Fed up with spending hours cleaning roller sleeves over his 30+ years as a professional painter and worried about watching so much paint going down the drain, Brett Stanley took matters into his own hands.
Search the internet and you’ll find dozens of videos on how to clean paint rollers. Most involve a lot of water, numerous different makeshift cleaning tools, and a massive amount of paint wastage.
Stanley wanted something that quickly removed as much paint as possible from the sleeve.
The experienced painter searched for just the right tool for the job. He couldn’t find one so he decided to make his own. He played with different materials. After testing stiff materials he found that a little bit of give meant that the tool flexed to fit any size roller, getting right into the fibres and removing more paint.
A trip to a trade show in the USA further developed the concept. The Americans’ love of multi-purpose tools got Stanley thinking about what other essential tools painters need. It was then that the Rolla-wipa™ evolved to become a 3 in 1 solution:
- An effective paint can opener,
- a stirring stick that gets right to the edges of the tin
- and of course the roller cleaner.
Robust testing has proven that Rolla-wipa™ removes 77% of paint from the roller. One use puts enough paint back in the tin to paint a door.
Think about what impact this has if every time you finish a day of painting your returning that paint to the tin and not flushing down the drain into the environment.
It’s not just for paint either, Rolla-wipa™ works with any product that you apply with a roller, large or small. Whether you’re a professional, or you have a DIY or renovation project in mind, imagine how much easier your clean up could be.
Stanley’s product is available online at Rolla-wipa.com and at hardware stores throughout New Zealand.