Save water when painting a wall.......who knew?

That's right. You can definitely save water when painting a wall. How.....? "What's the catch"? Before I answer that, what if I tell you that this "practice" also comes in handy if you are not anywhere near a hosebib or anywhere close to a water source?....period.

"Click it or.....miss it"

You also will not have to worry about cleaning up around the bathroom sink or the kitchen sink for that matter....that's where you were going to wash out your paint roller & brushes huh? Well no more! I've come up with a revolutionary idea. It's simple really....but how many people out there do it? More importantly, do YOU do it? Are "you" one of "them"?

It's a one word answer. Not the "you" or "them" question....the water one silly. Do you know what the answer is? If you said "plastic", you're correct! Give yourself a gold star. This is what you are going to do:

* Always make sure you have some plastic with you whenever you paint.

* After you use your paint brush, make sure you wrap it up with a piece of plastic ie: after you pour your paint & use your paint brush to wipe off the can, after using your brush to do all the "cutin" prior to painting the rest of your wall with a paint roller, after cleaning out your paint tray between the first coat of paint & the second coat of paint which you applied with a paint roller (you used a paint roller for your project didn't you?), after "cutting in" your second coat of paint, after cleaning up any paint "mis-haps", after remembering to paint the little piece of wall area behind the door, next to the door jamb, after you had everything done (you know what I'm talking about). I could go on but you get the point.

I use to always wash my paint brush out, between coats, while waiting for things to dry since I did not want the brush ends to dry up thus making it difficult to complete the "cut-in" after the second coat. Not anymore!

I would also wash out my roller cover after installing the prime coat & prior to installing the finish paint (since I didn't want the primer paint on the roller cover to bleed into the finish paint). Then I would rinse the roller cover off between the first coat of finish paint & the second coat of finish paint (since the roller cover has a tendency to dry & harden up depending on how long is needed for the first coat of paint to dry before I needed to use the roller again for the second coat). Not anymore! Is there an echo in here?

* Now....all you do is change roller covers between the prime coat & finish coat(s) (if you have a need to install primer that is.....make sure to wrap up the roller cover with plastic....the one you used for the primer). You then put on a fresh roller cover for the finish paint. After you apply the first coat of paint with a roller, you then wrap plastic right around the paint roller cover leaving the roller cover right on the paint roller frame. When you're ready to install the second coat of finish paint, all you do is remove the plastic & you're ready to rock & roll! Then when you're done, you rewrap the roller cover & wash it out later.....presto!

I would use alot of water in order to do all of the above tasks I use to do without the "magic plastic". Not anymore. It concerned me that I was not doing my part by saving water & it always seemed to be a messy job (using all that water & all....you know how long it takes to rinse out a roller cover?). I was spending almost as much time cleaning up around the: bathroom sink,kitchen sink,utility sink,hosebib by backyard concrete patio,side yard mucking up the place not to mention the "blueish tinge" left behind in the mud (Ok I used blue one time---no big deal),_________you fill in the blank. And when I didn't do a good enough job cleaning up.......look out!

It just hit me one day.....why didn't I think of this years ago? Plastic really does come in handy since you don't have to trapse through the house to wash your stuff out. How could such a simple thing like that change the way I now do things (for the better I might add)? Not only have I saved a "ton" of water since the old days/years, I've also shaved off a few hours of each project thereafter because the cleanup time was way less (hint.....if I can save you time then I can save you money.....or at least save you enough time so you won't have to miss the first part of the "BIG" game).

This is so great. You just wait until you're done with whatever you're painting, then take your brushes & roller covers to a convenient area to rinse them off after you're completed. Sometimes even if you wait a few days (in case you forget) or whatever, you can still rinse them off since the brushes & paint roller covers will not "dry out" if you have the plastic wrapped on there really good (make sure to "press" the plastic tight up against the brush hairs & roller covers). If you want to save "more" water, just throw the paint roller covers away & just wash out the paint brushes. For your paint tray, use thin plastic "inserts" & you can throw those away too, thereby minimizing the amount of water used to clean out your paint tray,etc..

That's my tip for the day. Oh yeah....here's another tip:

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Paint On!

VideoJoeKnows