3. Care and maintenance

How to maintain your
painting supplies

Our painting supplies are made to a high standard and, when properly looked after, will last a long time. We want you to use the same painting supplies over and over to create beautiful surroundings in different spaces.

Milieu paints are water-based, which means that only water is needed to wash your painting supplies. The easiest way is to wash them as soon as you’ve finished painting. However, please note that you shouldn’t wash your painting supplies directly under the tap or running water, as wet paint is classified as hazardous waste.

A.S.Helsingö Milieu painting supplies ecological 50mm brush

Cleaning Brushes

First wipe the extra paint on the edge of the paint pot and smear off the last few drops, for example on a newspaper. Do not wash the brushes directly under running water, but instead soak them in a separate container. After soaking, loose paint can be wiped off with paper or with a rag. Then you can rinse the painting supplies under the tap.

The paint residue that comes off brushes turns into silt at the bottom of the soaking container. The water that has separated from the silt can be poured down the drain and once the silt has dried at the bottom of the container, it can be sorted as mixed waste. Please note, however, that wet residue and washing water must be taken to a hazardous waste collection point.

Shop paint brushes

Cleaning Rollers

The easiest way to clean a roller is to clean it in the pain tray. Start by squeezing excess paint from the roller with the Milieu mixing stick, pressing the roller against the stick from top to bottom. You can pour any excess paint back into the paint pot or into a separate container for reuse or recycling.

Next, rinse the roller in a separate container. Squeeze the water out of the roller with a mixing stick and leave the roller to dry. The surface of the roller may become slightly discoloured with use, but you can still reuse the roller as the old paint will not discolour the new wet paint.

Shop rollers

Don’t wash in vain

It’s not worth washing your painting supplies if you’re going to continue painting the next day, or if you’re just taking a longer break. By storing them in a sealed plastic bag, you can prevent them from drying out and hardening.

If you’ve forgotten to wash your tools and the brushes have dried out and hardened, you can gently scrape off the dried paint and then soak them in water. If this doesn’t help, the dried paint rollers and brushes should be sorted as mixed waste