# Washing paint rollers



## DanKyle (Oct 1, 2018)

Hey gang,

I used to wrap up my rollers and take then home to wash out in my bathroom. 

Recently I moved to a place on a septic system so I can't really do that anymore. Does anybody have any ideas on some kind of setup I could use at home to continue re using my rollers? Throwing on a new $5 roller to prime a few patches, then tossing it out, drives me insane.

I don't want to wash them in buckets and dump the wastewater on the ground since with repeated use that would be a real problem. 

Is there a technique that could be used to separate then paint from wastewater?

Assume this is all acrylic paints.

Thanks!


----------



## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

I stopped washing mine years ago. I use to think that it was good to do in order to save money. Then I thought about all of the time I was spending to clean them and all of the paint that I was washing down the drain...so I stopped doing it. I just charge the home owner for them, let them dry out and then toss them. Do not like the waste, but it is better than putting all that paint down the drain.

Sent from my SM-A600U using Tapatalk


----------



## DanKyle (Oct 1, 2018)

Yes, I see your point. Financially it makes sense for me to wash rollers though, as I do a lot of small jobs (drywall repairs included) so I burn through them fast. Since I'm a one man band I have to keep my costs as low as possible otherwise homeowners would rather just hire a crew of guys for the same price as one guy. 

Ultimately I'm hoping to stumble upon a way to wash out rollers in buckets, then separate the solids and dump the water on the ground.


----------



## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

I wash out all my stuff in my backyard. I dug a hole, and slapped a utitity sink on top of it.

I also have a big rubbermaid bin to let stuff like empty buckets dry out in before I throw them in the trash. I try to dump initial paint sludge water in there too, before I wash it out in my sink area. I have a bucket under the drain, that solids kind of drop to the bottom of, so I will pour off the top of that, then pour the sludge in my rubbermaid. 

I guess you can minimize your impact by having a bunch of buckets in your backyard, and pour off the top half ,and deal with the sludge on the bottom later.


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

DanKyle said:


> Yes, I see your point. Financially it makes sense for me to wash rollers though, as I do a lot of small jobs (drywall repairs included) so I burn through them fast. Since I'm a one man band I have to keep my costs as low as possible otherwise homeowners would rather just hire a crew of guys for the same price as one guy.
> 
> Ultimately I'm hoping to stumble upon a way to wash out rollers in buckets, then separate the solids and dump the water on the ground.


It's still time vs money though. We're talking $4.00 for a sleeve. If your doing alot of priming for drywall repair, just wrap your roller and use it on the next job..Disposible products should be included in your hourly rate..


----------



## DanKyle (Oct 1, 2018)

Woodco said:


> I wash out all my stuff in my backyard. I dug a hole, and slapped a utitity sink on top of it


I was wondering if this kind of thing might be doable


----------



## DanKyle (Oct 1, 2018)

finishesbykevyn said:


> It's still time vs money though. We're talking $4.00 for a sleeve. If your doing alot of priming for drywall repair, just wrap your roller and use it on the next job..Disposible products should be included in your hourly rate..



Not that I don't tag on some $$ for disposable and consumable supplies on my jobs, but if I don't have to use something for 2 min and toss it out I would prefer not to.


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

Depending on where you live, the backyard solution can get you in big trouble. Some municipalities will treat it like an EPA Superfund site, even if you're a one man show. If running any sizable shop , definitely not a good idea!


----------



## cardgunner (Feb 29, 2016)

I've been lucky enough to be working where they have a large utility sink so I can spin out the rollers. I don't mind because I feel I'm doing my part of keeping things out of the landfills. However what about the toxicity of the water? How bad is paint for the environment? The spot in my yard where I wash brushes and rollers in the summertime still grows grass. Can I use that as proof it's not terrible and rest easy?


----------



## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

cardgunner said:


> I've been lucky enough to be working where they have a large utility sink so I can spin out the rollers. I don't mind because I feel I'm doing my part of keeping things out of the landfills. However what about the toxicity of the water? How bad is paint for the environment? The spot in my yard where I wash brushes and rollers in the summertime still grows grass. Can I use that as proof it's not terrible and rest easy?


Whether it goes in a backyard or down the drain, or wherever, its still there... 

I wouldnt plant a garden on top of my paint hole, though. Very now and then, I take my shovel, and scoop some crap out of it and put in in my garbage. 

There are ways to minimize it. Have a three bucket system, and dunk your roller in the first one, and scrape it with a 5 in 1 a few times, spin it into an empty, then dubnk in t another bucket, spin into the empty, till its pretty clean, then just hose it and spin it wherever. Dump the sludge in to a dedicated sludge drying place. Mine is a rubbermaid bin under some plywood.


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

This is a vexing question....it is many times said "the answer to pollution is dilution". No doubt paint is pollution. The question is, just how harmful is that pollution aspect of most modern day latex house paint. As Woodco said, the grass still grows!

So do we distribute the waste across the landscape in small amounts at various locations(job site disposal), concentrate those chemicals in a relatively small area on our own property, or send them into the municipal sewer system, to eventually end up in a landfill ?

I've done all, and in the end , probably the safest and best solution is to send the stuff down the municipal sewer. Closest thing to a system designed to properly handle such material. Now when you start talking about material more potent than standard latex coatings ....that's a different story.


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

DanKyle said:


> Yes, I see your point. Financially it makes sense for me to wash rollers though, as I do a lot of small jobs (drywall repairs included) so I burn through them fast. Since I'm a one man band I have to keep my costs as low as possible otherwise homeowners would rather just hire a crew of guys for the same price as one guy.
> 
> Ultimately I'm hoping to stumble upon a way to wash out rollers in buckets, then separate the solids and dump the water on the ground.


I ran a pretty good sized small shop, and still at times found myself washing covers. Call it what it is, if your're cheap, you're cheap!!!:biggrin: And I am!!

For primer' Id just keep a wrapped roller in the truck and dispose of it when it starts to dry out. You should be able to get at least a month out of such roller. Load it up with primer before wrapping to avoid drying out. A wet roller will keep much longer.


----------



## DanKyle (Oct 1, 2018)

Lightningboy65 said:


> This is a vexing question....it is many times said "the answer to pollution is dilution". No doubt paint is pollution. The question is, just how harmful is that pollution aspect of most modern day latex house paint. As Woodco said, the grass still grows!
> 
> So do we distribute the waste across the landscape in small amounts at various locations(job site disposal), concentrate those chemicals in a relatively small area on our own property, or send them into the municipal sewer system, to eventually end up in a landfill ?
> 
> I've done all, and in the end , probably the safest and best solution is to send the stuff down the municipal sewer. Closest thing to a system designed to properly handle such material. Now when you start talking about material more potent than standard latex coatings ....that's a different story.


H
I completely agree. So far it sounds like I'm better off tossing my rollers to avoid having a back yard full of buckets. I suppose it's time to say goodbye to my penny pinching ways. New rollers for every job!

Global warming is a myth anyways right? 🙃🙃


----------



## celicaxx (May 29, 2015)

Not withstanding paint down the drain (and with microfibers you could be dumping quite a lot) I've found just putting rollers in the washing machine with nothing else works fantastically. As long as you wrap them in time and don't leave them wrapped for too long, often they will come out 100% like brand new. Use a quarter cap or so of laundry detergent with them, too. It will not paint your washing machine, either. 

It takes no time but taking the roller off the frame, plus (to be greener and not put as much paint down the drain) skimming off some paint with the five in one tool.

Sounds absolutely nuts, but it does work very well. By hand for things like 9/16" 9 or 18" microfibers to get them only about 80-90% as clean as the washing machine it takes about 20+ minutes per roller, and still uses a lot of water anyway.


----------



## AnthonyFalzon (Feb 24, 2020)

The backyard option is definitely a risky one.


----------



## Vylum (May 12, 2016)

AnthonyFalzon said:


> The backyard option is definitely a risky one.


i wonder where you'd rank putting rollers in the washing machine on your risky scale


----------



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

-Bumping this thread-

I can think of no good reason to wash out a roller cover. 

Find a source and buy in bulk, bring your single price down to acceptable levels, and charge the customer for what you use to get THEIR job done. Even if someone just loves cleaning out roller covers...why? 

Stop wasting time, energy, clean water... and still ending up with a crusty cover.


----------



## cardgunner (Feb 29, 2016)

Holland said:


> -Bumping this thread-
> 
> I can think of no good reason to wash out a roller cover.
> 
> ...


I'm on my 10th room and one cover for each roller. One for ceiling and one for walls. The wall cover is just starting the breakdown. No crusty cover. I use 5in1 to remove as much as I can into paint can to save. I hook up my drill to spinner and fill a 3 gallon with water. Spin in 3 gallon. Apply dish soap. Use drill spinner with hand to get soap into roller. The roller spins in your hand. Rinse well in 1st 3 gallon bucket. Dump and fill 2nd 3 gallon bucket and spin roller with hand in water. Do a few dry spins. Final 3rd bucket and it is good. Takes me less then 30 minutes to wash 2 rollers, 2 brushes, Pelican paint holder, roller tray. End of this job (10 rooms) I have only 2 5gallon buckets of paint trash. Minus the paint cans. Actually I could have crammed it in one.

It is NOT a waste of time, energy, and water. IMO. It is a matter of priorities.

BTW: Looking for a drill spinner for the small 4" rollers if anyone has made one please share.


----------



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

cardgunner said:


> I'm on my 10th room and one cover for each roller. One for ceiling and one for walls. The wall cover is just starting the breakdown. No crusty cover. I use 5in1 to remove as much as I can into paint can to save. I hook up my drill to spinner and fill a 3 gallon with water. Spin in 3 gallon. Apply dish soap. Use drill spinner with hand to get soap into roller. The roller spins in your hand. Rinse well in 1st 3 gallon bucket. Dump and fill 2nd 3 gallon bucket and spin roller with hand in water. Do a few dry spins. Final 3rd bucket and it is good. Takes me less then 30 minutes to wash 2 rollers, 2 brushes, Pelican paint holder, roller tray. End of this job (10 rooms) I have only 2 5gallon buckets of paint trash. Minus the paint cans. Actually I could have crammed it in one.
> 
> It is NOT a waste of time, energy, and water. IMO. It is a matter of priorities.
> 
> BTW: Looking for a drill spinner for the small 4" rollers if anyone has made one please share.


Big Rollers run a couple bucks each, and mini rollers come in at a cool $.63/ea. If you don't mind spending time cleaning, then go for it, but are you paying for your time, or is the client?


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

cardgunner said:


> BTW: Looking for a drill spinner for the small 4" rollers if anyone has made one please share.


A wood dowel of the same diameter as the hole in the roller works. Available at any hardware store.


----------



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

cardgunner said:


> I'm on my 10th room and one cover for each roller. One for ceiling and one for walls. The wall cover is just starting the breakdown. No crusty cover. I use 5in1 to remove as much as I can into paint can to save. I hook up my drill to spinner and fill a 3 gallon with water. Spin in 3 gallon. Apply dish soap. Use drill spinner with hand to get soap into roller. The roller spins in your hand. Rinse well in 1st 3 gallon bucket. Dump and fill 2nd 3 gallon bucket and spin roller with hand in water. Do a few dry spins. Final 3rd bucket and it is good. Takes me less then 30 minutes to wash 2 rollers, 2 brushes, Pelican paint holder, roller tray. End of this job (10 rooms) I have only 2 5gallon buckets of paint trash. Minus the paint cans. Actually I could have crammed it in one.
> 
> It is NOT a waste of time, energy, and water. IMO. It is a matter of priorities.
> 
> BTW: Looking for a drill spinner for the small 4" rollers if anyone has made one please share.


I used to wash the mini-rollers (not anymore)- just leave them on the handle and point the hose at them. They will spin about 50mph, and be nice and fluffy when done. Just point them away fro your face first.


----------



## cardgunner (Feb 29, 2016)

Holland said:


> Big Rollers run a couple bucks each, and mini rollers come in at a cool $.63/ea. If you don't mind spending time cleaning, then go for it, but are you paying for your time, or is the client?


It is a matter of waste (trash) vs hassle vs $$. I feel we all should do what we can to reduce our amount of waste. If rollers can be reused without a reducing quality of work and it doesn't take me long, I'm doing my part.


----------



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

cardgunner said:


> It is a matter of waste (trash) vs hassle vs $$. I feel we all should do what we can to reduce our amount of waste. If rollers can be reused without a reducing quality of work and it doesn't take me long, I'm doing my part.




There is a lot of clean water waste to wash out one roller cover. In my opinion roller covers rank up there with chip brushes.


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

The environmental impact of producing one roller could be greater than the impact of washing one roller....IDK???


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

I "grew up" in the industry washing roller covers - usually just leaving them on the frame and doing the hose spin until the water ran clean. Currently, moonlighting for a GC, the first time he saw me cleaning a cover he gave me a really quizzical "look" and said "we don't clean roller covers..." Fine by me. I always hated it.

Anyway, at this point, I don't hesitate to wrap in plastic or, with 5's, just knock it off into the bucket and fish it back out next time. (I know many would say bad idea, but I don't have trouble with it.) For generic, standby stuff like primers and flat whites, I virtually always have a "preserved" nap loaded and ready to go. For specific paints on jobs, they just get wrapped up in plastic when I'm done for the day and come back out as needed for the duration of the job. It's all about the storage.

But if I wanted to set up a cleaning system, I'd probably just gather up a pile of used 5s - maybe a 4 stage process? (I'd have to experiment). Four 5s nearly filled with water. Squeegee as much back into the bucket as you can with 5 in 1, put it on a spinner and spin the heck out of it in each bucket, spending the most time on the 1st & second rinse. Perhaps some dish soap in the middle rinses.


Then, after a few cleaning rounds, or whatever seems right, take the first 2 rinse buckets (the dirtiest) and set those aside. Move the 3rd and 4th (cleanest) to the 1 & 2 position, and replace with 2 new clean rinse buckets. Repeat. 

As the temporarily retired dirty ones sit, a lot of solids will settle out. After some time, if the water has clarified well enough, just dump it off (your car's oil leak is worse than that) and let the residues in the buckets evaporate / dry out and it's good to go. Or there's apparently this thing you can do with aluminum sulfate and lime to separate the paint from the H2O. The video makes it seem more complicated than it is at first and IDK that it works on all latex based products. Or even if it's all that "green." I'm not a chemist: 



I'm sure something can be figured out. But it's not on my list...


----------



## Fman (Aug 20, 2011)

If I've gotten good use out of a roller, I might be inclined to chunk it. But it isn't _that_ hard to clean, especially as others have noted here scraping it out with a 5 in 1 and spinning it with a garden hose. I suspect that a lot of GC's and bosses stay up late at night wondering how people are effing them. Bottom line: They're not paying you to clean! They can write off materials but not cleaning time.


----------



## Vylum (May 12, 2016)

i was never a fan of the bucket full of soggy tools on site


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

Vylum said:


> i was never a fan of the bucket full of soggy tools on site



I don't do it either. I was talking about a company shop/home cleaning site ... if this is what someone would want to do.


I'm with Holland on the chip brush thing.


----------



## Lightningboy65 (Mar 12, 2018)

Well, if you spin the roller, it's pretty close to dry. Nothing soggy about it really.

If your running a small outfit, where the back of your Subaru Forester is where you store most of your tools and your laundry room is your climate controlled paint warehouse, washing covers may make sense.

If you have 15 guys in the field using 20-30 covers /day, probably not.


----------



## minneapolispainting (Apr 15, 2020)

Woodco said:


> I wash out all my stuff in my backyard. I dug a hole, and slapped a utitity sink on top of it.
> 
> I also have a big rubbermaid bin to let stuff like empty buckets dry out in before I throw them in the trash. I try to dump initial paint sludge water in there too, before I wash it out in my sink area. I have a bucket under the drain, that solids kind of drop to the bottom of, so I will pour off the top of that, then pour the sludge in my rubbermaid.
> 
> I guess you can minimize your impact by having a bunch of buckets in your backyard, and pour off the top half ,and deal with the sludge on the bottom later.


That's a great idea!


----------



## hasnazameer (Jul 20, 2020)

Good to use a dowel from any local store and use it.


----------



## nichvillehvac (Jul 20, 2020)

Buying new rollers always worked best for me.


----------



## Chimpo (Aug 16, 2018)

I've always stuck rollers I intended to use in short-order inside of a shopping bag, and either put them in the refrigerator, or the freezer, depending on how long it would be till the next time I used them. Obviously the downside being is that you had to use them in the same color. I also would suggest using your garage refrigerator. The wife won't appreciate putting a paint roller on top of the asparagus.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

nichvillehvac said:


> Buying new rollers always worked best for me.


----------



## Fman (Aug 20, 2011)

Chimpo said:


> I've always stuck rollers I intended to use in short-order inside of a shopping bag, and either put them in the refrigerator, or the freezer, depending on how long it would be till the next time I used them. Obviously the downside being is that you had to use them in the same color. I also would suggest using your garage refrigerator. The wife won't appreciate putting a paint roller on top of the asparagus.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


I might mentioned this before but a woman on a utility crew asked us what we did with our rollers and proudly told us she put hers in the refrigerator. It was 100 degrees and we were outside a warehouse. I told her that if we had a refrigerator on the job, it'd be full of beer- not roller covers.


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

Fman said:


> I might mentioned this before but a woman on a utility crew asked us what we did with our rollers and proudly told us she put hers in the refrigerator. It was 100 degrees and we were outside a warehouse. I told her that if we had a refrigerator on the job, it'd be full of beer- not roller covers.



:thumbup:


----------



## MelTon55 (Jul 25, 2020)

tired of leaving them in buckets/ wheelbarrows might try this freezer trick lol


----------



## Ralphgoss (Aug 1, 2020)

Informative!


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

In the freezer. ? Cmon guys. Thats the DIY, House Wife special. If I'm on multiple jobsites, with multiple colours, am I really packing up all my rollers to bring home and shove in the freezer.? It'll be fine just wrapped in plasic for a couple days on it's own. Lable it with tape so you don't mix it up.
If your dead set on cleaning them, the 4 bucket sytem works great. You can clean a sleave out in a couple minutes if you have a spinner..I will do this on new construction sites, but don't like dumping lots of paint water at clients homes..


----------



## grayscale (May 9, 2018)

Lightningboy65 said:


> This is a vexing question....it is many times said "*the answer to pollution is dilution*". No doubt paint is pollution. The question is, just how harmful is that pollution aspect of most modern day latex house paint. As Woodco said, the grass still grows!
> 
> So do we distribute the waste across the landscape in small amounts at various locations(job site disposal), concentrate those chemicals in a relatively small area on our own property, or send them into the municipal sewer system, to eventually end up in a landfill ?
> 
> I've done all, and in the end , probably the safest and best solution is to send the stuff down the municipal sewer. Closest thing to a system designed to properly handle such material. Now when you start talking about material more potent than standard latex coatings ....that's a different story.


It's easier to remember when used as a rhyme, "_the solution to pollution is dilution_." That said, I believe that catch phrase has sort of gone the way of the buffalo. It was more popular in times when the pollution was small and the unpolluted areas were vast. The idea was that if the pollution was diluted so small that it could not be detected, it was effectively solved.


----------



## IKnowNothing (Oct 15, 2020)

finishesbykevyn said:


> In the freezer. ? Cmon guys. Thats the DIY, House Wife special. If I'm on multiple jobsites, with multiple colours, am I really packing up all my rollers to bring home and shove in the freezer.? It'll be fine just wrapped in plasic for a couple days on it's own. Lable it with tape so you don't mix it up.
> If your dead set on cleaning them, the 4 bucket sytem works great. You can clean a sleave out in a couple minutes if you have a spinner..I will do this on new construction sites,* but don't like dumping lots of paint water at clients homes..*


Well, to each his own. 
I personally dump paint water into customers toilet.


:wink:

.


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

IKnowNothing said:


> Well, to each his own.
> I personally dump paint water into customers toilet.
> 
> 
> ...




I'm sure you do..And Yes, You are correct that each of us has our own opinion. Thank you for sharing.


----------



## IKnowNothing (Oct 15, 2020)

finishesbykevyn said:


> I'm sure you do..And Yes, You are correct that each of us has our own opinion. *Thank you for sharing.*


AND Thank You For Not Banning Me For It.:vs_cool:

.

. Tho... sometimes banning... is... a... blessing.

.


----------



## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

IKnowNothing said:


> AND Thank You For Not Banning Me For It.:vs_cool:
> 
> .
> 
> ...



Just curious but have you ever experienced that process here on PT? Again, just curious.


----------



## IKnowNothing (Oct 15, 2020)

nichvillehvac said:


> Buying new rollers always worked best for me.


Lol, _hahaha_, of course cocomonkeynuts likes that post and even Says *Thank You* to nichvillehvac For This Useful Post, because coco sells paint rollers...:smile::wink:


----------

