# what roller for best results, new baseboards



## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Microfiber is your best option. 1/2" sleeve, mini 4" roller......it will put lots of paint on. Use a good Wooster brush, I like Wooster Pro from HD. Roll, then backbrush. You will likely have brush marks using the Behr, but by back brushing you eiliminate roller stipple.

The critical part is prep. If you have bare wood to start with, a good oil primer is best. It will soak into the wood and give those topcoats some bite. Sanding after the primer is dry is important. Sand, then remove dust. The wood will be so smooth. Two topcoats, maybe 3 and your trim will look pretty good. If you would upgrade to a waterborne paint with levelers in the mixture, you will get a smoother finish. DON"T USE A FOAM ROLLER. They hold very little paint and tend to skid leaving ugly skid marks in your finish.


----------



## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

Whatever works for you. Get one of those mini rollers, keep a wet edge, and don’t worry about it. I pretty regularly have habitat volunteers paint an entire house of trim, baseboard, door window, whatever....and they come out very well Given people who know zip about painting.....and are using whatever painting implements are around.


----------



## Slater1 (Mar 25, 2017)

These are mdf & already primed but I do have a gal of Kilz original if it will help...
These are 5.5" tall base so think a 6" roller would be perfect vs having to do 2 passes to get complete coverage.
Better product out there? I can easily return the behr prem plus.
Looked at SW proclassic but not sure how semi gloss compares to high gloss in the Sw as highgloss only in proclassic.
Guys a HD state the ultra white color is most popular color when it comes to trim vs swiss coffee or white shadow..
I have Dunn Edwards & Sherwin Williams nearby but seems like the young people that work there really dont have hands on experience & just reply from what theyve been told or atleast thats my perception...
so switch behr prem plus to?


----------



## Slater1 (Mar 25, 2017)

ront02769 said:


> Whatever works for you. Get one of those mini rollers, keep a wet edge, and don’t worry about it. I pretty regularly have habitat volunteers paint an entire house of trim, baseboard, door window, whatever....and they come out very well Given people who know zip about painting.....and are using whatever painting implements are around.


Im looking for perfection not, meh good enough....
Laying down 1200 sq feet luxury vinyl planks & new trim...
just trying to do some homework & get some great results, not good results.


----------



## siffleur (Aug 19, 2013)

Slater1 said:


> I have to paint 15 full 16ft length 5.5" tall primed mdf base boards, no decorative edges..
> This is new base so not installed yet.
> Looking for the best results, no brush streaks / marks, smooth finish to best of my ability. I know technique is #1 but the right roller / product is also part of the equasion.
> I tried the search function & seems like it all over the page...
> ...


I painted some doors and trim last spring with Behr Ultra semi-gloss and it came out great. I would not hesitate using Behr Ultra semi gloss.

It would be nice to see a photo of the baseboards to see if any brushing needs to be done to get into any crevices. If the baseboards can be painted with a mini roller with no brushing, I would recommended white foam rollers to roll out the trim. I imagine that you have the room to put the boards on workhorses or something similar. You might try rolling a coat of the Behr on and let it dry and 2nd coat it.

One problem with pre-primed MDF trim is that the factory primer is very cheap and porous, which means that your first coat of paint will soak into the primer and look dull as well as being hard to apply. If you roll on a coat of Zinsser Gardz (do a search) you will seal the MDF and make the surface much easier to apply paint to. Most pro painters won't do this, but you are a DIYer and can afford the extra time and materials to do it deluxe!

siffleur


----------



## siffleur (Aug 19, 2013)

siffleur said:


> I painted some doors and trim last spring with Behr Ultra semi-gloss and it came out great. I would not hesitate using Behr Ultra semi gloss.
> 
> It would be nice to see a photo of the baseboards to see if any brushing needs to be done to get into any crevices. If the baseboards can be painted with a mini roller with no brushing, I would recommended white foam rollers to roll out the trim. I imagine that you have the room to put the boards on workhorses or something similar. You might try rolling a coat of the Behr on and let it dry and 2nd coat it.
> 
> ...


After reading through the rest of the comments I would stear you away from the foam rollers, not because they don't work (the 2" long Bestt Liebco ones I use from Menards perform magic for me), but because you might find the Wooster 4" mini Micro Plush rollers will do an excellant job on your baseboards and take less time to roll than the 2" Bestt Liebco foam rollers will. I would still do a coat of Gardz first because factory primer is garbage, but that is my preference.

Tell us, are you going to 1 coat the baseboards, then install them and paint a 2nd coat? Or something different?

siffleur


----------



## Slater1 (Mar 25, 2017)

siffleur said:


> After reading through the rest of the comments I would stear you away from the foam rollers, not because they don't work (the 2" long Bestt Liebco ones I use from Menards perform magic for me), but because you might find the Wooster 4" mini Micro Plush rollers will do an excellant job on your baseboards and take less time to roll than the 2" Bestt Liebco foam rollers will. I would still do a coat of Gardz first because factory primer is garbage, but that is my preference.
> 
> Tell us, are you going to 1 coat the baseboards, then install them and paint a 2nd coat? Or something different?
> 
> siffleur


I saw 6" foam rollers at Dunn Edwards.
6" roller would be ideal due to 5 1/2 tall base.
Will be doing 2 coats of paint before installing base & installers will caulk staple holes when caulking upper edge to the wall.
Thats how my mothers home was done & looks great, other than the slight stipply finish.
May have been stipply due to it was warm in the garage when I did it & didnt get much time to level....

base product, no decorative edge at all, clean & contemporary :


https://www.elandelwoodproducts.com/products/387MUL-5


----------



## z_rider (Aug 14, 2020)

You should find a 4" microfiber loads about as much paint as a 6" foam roller and distributes it in a more controlled manner allowing for faster overall painting. 

Use a wet edge extender latex additive when applying latex in warm weather. Pay close attention to not letting the viscocity change and it'll come out glassy smooth.

Also, do 1 piece as a test and when it comes out perfect you'll have your recipe for success.


----------



## woodco (Jun 11, 2017)

If youre not set on paint, use Benjamin Moore Advance. Add a tiny bit of extender, and use a brush, and it will look like its sprayed. I've done trim with advance with 1/4" flock lined foam, (as opposed to regular foam. Those suck) and it looks damn close to sprayed, but if you roll it on, and lay it off with a brush, its perfect. 

Also, its baseboard. You wont see brush marks or stipple.


----------



## Slater1 (Mar 25, 2017)

played with a piece the other day using the behr premium plus that I have. its warm in san diego so had the boards in the house with the ac on, tried foam wooster pro roller & a 1/4" nap roller using some of the behr with Flood floetrol. Wasnt happy with the results i was getting so I even tried adding some water. Seems like the brush strokes dont go away proir to drying & still stripply.... My guess is its the paint & doesnt level well prior to drying. Seems really thick stuff....
I quickly knocked it back down after it dried using a scotch brite pad....
Appears I dont have a BM near me but a few Ace hardware stores carry therir product, do have SW & DE...
tried just rolling it & even rolled & brushed. Foam was a little smoother as smaller diamter stipply dots but less paint is my guess...
back to the drawing board


----------



## woodco (Jun 11, 2017)

If youre going for perefction , lose the Behr, or at least use the Behr Alkyd. Its the home depot version of Advance. And despite being called 'Alkyd' its a water borne. Dont use floetrol with it. Floetrol is actually obsolete. Theres better extenders out there, or simply use water.


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Jan 12, 2018)

DE aristoshield is supposed to be a decent product


----------

