Redecorating - I may be on this board a lot! First, any tips for cleaning paint brushes?

[FlyLikeABird]

I'm re-doing all of the interior decor in my house. It looks ok from afar but I'm picky and can see all the lumps and bristles in the paintwork and the crappy workmanship throughout.

I've had artex covered by a plasterer (so worth it - the artex removing stuff was rubbish), I've sanded, I've primed, I've cleaned, I've heat gunned, it's all at that horrible prep stage but I'm about to get to the fun parts - painting. So I've just a 10L tub of white matt for ceilings and first layers, some diamond matt stuff for the heavy traffic areas and a nice cream coloured matt for the more snuggly rooms. It won't be bland, I will have colour in the soft furnishings!

However I've not been happy with the water based satinwood I've used so far so have switched to oil based and love the finish and how it goes on. I don't love cleaning the brushes though So I've got white spirit and turps, jam jars, washing up liquid for finishing.

How do you seasoned DIYers clean your oil based paint brushes? I can just about cope with water based paint brush cleaning but these oily ones are doing my nut. I just don't feel I get the brushes really clean. To be honest I wouldn't normally be too bothered as I used cheap brushes but I've invested in some better brushes and want to look after them.

Another brush question... pro's seem to have 'trimmed' brushes, is this my imagination or do the trim off those weird stray bristles that seem to go in odd directions?

for oil paint put the brushes in a jar of paraffin immediately after using. next day the paint will fall out, and you can dry them off on newspaper, and finish off with brush cleaner (or, if in a hurry, white spirit) to rinse off the paraffin.

After the paint residue has settled to the bottom, pour off the paraffin into a clean jar for future use.

Learn to drill a hole in the handle so you can put a long nail through it so the nail sits on the rim of the jar and the bristles do not touch the bottom where they will bend and lie in paint residue.

Genius! I'll do that. I avoided painting today as couldn't face the brush cleaning!

Forgot to say thanks PigletJohn

Never tried paraffin and pigletjohn sounds like she/he's talking about. But my quick way is dunk in white spirit and get rid of as much paint as possible, then put washing up liquid directly on to the brush. Rub it in then rinse off in water.

Sounds like she/he knows what she's talking about*

Also you don't have to clean your brushes every day when using oil paint, you can wrap brushes in cling film (and even leave overnight) if you are part way through a job. My sister is a decorator and she does this all the time.

It's worth buying good brushes, did you use synthetic bristle brushes for the water based paint as they give the best results? Oil paint is best applied with natural bristle brushes.

Wrap them in cling film if you need to stop. Then, when the job is finished, bin them! Not very Eco friendly but life is too short for cleaning paintbrushes covered in oil based paint. I do wash water based paint though!!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to continue stripping with my heat gun then have a painting session at the weekend (and will wrap my brushes). Did a windowsill today, sooo satisfying

This house will be finished one day !!!

I used to do what Yamyoid does. Now I do what MrsApplepants does. 10 rooms down, 1 to go. It WILL be done by Christmas!