---
title: 'How to paint walls. How to paint a wall using a roller. Best Technique.'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=YXa8qsC5xws'
video_id: 'YXa8qsC5xws'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 594
---

# How to paint walls. How to paint a wall using a roller. Best Technique.

> Source: [How to paint walls. How to paint a wall using a roller. Best Technique.](https://youtube.com/watch?v=YXa8qsC5xws)

## Summary

This video demonstrates the proper technique for rolling a wall, focusing on achieving a smooth, professional finish. The presenter covers cutting in, loading the roller, rolling patterns, and handling obstacles like power points. The key is to avoid paint buildup at edges and to perform a final lay-off pass for a uniform look.

### Key Points

- **Cut In First** [0:24] — Always cut in the edges (paint a border around ceiling, corners, and trim) before rolling to ensure clean lines.
- **Start Away from Edge** [1:26] — Start rolling about 6 inches away from the edge to avoid a thick buildup of paint in the corner.
- **Don't Roll to Top/Bottom on First Pass** [1:56] — On the first pass, stop a few inches short of the top and bottom to prevent paint ridges at the edges.
- **Second Pass: Full Length** [2:17] — On the second pass, extend the roller all the way to the top and bottom, back-rolling over the previous section to blend.
- **Handle Power Points** [5:02] — Cut around power points and light switches with a brush just before rolling that section for a neat finish.
- **Final Lay-Off** [7:36] — Perform a final lay-off pass by rolling the entire wall from bottom to top in one continuous motion to smooth the finish.
- **Overlap When Laying Off** [8:18] — Always overlap strokes by about 50% when laying off to avoid visible lines.

## Transcript

[Music]
now today i'm just going to do a demo on
how to roll a wall
now these walls are basically in pretty
poor condition
basically i'm just going through and
re-coating it because it's a rental
house
now when you're doing a wall
the first thing you'll need to do is go
through and cut it in
now as i said this is a pretty bad
condition and actually when they painted
the green last time they took the green
onto the under edge of the actual
cornice so i've actually gone around and
just painted that green as well just so
when the walls finished it looks nice
and neat
so the first thing you'll need to do is
go through and cut it all in
and then start rolling
now generally when rolling make sure you
have your roller tray close by
um you don't want it on the other side
of the room i've seen people sort of
walk around a room and leave the roller
tray in one position you need to
actually have the roller tray close by
at the end of the job it saves quite a
bit of time
so first thing to do
is to give the roller a good dip
now normally i use 14 inch rollers but i
know a lot of people out there only use
um like 11 inch so
i'll do this with an 11 inch roller
so you know what you're doing
now when you start
always start away from the edge
if you start right in the edge you'll
end up with a big thick lot of paint
right in the corner and you won't be
able to actually work that paint out so
stay away from the corner go up
go down
now that's taken a fair bit of paint off
the roller i'll go into the edge
and then come back down
then i'll just work to the sides
now when i feel the roller getting dry
i'll stop
now at this point i haven't gone all the
way to the bottom or all the way to the
top
because every time you roll you when you
stop
you'll leave a little bit of a build up
of paint
and you don't want that build up right
on the top
so when you're rolling
don't roll all the way to the top all
the way the bottom straight away
once that's done i'll go back
through and this time i'll take it all
the way to the top
and all the way to the bottom
now while i'm doing this i'm basically
back rolling the paint
so there you go i've taken that to the
top i'll roll over that again in a
minute but i'll do another dip
so once again i'll start away from where
i just rolled
i'll work some paint out this way first
and then i'll work in
back into
what i've just rolled
and once again
i'm not going to the top nor to the
bottom
now that i feel this sufficient paint
off the roller
i'll back roll over this again now when
i say that there's still
lots of paint in there
if i want to force it all out
but you don't
force all the paint out the roller
so starting from the bottom
again i'll go up the top
come back down
from the bottom again
up to the top
back down
same again i've swapped sides you might
have to see a little bit better
so once again i'll repeat the same
process
plenty of paint on the roller
start away from where i'll finished
spread the paint out
roll back into what i've just done
keep spreading it
so now i'll start back here again
if i go the other way you might see
better
from the bottom to the top and back down
bottom
to top
back down
same again
now
i've done that i'm still going to go
back over the whole wall in a minute
now when you have power points or light
switches in the middle of the room or
middle of the wall
i find sometimes it's better
to actually cut around it just before
you roll
so silly me
left the paint on the other side of the
room
so what i'll do
is i'll quickly cut around this
now you can tape the whole thing but i
generally just cut around it
lay it off lightly
and now i'll roll that
now once again i'll load the roller
but there's not quite as much wall to
roll so i'll put a little bit less on
the roller
and hopefully i'll have enough
so once again
spread the paint
lucky me the roller goes between the
power point and the wall
oops this time i went to the top which i
should move but i did
this
roll of dip hasn't got as much paint on
it
as a previous one because i don't want
to have too much paint there
now around power points
i would suggest you roll as close as you
can
to leave it nice and neat
so once again
i'll go from the top
bottom sorry to the top
now here's the awkward one sometimes
when you're doing around power points
etc
you bring the roller down and then it's
best to actually
paint again
either side
so the rolling
when you're rolling it you don't leave
with a stop mark with a roller just
there
like if i come up the wall
and stop
there'd be slight mark there
so
what you should do
is do that first
that first
and then go either side
whoops
either side if you don't hit it like i
just did
either side of the light switch or power
point
okay
so now that's done i'm just going to go
quickly go back and lay the whole wall
off
now depending on whether
on a hot day
you want to do this probably
roll half a wall then lay it off being a
little bit cooler
this should be fine now i'll start from
the bottom once again
go up
and come down
and what this will do
is it will smooth
the finish off slightly
now every time i stop i take the roller
off the wall slightly
from the bottom it's taken off up top
back down
take the roller off
and each time
i'm still overlapping
you must overlap when you're rolling off
and as you see i'm doing this reasonably
quick
i actually have a thoughts appointment
in about five minutes so i better hurry
so
that's how you lay the wall off
so what you'll find is weather
conditions etc will vary when it comes
to laying it off
but if you look at the wall now it's got
a more solid finish to it
so hopefully um
that will help next time you're rolling
a wall
now also down there if you're a bit
unsure you haven't gone low enough
you can also
get the roller
and go sideways like so but if you do
that you do it before you lay the wall
off
so in this case i'm just going to blend
that back in
this is only first coat so it's not
going to matter so
much so there you go
that's just been a bit of a demo on how
to roll a wall
[Music]
you