Pro Tip:To take a quick break while painting without cleaning paint brushes put your wet brush in a plastic bag, wrap it up, and place it in the refrigerator (not the freezer). Then pull it out and begin painting when you’re ready if it’s less than 12 hours.
How To: Restore an Old Paint Brush
It’s easier to clean paint brushes when you use them than it is to resurrect them from the dead. So, regularly cleaning your brushes is key to keeping them working properly.
What does “regularly” mean? For me that depends on if I’m painting in hot weather or painting in cold weather. Am I outside or inside? Lot’s variables, but at minimum I clean my brush when I am done painting for the day. As soon as the paint is back in the pail and the lid is on I clean my brush.
The end of the painting day is the minimum, but you may also want to clean your brush if you notice paint drying on the bristles. Take a quick break from painting and clean your brush thoroughly. Dry it off and you can go right back to painting.
Pro Tip:
To take a quick break while painting without cleaning paint brushes put your wet brush in a plastic bag, wrap it up, and place it in the refrigerator (not the freezer). Then pull it out and begin painting when you’re ready if it’s less than 12 hours.
When painting it’s important to keep paint off the handle and ferrule. Only dip your brush deeply enough in the paint to cover the toe and about half the bristles max. Any further up and you will have paint drying too quickly on the bristles.
If you do get paint on or in the ferrule or handle, stop and clean everything up before it dries then start over.
Cleaning a Dried Paint Brush
So what if you forgot to clean your paint brush, and it has now turned into a paint encrusted brick. It will take a little work, but you’re not sunk yet. You can bring a dried paint brush back from the dead with some paint stripper and a little patience whether it had latex or oil-based paint.
- Soak in Paint Stripper – Fill a ziplock bag, or other container with enough paint stripper to cover all the dried paint and let it sit overnight.
- Scrub the Brush – Grab a metal bristle brush and scrub the paint brush clean under running water trying to break up the dried paint. Make sure you rinse all the paint stripper off the brush thoroughly.
- Repeat Until Clean – Depending on the severity of the condition of the brush it may take several soakings and it helps to work the stripper into the bristles as much as possible so it can do its magic.
After saving a dried brush there is a good chance you’ll need some brush conditioning because the process is so stringent. It’s important to avoid getting stripper up into the ferrule because there is glue in most brushes that hold the bristles in place and the stripper can dissolve that too.
Now you’re ready to tackle almost anything concerning paint brushes! Check out my earlier post about picking the right paint brush and partner that with the information here on how to clean paint brushes and you should be able to keep that perfect brush for decades instead of weeks.
Restore Paint Brushes And Rollers With Just One Clever Laundry Hack
We’ve all been there — you’ve repainted a room, renovated a piece of furniture, or broken out your paint brushes for any number of creative endeavors, and in the midst of cleaning up your tarps and towels and paint, you’ve completely neglected the actual brushes and rollers. The next morning, the tools are crispy and coated in thick, seemingly impossible-to-remove coats of paint. Even if you get them washed before the paint crusts over, the brush’s bristles tend to get stiff over time and can become unusable.
Painting materials are expensive — it doesn’t matter if you use them for the occasional touch-up or on the regular; you don’t want to have to toss them and repurchase them after each use. Save yourself some money by using something you likely already have in stock in your laundry room — fabric softener. Soaking your paint brushes and rollers in fabric softener and water can do wonders to restore them.
Fabric softener bath
The ideal way to preserve your paintbrushes is to clean them immediately after use, of course. This involves rinsing off the paint with water and a gentle soap — just make sure you’re disposing of the paint in accordance with local waste laws. This will likely just get rid of excess paint, though, not the stuff lodged into the brush’s bristles or the pores of a paint roller.
The best way to get the gunked-on paint off, whether it’s dried down or you’ve cleaned off the paint tool, is with fabric softener. Mix 1/2 cup of the laundry product with 2 gallons of warm water, making sure the softener is thoroughly mixed in before adding your paintbrushes. Make sure your container is shallow enough that the handles won’t get too soaked — if you leave them too long, the paint could chip or the wood could mold. Soak them for roughly 10 minutes or so, giving the brushes and rollers a swirl as the hardened paint begins to soften. Leave them in for longer, or repeat this process with fresh water as needed.
Try vinegar as a last resort
If fabric softener still isn’t doing the trick, don’t rush to toss out your brushes and rollers just yet — check your kitchen pantry first. Soaking your dried-up brushes and rollers in vinegar may be able to restore them to their former glory. Fully submerge them in a cup or basin full of white distilled vinegar for one hour.
Once the hour is up, try and bend the bristles. If they still don’t give, refresh the vinegar and try again for another hour. If they do bend, continue to soak them in fabric softener. If a second vinegar bath still isn’t working, try soaking the brush or roller in a pot of boiling vinegar — just make sure there aren’t any meltable plastic elements and that it’s safe to expose your paint to high heat. This could damage the handle, especially if it has a painted coating, but it’s better than trashing your brushes altogether.
