Why can I see roller marks after I painted?

Question

I just painted a wall and now that it is dry I can see roller marks. Not ridge lines where I got to much paint but it looks like two different shades of the same color. What did I do to cause it and how can I prevent it?

Answer 1

Most likely, you tried to cover too much area between dunks of the roller in the paint. The later strokes have less paint, so you're seeing some of the underlying color come through, whether it's primer or another layer of paint.

Some tips that might help:

• go back to the roller tray more often. FWIW, I generally do four to five strokes with the roller between dunks, and do three overlapping sections over the height of the wall, so maybe 10-15 sq.ft. per dunk.
• I always count on doing a second coat. I prefer a couple of thin coats to one thick coat; after the first one has dried, it gives you a chance to see where you need to pay special attention on the next coat, and (for me anyway) it's difficult to get an even coat.
• with a freshly-dunked roller, I will start a couple of feet over from where I stopped the previous time, roll back towards that point until I overlap, then change direction and roll until I've gone a couple of feet past where I started.

Answer 2

It seriously helps to paint in different light. Paint a section, then quickly turn the light off, (assuming your windows are open the ambient light should be sufficient) and look at the section you just painted as a few different angles. And repeat.

Also change the roll length and angle, don't just paint in vertical strips( this will make deformities more obvious) but instead paint in a curve and roll back under it. Still cover all the area that you would normally cover in a small section, but change up the direction, all while without over coating an area. This a fairly complicated maneuver, but I have gotten away with painting a thin white coat in a room without a second coat and it appears prefect, even under direct light