The ROTA! Concave Superfine Foam roller sleeve is one of the best innovations within the 4-inch roller refill market. It’s called the Concave Foam roller because its ends are bevelled to eliminate unwanted tramlines, making it ideal for painting corners.
Common concave rollers can be infuriating to use as they are often inefficient. Repeatedly I would end up spending extra time correcting tramlines that the roller left behind and rather than saving time, they would actually waste more.
As I’m always on the lookout for products that improve work efficiency and decrease my overall time and costs spent on a project, I decided to test the concave foam roller by ROTA!.
Ciret, who have developed the ROTA!, Kana, masq and prep brands, recommend using the foam sleeves with gloss, primer, varnish and all oil and solvent based paint on flat surfaces. The innovative product, which has a DuPont patent, is 20% more efficient than standard mini foam refills due to its large working width.
To thoroughly test this product, I decided to trial it on a delicate kitchen project that needed to be hand painted. As always, I started the project by covering all areas that needed to be protected during painting, followed by the appropriate preparation of all surfaces to ensure the perfect base before applying the primer coat.
I used the Concave Foam roller to apply an oil-based primer and I then finished off the kitchen units with two applications of a high-quality topcoat. I was hoping to get a finish that could almost mirror a spray finish without leaving too many brush marks. Well, the Concave Foam sleeve did not disappoint. The final results were incredible and extremely close to a spray finish with oil-based paints, however in this instance it was more feasible to use a 4” roller.
Its paint pick-up was phenomenal and made the paint stretch further than any other similar roller sleeve. Moreover, the shed free, high-density foam material left a fantastic smooth finish.
Needless to say, my client was pleased with the end result and the most enjoyable aspect for me was that I didn’t have to re-roll as there weren’t any nasty tramlines. The project was a real success, resulting in a happy client and a satisfied decorator.
Overall, I would rate the ROTA! Concave Roller sleeve as one of the best, if not THE best, foam mini roller sleeves on the market. Anyone who is looking for a great 4” roller with bevelled ends should try this product and they won’t be disappointed.
