Why Do Professional Painters Use 18-Inch Rollers?

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When planning a painting job, you may visit the hardware store and stare at the paint equipment, wondering what to buy. You might know that a roller's a great way to quickly cover large surfaces. However, finding the best roller for your painting projects can be confusing, especially when selecting among all the different sizes.

A standard-sized paint roller is 9 inches in length, and many DIYers choose this length because it's the most common. However, if you see an 18-inch long roller, you might wonder whether you should buy it, instead. The 18-inch length is a common selection for professional painters and contractors, as it allows them to work over a large area faster than smaller rollers. If the pros are painting a large wall, ceiling, or floor (and they're getting paid by the hour), having the larger design lets them be more efficient.

You'll also have fewer overlap lines (called lap marks) with the 18-inch version compared to the standard 9-inch roller. This results in more uniform coverage. When you don't have full paint saturation on the entire length of the roller or when the paint on the wall is drying faster than you can apply a wet coat, these lines may appear. With the wider roller, you'll have fewer lines. It has twice the length and allows you to work faster before the wall begins to dry. For pros, using the wider roller is a wall-painting hack for quick results that also look amazing.

Beyond quickly covering a lot of area, professional painters choosing an 18-inch roller receive a few other benefits. Most 18-inch roller frames include a threaded end that allows you to attach an extension pole. If you're trying to paint quickly, the last thing you want to do is waste time climbing up and down a ladder in a tall room. Using an extension pole with the 18-inch roller allows you to stay on the ground and work more efficiently (and more comfortably). A 9-inch roller also allows you to use an extension pole, but the wider unit lets you work faster with the pole. Because the 18-inch roller is noticeably heavier when full of paint than the 9-inch version, it may take some practice to learn to apply the necessary force while balancing it properly at the end of the extension pole.

Pros who use a sprayer to do walls and ceilings like to use an 18-inch roller for a technique called back rolling. Using an airless sprayer doesn't always ensure the paint covers a surface evenly. It lands on slightly raised areas and may not completely fill cracks or slightly depressed areas. By back rolling, you smooth out the coverage and eliminate any spots where the sprayer may have applied too much or too little paint. Since you don't have to stop and load more paint, using the wide design makes the back rolling process go significantly faster.

You might expect the 18-inch roller to let you finish the paint job twice as fast as the 9-inch model, as it has twice the surface area. While it should let you finish the job faster, it takes some practice to use it efficiently. It may feel awkward to use at first, especially for a DIYer. It's a heavy roller, so you may get tired muscles faster, forcing you to work slower. You'll still have to switch to a smaller roller for corners, areas around trim, and in close quarters, which slows you down.

If you already have some paint gear at home you've used with 9-inch designs, you'll have to purchase new gear to use the 18-inch unit. One 18-inch tray kit with disposable liners costs around $45. You'll also need to buy an 18-inch frame, which has a U-shape and supports the roller on both ends (the roller slides over the single open end of the 9-inch frame). You might pay $20 to $25 for an 18-inch frame.

Painters who use a bucket and roller grid instead of a paint tray won't typically have that option with the 18-inch roller. The opening of a standard 5-gallon bucket cannot normally accommodate the length of the wider design. However, you could purchase a special-sized bucket designed to hold 5 gallons that will fit the wider roller for about $60.