To keep paintbrushes cleaner while painting, wrap a piece of 1½” wide masking tape around the metal ferrule on the paintbrush, overlapping it onto the bristles. When you’ve finished painting, take the tape off, then clean the brush thoroughly.

Watch the video above to find out more.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

The best piece of advice I’d ever gotten from a professional painter was to buy the very best brushes you can afford. Now, good paintbrushes are expensive; but if you take care of them, they’ll last you a lifetime.

Now to make a brush last a lifetime, the first rule is that you have to clean it thoroughly after each and every use. But to make that job even easier, what I’ve discovered is that if you prepare the brush before you use it, it makes clean up really quick and easy.

In this case I’m going to take some masking tape – this is blue painter’s tape – about one-and-a-half inches wide, and I’m going to wrap it around the metal ferrule, which is the band that joins the handle to the bristles. I’m going to wrap it around the ferrule, overlapping the bristles by about a quarter-inch or so.

What that’s going to do is prevent paint from seeping up and getting stuck in the joint between the metal and the bristles. When you dip it in the can, paint will get in there and dry, and be hard to clean it out. And the next time you go to use the brush, the little dried paint chips will break off into your new paint can.

So when you’re done painting, just peel this off, and what you’ll discover is that you’ll have a perfectly clean joint between the ferrule and the bristles. Then just clean the brush and store it properly, and it’ll be ready to use on the next project.


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avatar for Joe Truini

Joe Truini

Radio Show Co-Host

Joe Truini is a contractor, author, and the host of “Simple Solutions” on Today’s Homeowner TV and the weekly Today’s Homeowner radio show. He has worked on both large commercial projects and residential remodeling, and has written for national publications such as This Old House and Popular Mechanics. He has also written eight books, including three best-selling shed-building books. Joe lives in Connecticut with his family and enjoys hiking, traveling, and baseball in his spare time.

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