1. Will the brush you are considering, pick up and release paint well? How well it holds and releases paint will make a big difference in how long it takes to complete your house painting project.
2. How long will the bristles last. Nylon is the longest-wearing filament used in brushes.
3. How well can the paint brush be tipped? Tipping affects how a brush will spread paint. The tip of the bristles varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some sand the end of the bristles so they are not just a blunt end. Some actually split the tips of the bristle through an abrading method. This makes a difference in how well it holds paint and how evenly the paint brush will spread paint.
4. You should consider how flexible the brush is. A paint brush with proper flex distributes paint more evenly. The brush will also maintain its shape better and give you better control while painting.
5. If you are pushing, pulling or flinging, and spattering paint then you lack proper control. To prevent these problems, invest in good quality brushes. This is the pay off. You save a lot of time.
6. What type of finish you want to achieve? Do you want a fine or course finish? A softer finer filament that has a more finely finished tip will produce a smoother finish. Another payoff is: it will reduce how many times you have to dip the brush. This is another time saving feature.
7. You must consider what type of paint you will be using the brush in. Will you be using oil based paint or latex? Generally you will want to use nylon in latex paint only and China Bristle for oil paint. Even though there is nylon polyester mix brushes on the market that say you can use them in either latex or oil, I find you are better off using China Bristle for oil paints. The solvents needed to clean oil paint out of your brush don't seem to damage the China Bristle brushes. However, solvents will impact the quality of nylon bristles over time. Also I find that oil paint cleans out of China Bristle brushes in less time than nylon.
8. Be sure and buy the right size brush. The bigger the brush the more paint it will hold, but there are things to consider here.
A. For wide open areas, a brush needs to pick up and hold a lot of paint. You will also want the brush to spread paint evenly as you spread the paint over a distance. This reduces dip and spread time which in turn shortens the time it takes to complete your project. For optimum results, you should consider purchasing several different size brushes. For siding I recommend a 31/2 inch brush. This seems to be an ideal size for siding. The 31/2 inch holds a lot of paint and yet it is not as cumbersome as the 4 inch brush.
B. For trim I recommend a 21/2 or 3 inch sash brush. The angle cut of the sash brush improves your painting performance on trim. The angle and density of bristle of a sash brush make painting trim easier and more efficient. A smaller sash brush is more productive for trim work, where accuracy is needed. The sash brush will make your job of cutting in the trim much cleaner, faster and far less headache than the larger brushes. Don't use a 21/2 inch sash brush on large wide open areas where you should be using a 31/2 or 4 inch brush for production runs.
