Which Brush Is Best?
Painting your house is one of the trickiest parts of home refurbishment. For the perfect paint finish on your walls, you need the perfect brush. Different brushes have different utilities. The right brush would assist in your painting and will make the job less time-consuming. The wrong brush, on the other hand, can cause bubbles and leave bristles on the painted area. Before choosing the paintbrush you should keep in mind the paint you are using, the area you are painting and your comfort.
Bristles Quality
Don’t compromise on the quality of the brush. A brush with ox-hair bristles, even though more expensive, provides much better results than Chinese bristles (also known as hog-hair). This is because ox-hair is more flexible and therefore helps in smoother application.
Also keep in mind that the length of the bristles that are exposed during painting should be equivalent to the brush itself. This would allow the brushes to pick up the optimum amount of paint.
Bristle Density
The denser the bristles of the brush, the better it is. Because paint is held between bristles, dense bristles hold more paint. What this means is that it will take you less time to finish the painting as you will be spending more time doing the job, without having to constantly dip the paintbrush in the paint.
Dense bristles also allow smoother application and hence better finish and quality of the decorating. While painting the wall, the density of the bristles even help to reduce the splattering and smearing of paint.
Size matters
Different paints work better with different brush sizes. For instance, oil-based paints and glosses work better with medium bristles, while acrylic paints require larger bristles. The size of the brush also depends on the areas you have lined up as part of your home refurbishment plans.
For painting medium to large areas, such as fence posts and floor boards, a 75mm brush is what is required. For flat areas, such as walls, floors and ceilings, what you need is a brush that is 100mm or above.
Handle
At ProperTK, we highly recommend selecting a brush that has the most comfortable handle for use. Wooden handles are a lot more comfortable than the plastic ones. Also using brushes with heavy handles can be quite tiring and cumbersome. You must hold the brush in your hands and see which one is the easiest for you to use, especially keeping in mind the amount of painting that needs to be done.
Taper
A good brush is one that tapers off; what this means is that it should be thicker at the bottom and narrows as you go up. This would help you to control your movement better. The bristles should also be “chiselled” – the middle of the bristles should be longer than the sides.
Ferrule
The part of the brush that attaches the bristles to the handle is known as the ferrule. The most common ferrules are made out of metal and are usually squared or rounded. Make sure that the ferrule of your brush is made out of a metal that will not rust easily, such as steel. Lower quality brushes will have ferrules that are prone to rusting easily.
It is always a good idea to invest in an expensive paintbrush. Inferior quality brushes, especially the ones with Chinese bristles, should not form a part of your home refurbishment and decorating plans.