Tools of the Trade: The Perfect Roller Nap for your paint

If you’ve ever stood frozen in place in front of a wall of brush naps you’re in the right place! There’s so many and they all look the same… how are you suppose to know which brand works best for which paint? Here’s the skinny: roller naps are made out of different materials and lengths… and each one is best for something.

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Roller Cover Material:

Nylon/Polyester Covers These babies are made of synthetic fibers… which is perfect for latex (waterbased) paint. The material resists matting and they hold their shape well for a smooth finish. Most roller covers are made of nylon or polyester unless stated otherwise… these are the bread and butter of the roller cover world.

Natural Fiber Covers Oil based paint (that cleans up with mineral spirits) need a special type of cover… one with natural fibers! Typically that means mohair or lambs wool… bonus these babies are super soft!

Blended Covers In a world of specific roller covers these babies are made from a blend of natural and synthetic fibers…These covers are multi-taskers and can be used with all paints. If you don’t paint often these babies are the perfect solution although they won’t perform quite as well as a natural fiber cover for oil or a nylon/poly cover for latex.

Roller Naps:

Nap is really just a fancy word for length… aka roller fiber length. When you hold a really fluffy roller cover against a really skinny short napped roller cover you’re comparing the length of the nap. Go figure!

1 ¼” Nap Length Now this is a fluffy roller! Typically you will only find this roller in a natural fiber like sheepskin (although every once in a while a nylon/polyester roller will be needed in this length). Thick naps like this inch and a quarter beauty are used for rough surfaces… something this long might be used to coat a an older deck with oil based stain. The long nap would be needed to get down into all of the groves and ridges that come along with a weathered deck surface.

1” Nap Length Similar to the 1 ¼” nap this baby is rarely reached for. Perfect for rough surfaces this guy is perfect when you need a long nap that leaves a smoother finish.

¾” Nap Length Now we are moving on to roller naps for medium textured surfaces… think stucco, ceiling texture… anything heavily textured without groves.

½” Nap Length is the perfect solution for walls or ceilings with light texture… think orange peel or surface texture. Just barely there texture!