LESLIE: Sandy in New York finds The Money Pit on WABC. What can we do for you today?
SANDY: Hi, I just finished painting my kitchen cabinets inside and out and some of the outside came out OK but some of it, it seems like part of the roller – the fuzz from the roller – came off.
LESLIE: Oh, you see some of the nap or the hair in the paint.
SANDY: (overlapping voices) Nap, exactly.
LESLIE: Do you see the fibers or you just see the sort of the pattern that they made?
SANDY: Yeah, it looks like little pieces or dots or something on the outside. It looks ugly.
TOM: Yeah, did you use new rollers?
SANDY: All new rollers.
TOM: Huh. That’s rather unusual …
SANDY: Is it?
TOM: … for it to come and I can’t imagine – I don’t think it’s ever happened to me. But you know, if you had a bad roller I guess it’s possible. Unfortunately now, if it’s embedded into the paint and the paint is dry, there’s nothing that you can do short of sanding it down to a flat surface and putting an additional coat on.
LESLIE: Yeah, redoing that area.
TOM: If you want to be super sure to not have the problem again …
SANDY: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … try the foam rollers. I think it gets pretty smooth, yeah.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Foam rollers give a very smooth finish.
SANDY: Do they?
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: Oh, yes. Sometimes they give a little bit of texture, depending on how hard you press into it as you’re rolling …
SANDY: Oh, I see.
LESLIE: … but it’s really great for smooth surfaces to get a nice, good flow of paint and make things look really even.
SANDY: (overlapping voices) Can I go over this with a foam roller once I sand it …?
TOM: Yeah, absolutely.
LESLIE: Oh, yeah.
TOM: And it’s also nice for a small project like a kitchen cabinet where you don’t want to use a big 12-inch-wide roller. You can use the smaller ones that are only about four inches wide. Lot easier –
LESLIE: Yeah, the little hotdog roller.
TOM: – Yeah, a lot easier to handle.
LESLIE: Also Sandy, make sure that when you sand down the area that’s giving you some trouble, as you’re repainting on top of the area that was problematic and then area around it, make sure you sort of feather your paint out around it so you don’t end up with this harsh line of where the new paint job and the old paint job are.
SANDY: When you say feather it what do you mean?
LESLIE: Take – you know, roll it out and then take a brush and sort of wisp it away into the paint that’s already there.
SANDY: Oh, I see. OK.
LESLIE: So it’s not just a harsh line. Let it sort of flow loosely into the other one.
SANDY: I got you. OK, I’ll try that. And what number sand paper should I use?
TOM: About 150 first and then I would do a second sanding with about 220.
SANDY: OK, great. Oh, that sounds terrific. I’ll give it a shot.
TOM: Oh and by the way, Sandy, make sure you use a tack cloth to pull out all of that dust before you start on the second one.
SANDY: (overlapping voices) Oh, yeah. I do; I have some left.
TOM: Alright, good girl. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
SANDY: (overlapping voices) Thanks so much.
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