong,the roller is better once worked in and loaded with paint,dosco rollers ok but not great,you will get the lines buy putting to much pressure on the roller and not laying off properly.To reduce this you could buy the roller cages that are fixed at both end which allows even pressure on the roller.If there is a johnstones decorating centre near buy take a look in there you will find everything you need.Go for a medium pile roller slieve as this will cover all the wall,They recommend a short pile but if the walls are any bit uneven then you'll have a hard job.
Try and roll in sections if you can ceiling to floor as not this get a thick edge going through the middle.
Painter for over 10 years

MrThrifty

Well, the experiment is completed... Went into the room last night to have a look... and saw the patchiest paint job ever! Literally, the room was two-toned magnolia. It was really shocking-looking!

It had me perplexed for a while and then the penny dropped... the paint had not fully dried in a load of places. Even though the walls were dry to touch, the darker coloured sections felt a bit damp. This was ~6 hours after painting. The room in all fairness was not the warmest (12degC!) and there's not been much sunshine here in a last day or two. So, crossing my fingers, I threw a fan heater in there for the night and... this morning, the room is single-toned and there appear to be virtually no roller marks... But, I guess the fact that the paint dried much more slowly than normal throws the whole experiment out the window!! Maybe that's the answer for me though - paint the rooms in the winter time with the windows open so that it's really cold and the paint takes much longer to dry!!!

Spadina wrote: »

I have no system or way of doing it, just roll the roller up and down until the paint is spread!

:mad: Okay, you're making me very jealous!! I've always said to myself that I must try this out, so for the laugh ll try it this way tonight on another room I have to paint. Although I suspect I'll find it difficult to resist the urge to work methodically!!!

To irelandspurs, FYI the roller marks I've been getting recently are streaks running from ceiling to floor at every point where my 2-foot wide sections join. Am going to try a different paint in another room tonight as the one I'm using is terrible for marking afterwards - it's actually Dulux Supermatt and not just matt as I said in my original post. I have suspicion that it dries quicker than other paints because of its claimed 'high opacity'.

Rancid

irelandspurs wrote: »

Wrong,the roller is better once worked in and loaded with paint,dosco rollers ok but not great,you will get the lines buy putting to much pressure on the roller and not laying off properly.To reduce this you could buy the roller cages that are fixed at both end which allows even pressure on the roller.If there is a johnstones decorating centre near buy take a look in there you will find everything you need.Go for a medium pile roller slieve as this will cover all the wall,They recommend a short pile but if the walls are any bit uneven then you'll have a hard job.
Try and roll in sections if you can ceiling to floor as not this get a thick edge going through the middle.
Painter for over 10 years

Well, as I said in an earlier post, I'm not a "painter", but I paint 8 rooms and hall, stairs and landing per year, minimum, and I've always got better results using a new roller for each coat of paint. Perhaps if I used better quality rollers, I could reuse more successfully?
I find on second use the paint "accumulates" on the wall and forms an almost suede-like finish (which is aesthetically pleasing, in itself) but opting for the smoother finish, I prefer a new roller each time.

I never get roller marks or lines, I'm happy to say.

MrThrifty

Okay, just to report back, it appears that my roller mark problem has disappeared!

I'm getting that suede-like finish that Rancid mentioned, probably from being afraid to roll too much paint off the roller but I'm not too bothered about this. Oh, and I'm flying through the paint, like 5L for a coat of a small box bedroom!!

cardwizzard

tinkrroyi wrote: »

Putting too much pressure on the roller it may cause roller marks.I suggest you to use a fresh roller for each coat of paint and never put any pressure on it.


No, i'd always use the same sleeve. No need to change roller sleeves because you are putting on a second coat. Try using a larger nap sleeve, that will hold more paint. I use med/long pile exterior sleeves for interior work.