Roll with it: we tested paint rollers to find the best for the job

We tested a range of 9in (230mm) and 10in (254mm) paint rollers available from a range of high-street and online-only DIY or paint specialist stores that are readily available to buy. 

The paint rollers were tested to paint the walls and ceiling in my son’s bedroom. The walls are in good condition, so I didn’t need to fill holes or fix peeling paint. 

My partner also tested them in the same room to get a balanced view of how they measured up against the criteria set.  

As I was only painting one room, I started by doing a large patch test for each. I made sure to roll the rollers the same number of times, in the same direction. I then used each roller again (the same number of times) to get a feel for how they’d work if I’d used them to paint an entire room. 

When I’d finished painting, I wrapped each roller in a bag and cleaned them a day and half after I’d used them. In each case, I followed tips on how to clean rollers. I assigned six minutes to clean each roller to make it fair. Each one was left to dry in the same room.  

• I used medium-pile rollers for the decorating job I was doing. 
• I used water-based matt emulsion paint suitable for the rollers tested. 
• As I also have tennis elbow, I took this into consideration when testing the rollers.  

The soft-to-the-touch bamboo handle and duck egg blue pile gives this paint roller from Coat a premium aesthetic. It looks like it means business. And it didn’t disappoint.  

The roller felt really comfortable to hold. The bamboo handle is slightly tapered towards the frame end and is chunky enough to hold firmly and securely for a good grip. The frame and handle are light too, which meant the repetition of rolling didn’t aggravate my elbow injury. 

The roller doesn’t come with an extension arm, so I did have to use it while up a ladder, yet I didn’t feel I had to apply much more pressure to the roller to apply paint to the wall because the absorbency and application were so good. There was zero dripping or splattering from the roller, so a great result there. 

When I came to roll the roller in the paint tray it rotated all the way around so there was consistent coverage. This made reapplication quick and easy. The 10mm (0.4in) medium pile instantly absorbed the paint with no congealing or blobbing on the roller.  

As soon as I rolled it onto the wall, the paint went on extremely smoothly. It was very similar to how the Harris roller (see below) distributed the paint, but the Coat roller just had the edge. The paint went on flat with no marks or bobbling, which you sometimes get with paint rollers. You often find yourself having to roll over the paint a few times to flatten it in. 

One thing I did notice, having used the roller several times, was that after a while, the pile looked less compact at one end. It had started to lift slightly. Gently rolling the roller a few times in succession on some cardboard helped to smooth it down a bit. But the ruffled pile didn’t affect the application. 

This roller was also my partner’s favourite for application and ease of use. He didn’t need to use two hands to apply any extra pressure. The paint also went on just as easily when he was rolling the top edge of the walls without a ladder as it did when he used it on the middle and bottom of the wall. I did use two hands to paint the harder to reach areas closer to the ceiling but didn’t have to apply loads of pressure to get the paint on the walls. It was more for stability. 

Overall, the Coat paint roller pipped the others to the number one slot because the paint went on consistently, achieving a beautifully flat, uniform finish with no imperfections. 

The smooth uniform application was premium as was the look and feel of the roller. The absorbency was very good and even. The kit is great and reasonably priced – excellent value for money. And let’s not forget the sustainability credentials – an ideal option if you’re looking for an ethical supplier that sells eco-friendly products.

There wasn’t much wrong with this roller. Yes, the pile became a little loose, but it didn’t affect the performance of the roller. The absorbency did make the roller a little hard to clean, but this isn’t surprising considering it picks up and holds paint so well. It was slightly easier to clean than the Harris model, and it dried slightly quicker. 

As soon as I unwrapped this Harris roller it looked premium. It’s a medium pile and has a large diameter, which makes it look robust and up to the job.  

The size of the roller (in comparison to the others) made it look like it would be heavier. However, I was surprised when I picked it up that it felt the same weight as them. Adding the extension arm to the roller frame made it a little bit weightier, but it felt robust, and it didn’t particularly aggravate my tennis elbow.  

The medium pile picked up the paint well, although one pinch point was the roller didn’t spin in a full rotation very easily in the paint tray, so it meant the coverage was slightly uneven. To resolve this, I had to tease the roller to ensure the whole surface was evenly covered before using it each time.  

However, paint didn’t clump together in blobs, and went on the roller cleanly. This meant the application of paint on the wall was even. The coverage was very good – smooth with no patchy finish. And the paint didn’t splatter or drip while rolling, so no worries about getting covered in specks of paint. 

I used the extension handle to paint to the top of the walls without climbing a ladder. I did find I had to use two hands to apply enough pressure to roller on a good amount of paint. However, doing this also teased out more paint from the very absorbent pile. 

One bug bear was that if I held the handle at the point where the extension arm screwed onto the frame (which happened to be the comfiest part for me), it kept unscrewing slightly. It wasn’t uncomfortable, more a nuisance as I had to stop and screw it back into position.  

My partner tried this roller and liked it. He preferred to use it without the extension handle – he’s (a short) 6ft and I’m (hovering around) 5ft 3in. The difference in our heights made an impact on how high we could reach with, or without, the extension handle, and how much pressure we needed to apply to the roller. He, too, thought the coverage was very good – smooth and even.  

The diameter of the roller was chunky and it gave great, even coverage. Being able to extend the handle easily, thanks to the accompanying screw-on extension arm, was a real bonus.  

Having to tease the roller round to cover it in paint was a bit faffy. The absorbency was great but that did make cleaning the roller a bit cumbersome. This wasn’t unexpected, though, as it picked up a lot of paint. It also took days to dry.

This roller definitely looked like a budget buy in comparison to the others but that certainly didn’t dampen its performance. Considering its low price of £6.50, I was impressed by how well the paint went on the wall. 

The roller rotated freely in the paint tray, so application was no problem. Absorbency was a little lacklustre – it didn’t pick up as much paint as the other rollers, and I had to reapply paint a few more times in between each application. However, in the patch test the coverage was noticeably good.  

The depth of paint wasn’t as thick as the Coat or Harris rollers but if you’re applying two coats then it’s not so bad. My partner and I both found that if we applied a bit more pressure to the roller, it helped tease out more paint and the application of colour was more even. 

It’s lightweight and I felt that this was one of the easiest rollers to use regarding comfort and grip – great for my tennis elbow. 

One slight nuisance was that the roller sleeve did start to slip off after some use. It’s a quick and simple thing to rectify but it was noticeable. The roller also became quite uneven – it ended up thicker at one end than the other. Applying pressure helped balance up the coverage when the roller was a bit wonky. 

My partner was impressed with this roller too. He was surprised that it didn’t spray or splatter paint, and liked how compressed the roller pile was. He liked the slender roller because it was easier to see how far away it was from the ceiling, which meant you could roll close to it without accidentally marking the freshly painted ceiling. 

The lack of absorbency had its plus side – it was less time-consuming to clean and dried quicker than the other brands. 

The coverage was good and not a million miles behind how the more premium brands faired. Great value for money and easy to clean.

The roller sleeve did keep slipping off and the roller itself became uneven, which knocked points off for robustness. I think you’d only use this roller if you were applying more than one coat of paint, as the depth of colour isn’t as good as the more absorbent premium rollers.

Draper has a whole raft of decorating tools for decorators, whether you’re in the trade or a DIYer. It’s another mini kit with frame, sleeve and tray included, so it’s not a bad price point. 

I really liked the size of this roller. It’s 9in (230mm) across but the core diameter was a decent size, which looked and felt substantial. The handle is robust, but I did find it on the heavy side, which didn’t suit my tennis elbow. Once the paint was on the roller, I found it a bit tiresome to roll and hold after a time, so doing the whole room with it may have been a struggle. But my partner didn’t find it heavy at all, and without an elbow injury, he found it fine to use. He liked the ergonomics of the handle and how it felt in the hand when using it. 

Again, as with the other rollers, paint didn’t drip as we rolled. The roller picked up the paint well when rolled in the paint tray. However, absorbency levels weren’t brilliant, so the roller had to be re-rolled in paint a lot sooner than some of the others.  

The lack of absorbency meant the coverage was a little patchy and blotchy but rolling over it a few times flattened the paint into the wall. Again, as with others, using two hands on the handle for extra pressure helped achieve a richer depth of colour on the wall.

My partner found using the roller in this way made the coverage less patchy, too, especially in the harder to reach areas. However, the extra work involved in having to flatten the paint in did mean it fell short on marks for coverage.  

The roller was noticeably easier to clean than some of the others, which I put down to it not being as absorbent as the Coat or Harris rollers. The roller was slightly misshapen after cleaning but not so when it had dried. It dried a lot quicker than some of the others – a benefit if you want to move onto the next bit of decorating.

The size of the roller was great. It was super easy to clean and very quick to dry.

Similar to the Homebuild roller, I think you’d only use this one if you were applying more than one coat of paint, as the depth of colour with the first coat isn’t as good as the more absorbent premium rollers.

Similar to the Draper, this B&Q own brand roller has a good core diameter – 1.8in (45mm) in fact – which made the product feel robust.  

And it was very similar to the Draper roller in all areas. The roller picked up paint well, but it did clump together, so I had to make sure I rolled it a few times in the tray to even the paint across the roller’s entire width.  

Coverage was average in the patch test. The roller certainly wasn’t as absorbent as the Harris or Coat brands, especially on the sides, where it seemed to wear thin first. We had to reapply paint more regularly to get enough on for even coverage. No dripping or splattering of paint, so again, a good result there. 

The frame felt one of the lightest to hold and use, which was great for my tennis elbow. It made light work of the rolling, even when I had to use two hands to add some pressure.  

My partner thought this was a decent roller and felt the same as me – that it was similar to the Draper roller in coverage. He agreed that it was lightweight and easy to use, too. 

As with a couple of the other rollers that you put onto a push and snap fit frame, it did start to slip off after some use. Not a major issue, more irritating when you’re in the middle of painting as it’s a faffy fix, trying to avoid getting paint all over your hands. 

On the plus side, the roller kept its shape the whole way through and looked the same at the end of the job as it did at the start, including the cleaning and drying process.  

It was really easy to clean and was one of the fastest to dry. Out of the rollers that started life white, it was the one which looked less green from the paint we’d used once it had been cleaned. 

As with the Draper and Homebuild varieties, we’d use this if we were applying more than one coat of paint, just because the depth of paint and coverage meant it needed another coat.

Light frame, easy to use and clean – was one of the fastest to dry.

Again, we’d only use if painting more than one coat as the coverage was average.

It may not be the biggest investment you make in your home, but the right roller can be the difference between a professional finish and a decidedly dodgy one. So before you pop one into your shopping basket, ask yourself the following:

Think about the size of the surface area you are painting because this will impact the size of the roller you opt for. Mini 4in (100mm) paint rollers are ideal for small areas, such as the narrow slithers of wall either side of a window.

If you’re painting a wall or ceiling, then a standard 9in (230mm) roller is ideal. Some have larger diameters so the width is also 9in – but the diameter could be 1.8in (45mm), like the Draper roller.

Paint rollers have different piles. A long-pile roller is ideal for use on textured walls and concrete. Whereas a medium pile is a good option for interior walls and ceilings that are generally smooth.

A short-pile roller is usually used with gloss paints when painting windowsills, for example. 

If you’re starting from scratch and don’t have much in the way of decorating tools, consider whether a kit is better value for money. The Coat kits start from £20. I had the £32 kit which came with a mini roller, paintbrushes, decorator’s tape and a tray. Look at whether buying what you need separately will cost more than buying a kit.  

It’s very handy having a kit that supplies more than one roller. If you’re painting walls in a different colour, such as green and white like we did, then it means you don’t have to buy a spare or wash one in between. Everything fits and works together, too.