Ten Tips for Prolonging the Life of Your Paint Brushes
One: The first tip for prolonging the life of your paint brushes is to store them vertically, hanging down. This keeps the bristles from getting matted or bent and leaves them in pristine condition.
Two: If you are in the middle of a painting job and decide to take a break, store your paint brushes in a plastic sandwich bag and close it up. This will keep the paint wet and fresh enough that it will not dry on the brush and make it hard to clean and restore to new. Remember though, this tip is for temporary use only. If you are going to leave the paint brush for more than a few hours, you will need to clean your paintbrush thoroughly and allow it to dry before you can use it again. This tip is a great one to use if you are wanting to take a lunch break or something similar.
Three: Be Certain that you never bang your paintbrushes against anything, especially not to remove excess water after you have washed them. This seemingly innocent act can cause the piece holding the bristles to loosen and allow stray hairs (or worse, a lot of hairs) to come lose from the brush.
Four: Use a paint brush comb when cleaning your bristles to remove excess paint and water, and to straighten your bristles so that they dry in brand new condition.
Five: A lot of people use paint thinner or mineral spirits to clean the bristles of a paint brush. This is fine, and effective, especially if you are using an oil-based paint, but be sure to use a little hand soap afterwards to restore the bounce to your bristles. Or, you could swish the bristles around in some water with a touch of liquid fabric softener once they have been cleaned in said manner. One more thing to note when using paint thinner or mineral spirits, do not soak the brush in these cleaners. It can strip them of their vibrancy and render them useless for future painting.
Six: Make sure you are using the correct type of paint for the brush you have selected. If you use paint that is too harsh for your brush, it is going to leave it lifeless once you have finished, not to mention the painting itself will not be nearly as nice as it could be with the proper brush. If you are not certain which type of paint and paint brushes to match, ask a professional who should be happy to give you free advice.
Seven: Allow your paintbrushes to dry thoroughly before storing them. Otherwise you run the risk of them becoming infected with mold or mildew and having to be thrown away.
Eight: Do not overload your brushes with paint. Some sound advice is to not paint if you are in a hurry, for many reasons, one of them being that if you rush painting, you are more likely to overload the brush with paint than you might be if you are taking your time. Too much paint makes the brush too hard to clean properly. Hence it will not dry or store properly, and most likely will not resort back to its original shape and strength.
Nine: When you take brushes out of their plastic sleeve, save it. Once you properly clean and allow your paintbrush to dry, replacing it while the brush is in storage will help it retain its intended shape.
Ten: The last tip is simply to clean your paintbrush immediately after use. If you allow the paint to settle it will be much harder to clean, and the roughness necessary to remove hardened, dried paint may ruin the brush.
These ten tips are great for helping you to extend the life of your paintbrushes for as long as you possibly can. Good quality paintbrushes are not inexpensive, so taking care of them is a must.
