Stash Your Used Paint Roller In The Fridge. Here's Why

The best way to paint a wall with a roller according to professionals. But do you know what to do with the roller if you pause a paint job midway through? Most experts advise laboriously cleaning your roller of all paint before setting it aside for the day or stowing it in a plastic bag. The latter works fine for a roller you plan to use in a few hours but not for days. Science tells us that paint needs both ventilation and temperatures on the warmer side to dry. Deprive a paint-soaked roller of either of these factors — by, say, wrapping it in a plastic bag or cling wrap and putting it in the fridge — and your roller will stay damp enough to actually use any paint still on it until you come back to it days, possibly even weeks, later.

We already touched on how this hack helps you preserve the condition of your roller painting pauses over a few hours. As you likely already know, a dry roller is a useless roller. Stowing your equipment in the fridge also means you don't have to buy any new rollers, saving you dipping into your wallet and keeping more paint-covered, largely non-biodegradable tools out of landfills. Use this method to battle dreaded procrastination, too. There's no more excuses to leave a job half finished because you can't be bothered to clean out rollers or go to the store for more. Instead, just grab your fresh, ready-to-go tool from the fridge!

The same concept that lies behind why The Property Brothers recommend freezing your paintbrush lies behind this paint roller-in-the-fridge method. Paint dries and cures via a process called coalescence — essentially, water or solvent evaporation — that low temperatures slow. Ventilation is needed for drying and curing, too; it, conversely, speeds up evaporation. Incredibly, 10 gallons of paint will let go of half its volume in liquid once dry. Wrapping the roller in a non-porous material like plastic restricts airflow and prevents evaporation, slowing down the drying and curing rates significantly. Some people — like The Property Brothers above — recommend storing the roller in the freezer, but it's not a good idea. Freezing can change the consistency of paint stuck on the roller, making it thick or lumpy. Aim for a storage temperature between 50 degrees Fahrenheit and freezing for best results.

It's worth noting that not everyone agrees with this tip, despite it being so widely recommended. There are a few experts who claim that simply wrapping a roller (or paintbrush) in cling film or a plastic bag will suffice to keep it damp for hours to days to a week — no fridge required. There's also the issue of paint fumes escaping even the most careful wrapping and contaminating your food. Then there's the fact that humidity levels need to be over 80 percent to slow evaporation, whereas the recommended humidity levels of a household fridge are between 30 percent and 50 percent.

Really, the only way to determine if this DIY paint hack is worth trying in your home is to don a white coat and test it yourself. Some sources say to remove as much paint as possible from the roller before wrapping it up, while others say to dip it in paint. Experiment to find out which way works best for you, though the former is certainly less messy. Wrap it in cling film or a couple of plastic bags, securing the ends with wire ties or elastics. A sealable bag also works great for this purpose; you can even pop the roller tray in there, too. Still worried about a dry roller? Wrap it in a wet towel before coating it in plastic.

Don't have any plastic on hand? Some experts suggest using aluminum foil twisted tightly closed on each end. TikToker @thehomeimprovementsuk came up with a clever idea to punch a hole in the end of a Pringles can and slip it over the roller, snapping the lid back on the other. Up to two weeks is considered a reasonable time limit on how long is too long with regard to paint roller fridge storage. When you're ready to start painting again, take the roller out of the fridge at least a few hours in advance (leave it in the bag). This ensures the nap — the fluff that coats the roller — gets pliable enough to tackle the job at hand.