Best Tools & Accessories for a Smooth Pool Painting Project

Why the Tools Matter

The best paint in the world won’t save a job done with the wrong roller. Pool coatings are thicker and less forgiving than house paint, and the gear you use directly affects film build, finish and how long the coating lasts.

Rollers — Get the Size Right

Colormaker are specific about this, and it’s the thing most people get wrong.

• Minimum 270mm wide, on a 60mm diameter core
• Medium nap — 10 to 11mm. Lambswool covers are ideal
• A tray wide enough to suit the roller
• An extension pole, which saves your back and helps you keep a wet edge

Larger rollers in experienced hands give a faster job and a visibly better result. Don’t buy cheap — low-grade covers shed fibres into the paint — but you don’t need the most expensive either.

Our DIY Pool Painting Kit comes with a 270mm frame and 12mm nap covers — a touch heavier than Colormaker’s 10–11mm, which holds more paint per pass — plus two 75mm brushes, tray and stirrer in one box.

Doing a three-coat run — primer plus two top coats, or pebblecrete — the DIY Kit PLUS carries the extra cover and brush you’ll need.

Brushes

A 75mm brush handles cutting in at the tile line, around fittings, steps and corners. Have two — one will clog before the job’s done.

Mixing

Epoxy is a two-pack system and mixing is not optional detail. The components are pre-weighed to fine tolerances, and inadequate mixing means the paint never cures properly.

• A clean flat stirring stick works, but expect around 300 stirs per pack
• A Drill Paint Mixer does it faster and more consistently
• Mix whole packs only — never part packs
• Allow 5–10 minutes induction after mixing, then use within the hour

Paint still tacky after 4–6 hours wasn’t mixed correctly and won’t cure.

Surface Preparation Gear

• Scrapers for flaking paint
• Stiff brooms and brushes for washing and acid etching
• Pressure washer
• Structural Epoxy Filler for cracks and chips, Patch & Anchor Polymer Cement for larger repairs
• Sandpaper or an abrading tool for fibreglass and previously painted surfaces

Full detail in our Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing Your Pool.

Solvents and Clean-Up

Match the solvent to the paint — they are not interchangeable.

• Luxapool® Solvent A for epoxy
• Chlorinated Rubber Solvent for chlorinated rubber

Both also do the acetone-style rub test if you need to identify what’s already on your pool.

Safety Gear

Gloves, goggles and a proper respirator — not a dust mask. You’ll be working with solvents in an enclosed space with no airflow, for hours. Take it seriously.

A Few Practical Tips

• Buy spares. A roller cover that fails mid-coat, with mixed epoxy in the tray and an hour of pot life running down, is a genuinely bad moment.
• Wrap between coats. Brushes and rollers keep in plastic wrap overnight and save cleaning.
• Have everything on site before you start. Once the paint is mixed, the clock is running.