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How to Properly Care for and Clean Brushes After Painting

How to Properly Clean and Maintain Brushes
If you don't properly clean and maintain brushes, you'll need to replace them more quickly. Photo: Getty Images
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November 5, 2019, 7:11 am | Read time: 2 minutes

Careful handling of brushes can benefit both the environment and your wallet in the long run. However, it’s not always as simple as it might initially seem.

Cleaning and maintaining brushes is often not that easy. However, there are tools and tricks that can speed up this task. myHOMEBOOK provides an overview.

Tip 1: Clean with a Brush Comb

A brush comb can be helpful when cleaning brushes. You use it to remove excess paint from the brush beforehand. This allows you to save it for the next use, explains Gereon Bründt, editor of the magazine “Selbst ist der Mann.”

More on the topic

Tip 2: Wipe the Brush

Kerstin Weiser, an expert at the DIY Academy in Cologne, offers another piece of advice for brush care: “Wipe the brush on cardboard or another absorbent surface. Do not stand it on the wet bristles, as they will deform.” Instead, she suggests: Insert a long nail through the brush’s handle hole. Place it on the rim of an empty glass so the brush hangs freely inside.

Also interesting: These 16 Types of Brushes You Should Know

Tip 3: When You Don’t Need to Clean Brushes

You don’t need to clean brushes that you plan to use again the next day for painting. “For about 24 hours, brushes and paint rollers can be sealed airtight in plastic wrap or a plastic bag,” advises Weiser.

This article is a machine translation of the original German version of MYHOMEBOOK and has been reviewed for accuracy and quality by a native speaker. For feedback, please contact us at info@myhomebook.de.

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