Prepping a house for sale can be a huge undertaking. There are little issues you live with everyday that become very obvious and there are the obvious projects you’ve been putting off until a later date. Suddenly, “later” is now and you are faced with a To-Do list 8 pages long. Or maybe that is just us. No matter how long anyone’s “To Do” list may be, most of us can agree that we love finding products that can save time and money. To that end, I decided to try a product I had seen in the home improvement stores – the Wagner SmartRoller Auto Paint Roller.
The project consists of a single individual (me!) applying two coats of paint to approximately 600 square feet of stomp-textured ceilings and 400 square feet of interior walls. I usually don’t mind painting, but I hate painting textured ceilings!! It takes so much paint to cover textured ceilings and that paint splatters every which way, so I usually end up wearing almost as much as the ceiling. One plus for this particular project is that the carpets are being replaced in a majority of the area being painted, so I don’t have to worry about covering the floors. With such a large area to cover, I initially contacted professional paint services, hoping for an miraculously reasonable quote. Unfortunately, that particular miracle did not occur. Instead, I invested $25.99 in the Wagner SmartRoller. I finally decided to see if and how well it worked, so I pulled out the instructions and away I went.
You can skip my play-by-play, and go straight to my Bottom Line.
The SmartRoller package comes with a fill tube, roller arm assembly and fully assembled handle, also included is a 9″ x 3/8″ roller cover. The thicker 9″ x 3/4″ roller cover for textured ceilings is sold separately. You have to use roller covers specifically designed for this equipment because they have dozen of little holes throughout for the paint to feed through from the roller arm assembly.
The directions are straight-forward and since the handle comes fully assembled, you only have to attach the roller arm assembly to the main handle and secure the roller cover to the assembly. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t secured the roller cover properly, however, and it fell into the paint bucket – Operator Error. It is very easy to fill the main tube: Clip fill tube to paint bucket, press fill valve onto tube and pull the plunger back to fill the tube. Once I had the handle filled and ensured the roller cover was secured, I headed to the family room with delusions illusions of grandeur! Then I realized, “This thing is HEAVY!”
The handle reservoir holds 22 oz of paint, which may not seem like much weight but add it to the base weight and continuously lift it over your head and become quite a workout. Not only is it weighty, but it’s also a bit unwieldy. In order to get paint to the roller cover, you have to squeeze the trigger, which forces paint from the handle reservoir through the roller arm assembly in into the roller cover. The trigger always seemed to be facing an inconvenient direction because the locking collar that holds that trigger assembly to the handle often worked itself loose. It takes a little practice to get comfortable with weight and operation of the product.
I used a lot of paint. The Wagner website states that one full reservoir will cover 70 square feet. I did an area of about 200 square feet. By those figures, I think I should only have filled up approximately 3 times, however, I filled up 6 times.
About halfway through, I noticed the tube wasn’t filling, so I read the “troubleshooting” portion of the manual which suggested the fill valve may be clogging, so I followed their directions to clear it and it was fine for a few more fills. However, the last time I refilled, paint poured from the fill valve when I squeezed the trigger. I am so thankful the carpets are being replaced. I stuck a plastic straw into the fill valve and that must have cleared whatever caused the paint to leak out, because I was able to continue. Figuring the fill valve probably needed cleaned, and with burning shoulders and growling tummy, I decided to quit for the day. I knew that meant I would need to tackle cleaning this thing sooner rather than later and assumed it would take a good bit of time.
Surprisingly, clean up went much smoother and quicker than I anticipated. I had originally thought I would buy the SmartRoller, do all the ceilings and then throw it away. Having only been able to get about 1/3 of the ceilings done on my first attempt, that plan went out the window. So, cleaning was necessary and the manual provided fairly clear instructions on how to do this. I drew and ejected soapy water into the handle reservoir about 10 times and then did the same with clear water, I ran water through the roller arm, and pieces of the fill valve. It took me about 20 minutes to clean the SmartRoller. I may have been a bit overzealous cleaning the paint reservoir, but I wanted to ensure there would be no paint or soap residue left over next time I use it. There will be a “next time”, even with my particular difficulties using the SmartRoller.
The Wagner SmartRoller did not fully meet my expectations, however, I may have been expecting too much. My Delusions Illusions of Grandeur saw me, alone, painting the ceilings of 3 rooms, approximately 500 square feet, in 1 day, which is a bit unrealistic, I have to admit.
The Bottom Line
I think the Wagner SmartRoller is a bit heavy and awkward and paint splatters everywhere. Unfortunately, painting ceilings is a messy, inconvenient job.
I used more paint than the manufacturer stated I should have, but textured ceilings generally eat more paint and ours haven’t been painted for at least 13 years (and are sooty from the fireplace in the room).
The leaking paint from the fill valve could have been a huge mess and I admit I was ready to throw the SmartRoller away at that moment However, in my situation, the accident didn’t cause any long-term damage and was easily remedied.
I was not looking forward to cleaning the SmartRoller, as I assumed the task would take a lot of time and effort, but I was surprised that it was quick and easy.
Now that I know the quirks of the SmartRoller, I will be better prepared for next time. The more I think about the mess and inconvenience of using traditional paint trays and rollers, the more convinced I am that the SmartRoller is the way to go for ceilings and large jobs.
Even if I still wind up wearing as much paint as the ceiling.
