MAKE IT EASY (Paint Pads)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Paint Pads
Date:	10/05/05 (5546 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: EASY TO USE, EASY TO WASH

Disadvantages: HARD WITH OIL PAINTS

I have painted for most of my life, both for myself and for other people and am very acquainted with new products that come on the market as well as knowing a lot about painting techniques.

When I first saw Paintpads, I was a little cautious. They looked as if they could work, though a little voice inside me told me that my nine years of training preferred traditional methods such as rollers and paintbrushes.

Open to all new inventions, I decided that I would give this little gizmos a go, and in some ways was pleasantly surprised. These are made by Flock Development and Research Limited, and they have obviously done their homework. What they found was a marketplace for people who were inexperienced at painting, and the U.K. was an ideal place to launch a product like this, because many housewives take part in what has always been part of a way of life in England, people wanting change.

These products come in a range of all shapes and sizes, and each is designed for a different purpose. There are pads for flat areas, pads with more flocking for areas that are textured, pads that are angled to cope with corners where normally a roller would not go, and this space is normally tackled by a paintbrush.

The paint dispenser is a handy little bucket with something that ressembles a hamster wheel in the middle. The design of this is very good, because you simply roll your paintpad over the wheel, and it gives you sufficient paint without it being enough to spill.

For walls and ceilings, you can buy a telescopic handle so that you do not need to reach too much, and here the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in that by using pads as opposed to rollers, the weight factor comes into play and the paintpads win hands down against traditional rollers, in that their weight is less than half of the weight of a normal roller, thus making the whole job lighter and easier to manage without back strain.

The sash wand was interesting. This is a very small paintpad for areas such as window woodwork, where you really do not want paint to go onto the windows. It also works very well on small areas around light switches and is very easy to use, although here I find because of my experience, I prefer a brush, though for the inexperienced, these little gadgets are really well thought out.

There is another applicator for skirting boards, and because you apply the paint with a paint applicator, you are unlikely to stain areas below and above the skirting board, as only sufficient paint for the job in hand stays on the applicator.

AND THERE'S MORE

This idea took off and imagination got added to the range. They have now come up with a rounded applicator to deal with coving, an applicator for outside surfaces, a complete woodcare range, and sponges with which you can make tailor made pads to fit the job that you have in hand.

Something that impressed me enormously about this range of products and also the amount of thought that has gone into them is that the inventors realised that washing out paint pads into our household drainage systems was not such a good idea. To get around this, they invented a system called "Green British Painter" range. This is a superb range because instead of washing out, these are adhesive pads which throw away at the end of the job.

The company was also innovative enough to take into account that there are new paints hitting the market all the time, and they constantly update their products to match the paints which are now available.

Really the choice of products is endless. From £7.50 for mohair pads, to £15 for a beginners set of pads and accessories, the paint pad range is well within the reach of the average householder. I like the idea that you can buy adhesive pads, because I live in an area that has septic tanks, and washing out pads in the sink is not an option.

The hardest paint to remove from the pads has to be oiled based paints, though I do find that the small applicators needed for areas that are indeed painted in these paints are simple and easy to clean in white spirit, and then rinse in a bowl of hot soapy water, which I then throw away at the bottom of the garden, rather than into the septic tank !!

Overall, I think that the makers have put a lot of research into their product. I thought that I would find the experience of using them a novelty only, although I noticed a difference in back strain immediately. I noticed that coverage is excellent, and also that the applicator is superbly engineered in order to use the minimum of paint to the maximum of effect.

Whilst not completely convinced that I will swap completely from paintbrushes, I will use the specialised pads because they really do save time and give such a nice even finish.

www.paintpads.co.uk give all the relevant information on the products which are available and these are certainly worth looking into for someone who lacks confidence with painting work. You obtain even results fast, and the very fact that the paintpad has been designed with such thought means that there are no question marks about how much paint to put on a surface. The paint dispenser deals with this issue.

Overall a superb product and one that should not be dismissed lightly. There are cheaper versions available in hardware stores, although in my experience, you do get what you pay for, and if you want to experience the best you can get, then these products give you exactly what you would expect from a reputable dealer.

Happy painting folks.
Thanks for reading.

Rachel

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