Unmasked!

May 28, 2005 8:20 PM

Two inexperienced painters are working on the interiors of their new home. They paint the walls lovely shades, and when they remove the tape, voila! Half the damned paint comes off.

I'd love to hear tips for painless trim masking/painting. Right now, we're looking at a lot of touching up and aren't too happy about it. My Google-fu has failed to turn up anything useful.

posted by frykitty to home & garden (26 comments total)

Did you peel it off when it was wet or dry?
posted by dobbs at 8:27 PM on May 28, 2005

I hate to point out the obvious, but you were using masking tape, right?
posted by fvw at 8:28 PM on May 28, 2005

I take the tape off when I'm done with a section, before the paint has time to dry. If you're too late, try running a razor knife lightly over the lip of the tape, just cutting the paint layer.

Or, get a really good cutting-in brush, and skip the masking. It takes some practice, try in areas that won't be seen, like the inside of closets or the basement stairs.
posted by Marky at 8:29 PM on May 28, 2005

3M makes masking tape specifically for painters. Go to Home Depot (or Utrecht or some other art-supply store). You'll notice immediately. Unlike your regular masking tape, this tape comes in a variety of bright colors (blue, most commonly).

I checked the 3M website and they don't list any of the tape as being blue. But trust me, it exists. I use it all the time and I swear by it.

Also, you're using the correct kind of paint, right? Interior latex (and you're stirring it thoroughly before painting, right? Not stirring is a common mistake.)
posted by Jon-o at 8:29 PM on May 28, 2005

Get the right brand of masking tape for your next project. 3M is the only brand to use, IMO. The cheaper masking tapes sold under hardware store brand names often are too sticky and not stable to paint solvents. 3M markets a painter's masking tape, which is the same color blue as MeFi's front page. This is a low-tack tape which is good for masking painted surfaces. It is not good for holding up drop cloths, etc.

No matter what type of masking tape you use, don't leave it on for more than a day, as even the good stuff can pull off a little paint if it sits and bonds too tightly. Also, the surface you're painting must be prepared carefully (cleaned and degreased) or the paint won't stick to it very well.
posted by Quietgal at 8:32 PM on May 28, 2005

Dobbs: we peeled a few hours after painting. Not entirely cured, but dry enough.

We are using the 3-M stuff, and yep, we're using a nice interior latex, thoroughly stirred (not shaken).

We're a little leery of the razor blade idea, but peeling before the paint is dry sounds good. Question though: what if you are doing more than one coat? Do you peel and then re-mask? Ouch!
posted by frykitty at 8:34 PM on May 28, 2005

If you're too late, try running a razor knife lightly over the lip of the tape, just cutting the paint layer.

I'll second that. Don't cut the tape, though, as you might leave some tape behind. I like to just take a spackling knife (which is a little more blunt than a knife) and very gently run it along the trim where the tape meets the wall, naturally separating the tape away.
posted by Shane at 8:37 PM on May 28, 2005

Oh, I nearly forgot.

Make sure you clean the wall before you paint over it.
From the tone of your post, it seems as though the paint is coming off in sheets.
You could be painting on a surface that rejects the latex.
You might have to sand the wall first but that's the unlikely-worst-case scenario.

You don't have to peel and then re-mask. You can easily apply two coats per day. Most interior paint drys in a couple hours.
posted by Jon-o at 8:37 PM on May 28, 2005

From the tone of your post, it seems as though the paint is coming off in sheets.

Nah, I exaggerate. We are getting small chunks coming off by the trim. Sorry about that--I figured painters would know what I meant.
posted by frykitty at 8:41 PM on May 28, 2005

Oh, in that case, then you're not getting an even enough coat or a flush mask.

Three things to do:

1) Don't use a brush on the masked edge and a roller on the rest. The rollered area will dry faster than the thick brush marks and it may cause problems when you remove the tape. Use the roller on everything. (You'll have to use a wider mask on the surface you want to keep clean so the roller doesn't leave a mark.)

2) Wet paint may be seeping under the masking tape and drying at a different rate than the rest of the paint. Make sure that you burnish the masking tape down really well before you start painting.

3) Keep the moisture of the paint consistent. Don't use a wet roller in one spot and a dry one in another. That will also change the drying rates.
posted by Jon-o at 8:50 PM on May 28, 2005

I'm looking at a roll of the masking tape mentioned above. Oddly enough, it's call "Scotch Blue Painter's Tape". It has a lower degree of adhesion than the normal beige tape. The label claims you can leave it on for fourteen days.
posted by Carbolic at 8:55 PM on May 28, 2005

That's the stuff that I'm talking about, Carbolic. It's fantastic stuff. I use it all the time. Even on really delicate artwork.
posted by Jon-o at 9:04 PM on May 28, 2005

When we painted our house, we were having a consistent, similar problem. I asked out general contractor about that and her take was: 1. don't mask--get good with a good brush and you don't need it. 2. use the good blue stuff and remove when wet. I opted for 1 and my spouse preferred 2.
posted by plinth at 10:13 PM on May 28, 2005

You could try drafting tape.

Don't leave regular masking tape on anything for more than a few days. The adhesive turns into a cement, and even if you can get the tape off, you're left with a hard coating of the adhesive on whatever you put the tape on.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:53 AM on May 29, 2005

Wiggo here... LONG time lurker, first time poster.

Now that that's out of the way...

Are you painting Latex over an oil-based paint? That'll never stick. You'll have to use a good primer in between. But I guess since you've already done the deed, you'll have to follow the advice above about learning to go without tape. May I cut-in??

We moved into a house built in the 60's and apparently they hired the cheapest painters right before we moved in and they painted latex over what we now know as oil. ALL OVER THE HOUSE. It sucks. If you bump any of the trim, it chunks off.

Best of luck to you!
posted by Wiggo at 7:14 AM on May 29, 2005

i've given up on masking and just spend extra time doing the trim carefully with smaller brushes. i've found this works just as well, especially with the rough edges i'm dealing with all over my 80 year old house.
posted by jacobsee at 7:19 AM on May 29, 2005

I love "Kleen Edge" masking tape. Again with the low-adhesion qualities. Don't use standard masking tape under any circumstances whatsoever: it's crap.

I no longer use masking tape, though. Having painted homes several times over, I've learned to cut-in by hand. It takes a quality brush and practice. I can now trim a room by hand as quickly as one can mask it, let alone mask and paint.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:23 AM on May 29, 2005

I've quit masking, too, but I have unsteady hands and can't get straight lines with a brush...but this makes everything okay. I love it.
posted by climalene at 7:38 AM on May 29, 2005

What jacobsee and fff say. I only use tape to cover things that will get sprayed by the roller, like door knobs, light switches, outlets, vents, etc. Buy a good $20 Purdy or Leibco brush and take the time and "cut in" carefully around things. A well balanced wooden handled, epoxy core professional brush will make the job make the job much easier. I usually use a 2 1/2" brush for normal interior work but you might want something smaller. Buy a wire brush too and use it to scrub the paint brush when you are cleaning it (with soap and water) to straiten out the bristles for the next job.

Oh and also remove as much from the walls as possible beforehand so that you don't have to cut in around them in the first place. If you can remove face plates, vent covers, etc, then put them back when the paint is dry you save a lot of trouble. (just don't loose the little screws!)
posted by octothorpe at 7:41 AM on May 29, 2005

climalene, do you have a link to your "this" that doesn't make me give it a cookie?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:42 AM on May 29, 2005

Angled cutting brushes, I swear, will give you beautiful clean lines. Get one with real bristles (natural for oil and alkyd based paints, plastic for latex), not one of those foam abominations. There's no need to muck about with tape, so it's not just clean and easy, it's faster.

When I spent a summer working as a painter when I was a student, it took a little practice to get my technique down, but once acquired, it's like riding a bike -- your muscle memory takes over.
posted by maudlin at 10:57 AM on May 29, 2005

Add me to the don't-bother-with-tape list. Doing trim and cutting-in is dead easy; the main tricks are to have a lightly loaded brush and to scroodgle the brush over pretty hard in one direction so that you get a consistent edge; hard to describe but easy to do, even with a basically full-sized brush. Bad for the brushes though so don't go nuts on the expensive ones.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:11 AM on May 29, 2005

No need to "scroodgle" the brush. Nothing to be gained from abusing it.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:34 PM on May 29, 2005

Sorry about that, Kirth Gerson. I never checked back in -- hope you see this. "This" was a paint edger made by Shur-Line.
posted by climalene at 2:43 PM on May 30, 2005

I used to paint for a living. When it was necessary to use tape around trim, we would run a sharp razor blade or utility knife along the edge of the tape before pulling the tape off. I know this was mentioned above, but seriously -- it's the best way I know. Removing tape with wet paint would work, but I'm too clumsy to do that safely.
posted by wryly at 4:04 PM on June 1, 2005

For the benefit of future generations, I figured out how an amateur painter can get an excellent edge. This was after much trial-and-error as we painted our walls in high-contrast colors, making the edges a real pain (and we didn't want the usual solution of crown molding).

1. Mask carefully with good masking tape made for painting. Take your time, and make sure the edge of the tape is where you want your dividing line. Mask in 2-3 foot sections at once--one long piece of tape is unwieldy.
   
   
2. Do whatever you're most comfortable with to paint an edge. I use an angled edging brush, and kind of squash it against the wall. Here's the trick: don't paint up to the masking tape. Get as close as you can, and keep the edge as straight as you can, but leave a tiny gap between the paint and the tape.
   
   
3. Take a dry edging brush, and put a tiny amount of paint on it.
   
   
4. Brush several times across a dry surface, like a scrap piece of cardboard. You're trying to get the brush pretty dry.
   
   
5. Use the dry brush to close the gap between the paint and the edge of the masking tape. Tip: if there's a little spot where you can't get paint, leave it. Do not try to force paint into the gap. Touch-ups later are easier than mess-ups now.
   
   
6. Remove masking tape.

This is by far the best edging technique I've found, especially with slight textured walls.
posted by frykitty at 10:39 AM on March 26, 2006