A good paint brush set will include a variety of brush sizes (including angled brushes) so you can paint both large surfaces as well as smaller details like trim. Looking to achieve a textured look? Check out our selection of texturing paint rollers. Not sure where to start when shopping for the right tools? Find Decks and Fences paint rollers at Lowe's today. Shop paint rollers and a variety of paint products online at Lowes.com.

The quality of your tools can make or break the finished look of your paint job. Ahead, learn the key considerations involved in choosing the right roller frame and cover for your next project.

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Photo: istockphoto.com

There are many do-it-yourself projects that allow for scrimping on costs without any negative effects on your results—painting, however, is not one of them. For a professional-looking paint job, you need to start with quality tools.

You’ll likely reach for a paintbrush when cutting in or painting trim, but covering the bulk of the wall or ceiling with paint becomes a much simpler, speedier job when you use a paint roller. Not only that, but the right roller-and-cover combination works to spreads paint smoothly and evenly, so you aren’t left with brushstrokes, patchy spots, or other imperfections.

Paint rollers and covers are simple and generally quite affordable tools, but there are many options to choose from. Ahead, our guide explains what to consider and what to look for, and it offers details on our top-favorite picks among the best paint roller and cover options available.

1. BEST ROLLER FRAME:Wooster Brush 9-Inch Roller Frame
2. BEST ROLLER COVER:Purdy Dove Cover
3. BEST VALUE ROLLER COVER:True Blue Professional Paint Roller Covers

Finding the Right Paint Roller for the Job

1. Select an easy-to-grip roller frame.

A roller frame—the skeleton of this reusable painting tool—is basically a comfortable plastic handle connected to a roller cage (the part of the frame that slips inside the roller cover). Typically, roller cages have plastic caps at either end supporting the compression metal “ribs” that fit inside a cover and hold it securely in place, but you’ll also find roller frames with sturdy plastic cages.

Roller frames are sold in sets with covers for convenience, but you have more control over the quality of your supplies when you purchase it separately. When comparing frames, look for these optional features:

• Ergonomic handle. If you expect to spend a lot of time painting, even just more than one room, it’s worth paying a little more for an ergonomic handle that is shaped to reduce strain on your wrist.
• Ball bearings. Quality roller frames have ball bearings to provide smooth rolling movement and a more perfect paint finish.
• Threaded handle. While it comes on most roller frames, do check for threads or clips at the bottom of the handle so you can attach an extension pole for tackling ceilings or the tops of walls.

Photo: istockphoto.com

2. Narrow down to your options for roller length.

Roller frames and covers come in several different lengths (and while most frames come in a fixed roller width, some of the large ones are adjustable in size, using small clips or prongs to secure the cover instead of a cage). You’ll need to match the lengths of your roller frame and cover if you want to do the job right.

• 9-inch rollers are the best size for the majority of projects tackled by DIYers. For starters, these paint rollers fit easily into a 5-gallon paint bucket. Plus, these are large enough to cover a good size swatch of wall in one roll yet not so long that they are difficult to control around trim and other details.
• 12-inch or longer rollers can be somewhat heavy and unwieldy and, therefore, are more often used by professionals than DIYers. If you really need to cover a stretch of wall in a hurry, however, you might want to choose one of these oversize rollers.
• 6- or 7-inch rollers are a good size for painting baseboard molding or small furnishings. These rollers are also useful for getting into corners or reaching behind the toilet to paint the wall.
• 4-inch mini rollers are great for touchups, small furnishings, tight spaces, or careful work around fixtures, windowsills, or other obstacles. They also come in handy for painting the insides of cabinets or bookcases.

3. Choose the right roller cover material based on your paint and project.

Covers come in five common material options, which vary in terms of what paint they work best with, how much they hold, and the texture they create.

• Wool or mohair roller covers, with natural fibers, are the best choices for applying oil-based paint, but they work well with any finish and cover a variety of surfaces smoothly. Wool picks up a lot of paint, and so provides excellent coverage with just one coat.
• Synthetic roller covers—including polyester, nylon, or Dacron—are the right choice for water-based latex paint because they resist matting. You can use a synthetic cover with any paint finish and on most surfaces. Though synthetics don’t pick up and hold as much paint as wool does, they are generally very durable.
• Roller covers that blend wool and polyester can be used with either type of paint and any paint finish, so are a great choice if you often switch between oil-based and water-based products. These versatile roller covers give the best of both worlds: They pick up a lot of paint and last a long time if cared for properly.
• Newer to the painting scene, microfiber roller covers (identifiable by the diagonal stripes on the plush cover) work with latex as well as oil-based paints with a matte, eggshell, or satin finish. These rollers provide a very smooth finish, almost as if sprayed on, and are suitable only on surfaces without much texture. However, there’s a bit of a learning curve to achieving an even finish with a microfiber roller because they pick up and release more paint than the average cover, so practice on cardboard or another throwaway surface before tackling your walls.
• Foam roller covers don’t last as long as the other options and, for that reason, are sometimes considered “single use” covers. They are best for rolling semi-gloss or high-gloss latex paint over smooth—not heavily textured—surfaces. Use them for quick touchups on trim, baseboards, furniture, or other small projects.

You’ll also want to consider the core of the roller cover; a good one is made from some type of resin or plastic. Cheap rollers have cardboard cores, which don’t hold well and often come apart after just a few uses.

4. Know what nap you need for your surface.

The nap of a roller cover refers to the length of its fibers—yet another important decision to make based on the project at hand. Different naps are good for different surfaces. As a general rule, the shorter the nap, the smoother the surface you’ll use it on. Using a long nap on a smooth surface tends to create a bumpy finish, while a short nap on a rough surface will often tear apart or shed fibers into the paint.

• 1/4-inch nap is best for very smooth walls, ceilings, cabinetry, and other surfaces without texture, including metal.
• 3/8-inch nap is good for lightly textured surfaces, including most interior walls.
• 1/2-inch nap is a good length for moderately textured walls, paneling, and painted brick or concrete.
• 3/4-inch nap is best for heavily textured surfaces such as bare brick or concrete or textured interior walls like popcorn-textured ceilings.
• 1-inch nap and above is useful for painting stucco, cinder blocks, or rough brick.

Our Top Picks

A couple of years ago, a reader named Karen wrote in to Car Talk's newspaper column, asking if there was a solution to peeling paint on her Toyota, which had been suffering from a condition called 'delamination,' which is kind of like mange for cars. 'The paint is coming off and it looks horrible. What is an economical way to get it painted?'

Car Talk's answer: 'Have you ever heard of Rust-Oleum, Karen?'

It may have been a joke, but I took it as a personal challenge. I had heard of Rust-Oleum, and I was bound and determined to paint my car with it.

Or rather, my truck. It's a 1979 Chevrolet Blazer that I bought from a friend as a winter project a few years ago. It only has 60,000 miles on it, but it had suffered through 35 New England winters as a plow truck. To take care of the rust, I took a night class at Assabet Valley Vocational High School where I replaced a door, the inner and outer fenders, the rusty rocker panels and some minor rust in the rear quarters.

My hope was that I was going to have time to roll it into the school's fancy-pants Devilbiss downdraft spray booth, but I ran out of time before the 12-week class was over. I looked into getting it painted at one of the franchised 'I'll paint that car for $99.95 joints,' but I learned quickly that the price was a lot closer to $1,000, and that the $99.95 price was reserved for cars about the size of the Cozy Coupe my son was running around the front yard in.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I had read a story a long time ago in Hot Rod magazine about painting a car with Rust-Oleum and a foam roller. I also spent a lot of time reading 'The $50 Paint Job' at RickWrench.com, in which he painted a Corvair using the same method.

Here's the deal with paint quality circa 1979, when some dope was spraying single-stage black on my Blazer: It was non-existent. These trucks rusted the the moment that they came in contact with oxygen for two reasons: They were made of steel that had the quality of hardened cheese, and the only place they painted was the outside, and even then the primer was showing through in spots. Entire swaths of the inside of the doors, rocker panels and underside had never received any paint whatsoever.

So my thought was if I rolled five coats of Rust-Oleum on it, it certainly couldn't be any WORSE than how Chevy painted it when Jimmy Carter was still in office. And if it WAS worse, I could just sand it down and pay Earl Schieb to squirt it later on.

With that in mind, I headed off to Lowe's for supplies.

I primed the entire truck with one coat of Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer, and then a second coat of Rust-Oleum High Perfomance Primer. Both primers are oil-based and nasty. I bought a roller cage and a whole bunch of four-inch foam rollers, and a ton of those foam paint brushes in various sizes to get into the nooks and crannies.

The nice part about priming was that I could see how the whole process was going to work with the finish coats later on. I took my time and I could get two coats of primer on in a day in my garage.

Then I blocksanded the truck for about the time it took the Egyptians to build the pyramids. Getting that surface as smooth as humanly possible is what's going to result in a decent paint job. The best advice I ever heard was 'When you think you're done sanding, sand for another day.' In retrospect, I should've done exactly that, but I got the surface pretty smooth with 600 grit paper.

With the primer sanding out of the way, I was ready to roll on the color.

Rust-Oleum Oil-Based Protective Enamel is pretty awesome stuff. It's relatively inexpensive, it will take a bullet, and it's avaialble at any hardware store in America. About the only limitation is that it only comes in limited colors, and that selection gets even more limited at Lowe's on a Sunday morning. Gloss Black is pretty much available everywhere, though, so I was in good shape.

I had some internal debates about whether I should thin the paint or not. After watching more YouTube videos than any 47-year-old should watch in a lifetime, I opted to thin the paint with mineral spirits. Some YouTubers were recommending acetone, which works, too, but it seemed to 'flash' or dry out a little quicker than I liked.

Lowe's has paint measuring cups in the paint aisle, but I wouldn't recommend measuring using the graduations on the side of the cup. Instead, you're looking for a certain consistency of paint that allows the roller to do its job, and then allows the paint to flow out a bit. Pour some paint in the cup (maybe a half pint) and then add four capfuls of mineral spirits.

At this point, you need to stir the mixture for a good long time to make sure the paint and the mineral spirits are well-incorporated. I used a plastic spoon, but you can use a paint stirring stick, a popsicle stick, your kid's Lincoln Logs, whatever is available close by.

Now the important part: Pull the spoon out of the paint and watch it flow. You're looking for a consistency that allows the paint to flow off the spoon in a steady stream for about four seconds before it turns to drips. With that consistency, the paint still has enough tension to keep it from pouring off any vertical surfaces, but it can also flow out a bit and get rid of most of the texture the roller is going to want to put in it.

This guy's video was really helpful in understanding how to mix the paint:

Just before I started to paint, I wiped the entire truck down with a tack rag and then mineral spirits -- or prep solvent, if you have a good auto body supply store nearby - to get rid of any dust and oil from my fingers.

Then it was just a matter of rolling the paint on. It goes on surprisingly well. People warned me that the first coat was going to look lousy, but honestly, I was blown away by how good it looked from the first coat. I used the foam brushes to get into places that I would've had a tough time using a roller. Because I'd thinned it out, the paint just flowed out even when using the foam brush.

If you're doing multiple coats, you're going to want to do them six hours later. That way you won't have to sand between coats. If you're waiting longer, the paint completely cures and you'll need to sand it to allow the subsequent coats to have something to attach to.

I ended up putting five coats on the truck, which was frankly too many. I could've really gotten away with two, I think, but I was experimenting. I wetsanded the whole truck from 1000 to 2000 grit paper, and then buffed it at the end with a machine buffer. That was my one extravagance in the whole project, and it cost me about $100 at Lowe's. Well worth it, because you can use it to apply wax on all your other cars, too.

The result? It's pretty darn good. You can see a complete photo gallery at BestRide.com. It's not a show truck by any stretch of the imagination, but for something that cost me about $200 to paint, it looks phenomenal. I've driven it through rain and a bit of snow in the last year, and the paint has held up extremely well. I even painted the white bumpers with Rust-Oleum Appliance White.

Home Depot Paint Roller Brush

If I was going to do it again, I probably wouldn't paint a truck black, because black shows every single imperfection. If it was a white truck, it'd look as good as if it came out of a spray booth.

It took time to roll those coats on, but not a lot more than it would've taken to spray it. Absynth 5 for mac os. And what time I expended rolling, I more than made up for in not having to mask much of anything. I taped the door handles and the windshield gasket, and that was pretty much it. By the time I finished at got confident, I wasn't even covering the wheels with a sheet.

Roller Paint Brush No Drip

Download sims for mac free download. Depending on the project, I'd paint a car this way again in a heartbeat. Excel tables for mac. All joking aside, it's a way to get color on a car in a home garage for less than half what it would cost the cheapest body shop to spray it.