Hello! I've got a fairly large painting project coming up and I'm trying to decide what hardware to use. The floor area is about 1000 square feet (haven't measured the wall area) - and it is almost a box - so there are 4 main walls that are fairly long. I have used the 18" roller before and had good success - just the same old problem of constantly going back to the paint pan. I am considering the purchase of one of the paint rollers where the paint is loaded in the stick. But I'm just curious if this is just someone trying to make a better mousetrap or if they really are worthy. I guess one of the big questions is approximately how much wall you can paint before you have to fill the stick again...

 

The info you want is probably better answered by a DIYer as I doubt any pros use a paint stick. Personally I think it is easier and faster to use a good 9" roller cover and roll out of a 5 gal bucket.

 

Any DIY'ers out there?? Hope so, since this is the DIY forums!

Do you use some sort of screen in the 5-gal bucket? I assume there is something made that hangs on the bucket to roll the roller on a couple times to get excess paint off. But it doesn't seem that would leave much room to get your roller in past this screen/tray...

 

Absolutely!!!! We just finished painting a massive area and that paint stick has got to be the coolest thing ever. It is CHEAP, EASY and no mess at all. Plus, the bar that holds the roller is heavy and strong which I felt helped in coverage. Actually, it covered the wall much better than a typical roller. I even bought the best rollers for my standard roller but the paint stick outshined it by far.

I used to have an old Wagner feeder thingy and the cleanup and waste was horrible. I'm sure they have improved over the years. But the paint stick was under $20.00 and was absolutely the neatest, cleanest and simplest thing EVER. Takes less than a minute to refill. When you are done, you can just shoot the left over paint right back into the can. Can't say enough about it. It amazes me to no end to find something so cheap and simple that actually works so well.

Edited to add: I am definitely a do it yourselfer - just finished painting the last room. Every wall and most ceilings have been repainted within the last six months - 2600 sq feet. Too bad I didn't have the paint stick until this last round The paint in the stick covers a decent size area.

 

Thanks Lisa!! That is awesome news! Are you using one actually called "Paint Stick" as in that is the brand name - because I haven't seen one of those in the local Lowe's/Home Depot - I have only seen the Wagner model - it is like $25 or so.

Thanks again!

 

I called my sister and she said hers is old and was "as seen on tv". Hers is called "The original Paint Stick" by Home Right. You can google it. There were two at Lowes, one was $16.00 and the other was $25.00. Not sure about either (brand)as I didn't really pay any attention. It claims to cover 8' x 8' but she thinks the coverage area is larger. In any event, check out the Home Right web site and maybe that will help you.

Definitely get one if you can. I'll NEVER go back to a regular roller again - EVER!

 

Yes there is a roller screen [sometimes called a grid] that helps to remove the excess paint. IMO it is necesarry when rolling interior or exterior areas that don't require a lot of paint. You can roll faster without the screen but it can be messier and requires a learning curve. Works best for exterior masonary but I degress

Hope the paint stick works well for you.

 

exterior masonry...uuugghhhh...that is a sensitive spot. The bride really wants our red brick painted white...I'll be back in a couple months with all my questions on exterior brick painting!

 

Update on my experience so far - I got the Wagner Paintmate Plus. I have finished about half of my painting so far - priming at this point. Overall I give this an average rating - ok for prime coats, but I won't use this for my final coats. If you don't have the roller level when pulling the trigger, the paint all tends to go to one side - filling this side of the roller with more paint - and also causes the roller to bead up on the end. And when this happens, there is almost no paint coming out of the other half of the roller.

Maybe there is some operator error here or I just haven't gotten used to it, but this is my experience with this particular model so far. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears - but at this point, I think I'll be heading back to the store for some normal old roller covers and be back to my old school way of painting.

 

I went to a different Lowe's this morning and while there, I looked at the paint rollers and only saw the $25.00 wagner. The other Lowe's had the $16.00 one. The Wagner had a different type of handle than the Home Right one - kind of like a trigger? The Home Right was just a simple "push in". My sister's was AWESOME in coverage. Always even, always full, always WONDERFUL. Hers was quite old too. So were the rollers.

Sorry the Wagner didn't compare Sometimes the simple things in life turn out to be the best.

 

Don't worry about it at all - as much as I hate painting, I would have paid the $25 gladly for this prime coat to be done. I can touch up the few problem areas and get a couple good clean coats with a regular roller for the finishing touches. For a prime coat, I think this was fine, but unless I get some lessons on it, I wouldn't recommend this particular model for a finish coat.

Thanks again for your input!

 

I have the model from TV...I've used it for several years....it cuts the time in half, saves on the back, and the work I've done with it turned out great! ymmv