just moving into a house and will need to freshen up most of the rooms in a ‘neutral natural hessian type stylee’

have used pads before and found them easy enough to use, no mess, rollers also easy enough but you always get the fine micro-splatter. so id have guessed pads. but, as they say, you never see a professional decorator using pads.

im guessing the pro’s will say rollers are better, and if so what do i invest in? gonna use water based paint as i seem to remember the last time i painted, pretty much everything i used had to be chucked away in the end cos i didnt clean it properly.

so….. whats my best options?

thanks

Rollers.

IME, Toolstation cheaper than Screwfix for decorating consumables. Don’t go crazy buying really expensive ones – better spend a few quid extra on synthetic brushes for your cutting in. Wrap in cling film overnight but once you’re done (with the roller) chuck it away. Once it’s been washed and dried, it’s never really the same again.

Make sure to buy 1¾” cages and sleeves, not 1½”. If you have a really large area to do, you can’t beat a 12″ roller with cage and pole. (I speak from having to roller finishes onto large floor areas…YMMV)

+1 on Toolstation, cheap sleeves & chucking away.

Rollers (I am not in the trade but never really had a problem with them diy).

The decorator we’ve used over the last couple of years is also a roller user if that helps.

Avoiding spatter is also about not overloading the roller ime.

I’ve always found that pads use a lot more paint.

Rollers for me. The basic Harris ones (blue lines) from B&Q give a decent finish. Clean them properly & they last ages too.

I’ve always found that pads use a lot more paint.

I would think this is one of the main reasons why professional decorators don’t use them. Also pads probably don’t last as long and might be more expensive(?)

Personally I prefer pads for DIY, as they’re very quick. But you do need smooth walls to start with.

Im a painter of 30yrs experience and would never use a paintpad, stick with a roller its the best , rollers come in all types of pile depending on surface, if its walls indoors then use a smoother pile roller head, b&q roller and tray are cheap and actually work well

thanks chaps, roller it is then. been to b&q this afternoon and got sorted. unfortunately i also decided i needed a longer pole for the ceilings, plus a radiator roller and masking tape and ended up spunking £16 😕
(no toolstation near us otherwise id have gone there)

cheers

EDIT: grrrr just googled toolstation to find out where my nearest one was, and found out ones opened up in our town closer than i actually travelled to b&q >-(