The Different Types of Professional Home Paintbrushes

While the art of painting a home requires ample skill and finesse, it’s the quality of the painter’s brushes that truly make the results stand out. Whether it’s their materials or their overall style, each aspect caters to a specific type of painting and only a few can yield the results you want for a project. This is why it’s important that industry professionals always come equipped to handle a particular job. Knowing about these tools can also help you understand how they contribute to the finished product. These are the different types of professional home paintbrushes that experts use and where they’re most effective.

Top Brush Materials

To the untrained eye, brushes often appear the same. However, if you take a closer look, you’ll realize that paintbrushes are comprised of different materials to best suit the type of paint they’ll be used with. Knowing which bristles work most effectively with certain paint products is typically half the battle when the project begins, and professionals need to commit them to memory. Listed below are the primary resources to keep in mind.

Synthetic Bristles

Synthetic bristled brushes are built using man-made resources such as nylon or polyester. They work incredibly well with a variety of different paints because they’re non-absorbent and easy to clean. However, some perform better in certain situations than others.

Specifically, brushes made of nylon are more often recommended for water-based paints since they’re better at holding onto products with a looser texture. They can also be used with oil paints—which are very popular along interior walls—but aren’t always the preferred method with these formulas.

Polyester brushes, on the other hand, are considered to be the more durable option of the two because the bristles are firmer, and they resist sticking. This is why they’re the most recommended tool to use when working with thicker latex paints. They’re capable of holding their shape through the different rigors of the application process as well. As such, they coat paint smoothly on a surface and ensure that the layer is even.

Natural Fibers

Natural fiber bushes are another popular option for professionals as they’re considered the most effective way to apply oil-based paints, stains, and clear-coat products. Because they’re made from harvested animal hairs, these bristles are capable of holding onto more paint and applying it in effortless strokes. The split ends that develop naturally along these brushes as they age further increases the amount of paint they can hold onto at a given time. This makes them highly effective at catering to a larger surface area.

Different Brush Sizes

The overall size of a paint brush is also an important feature to keep in mind. This aspect affects everything from the amount of paint a painter can apply at a given time to how precise they can make their lines. For this reason, it’s common to see professionals with brushes in several different sizes just in case they should need them. Below are the standard brush dimensions used in the industry.

One- and Two-Inch

The smallest paintbrushes that can be used for residential painting, single- and double-inch models are meant to be used on smaller surfaces or tight corners. For example, they’re typically used around window frames and other areas with small sections of trim.

Three-Inch

Brushes that are three inches wide are used for painting slightly larger objects such as doors and cabinets. They’re great for covering a larger surface area while maintaining the ability to hone in one the finer details when necessary. It’s important to mention, though, that smaller brushes are typically best for detail work.

Four-Inch

Brushes that are fourinches or longer are simply meant to hold and apply as much paint as possible in a few strokes. They allow painters to fill a designated area at a faster rate while minimizing the amount of effort they need to exert to do so. Such brushes are essential when painting an interior wall or exterior siding.

Professional Brush Styles

No guide to the different types of professional home paintbrushes would be complete without discussing their various styles. Not all paintbrushes are designed to apply a large quantity of paint. Believe it or not, many are simply meant to perform correction work or establish small details in the finished product. Bristles can be cut to accommodate these functions, and this is what we refer to as the brush’s overall style. Here are some examples to consider.

Angle Slash

Angle slash brushes have their bristles cut at a sharp slant to assist with cornering techniques. They allow the painter to spread the paint in the tightest of spaces and create a clean, crisp look when finished. Angle slash models can hold significantly more paint than thinner brushes, although thin-angle slash brushes are more effective at reaching the deepest corners.

Flat Sash

Flat sash brushes, conversely, don’t have their bristles cut at all. Instead, they promote a straight edge that establishes even lines over a flat surface. These tools also come in various sizes to suit the dimensions of the surface area. They’re great at covering a smaller surface area as well.

Trim

Trim brushes work better on larger, flat surfaces that require a lot more paint. They also have a straight edge and work especially well on exterior siding panels. These brushes are known to increase the amount of control a painter has over their work due to their finer tip.

Wall

Wall brushes are among the most commonly used style for professionals because they’re wide, thickly bristled, and boast maximum coverage. This allows the painter to load it up with much more paint than the other brush types and apply it smoothly. These models can be used on any type of home painting job and have the most versatility.

So, as you can see, professional home painters use a series of different brushes to create the stunning results you’re after. As such, it often takes someone experienced with these tools to know when each is most effectively used and how to properly apply paint with them. At Bear Mountain Custom Painting, we’re proud to say that we have some of the best painters in the business. In fact, our home exterior painting services in Cumming, GA are considered among the highest quality offered in the area. Because of this, you can be rest assured that we’ll approach your project with all the necessary equipment in-hand.