Are you getting ready to paint your house? Do you want to make sure that you get the best paint job with the least mess? How does masking your home before you paint work?
Whether you are looking to paint your entire home or you are simply touching up the paint in a single room, you have two priorities. The first priority is to get the paint onto the walls or the trim, and the second priority is to make sure that the paint stays off of the surfaces where it does not belong! Nothing makes a paint job look sloppy and amateurish more than paint splatters, so make sure that you mask the room properly.
When you want to mask a room correctly, you should use both masking tape and painter’s tape. Masking tape is fairly sticky and more sturdy. It can leave a residue behind, but it is harder to disturb. Painter’s tape, which is typically blue, is less sticky. This means that it is the best choice when you are masking finished surfaces or surfaces with paint on them.
You should also make sure that you have dropcloths to protect the rest of the room. Fabric dropcloths do well for both the floor and for the furniture, but if you have some hanging light fixtures that need to be protected from ceiling drips, simply bag the light up with a plastic garbage bag and tie it shut around the base.
When you start masking a room, remember that painter’s tape is what you are going to use for the walls, and that masking tape can be used for just about everything else. Masking tape is especially handy when you are trying to tape off hinges and door knobs, where painter’s tape is going be more prone to ripping.
One way to prevent drips from hitting the floor is to tape the dropcloth to the floor. Line the edge of the dropcloth fairly close to the wall, and then lay down the masking tape so that it covers the edge of the floor closest to the dropcloth and the edge of the dropcloth as well.
Move carefully, and make sure that virtually everything in the room that does not need paint on it is covered. It might seem a little like overkill at first, but when you don’t have to spend any time cleaning up errant drips of paint or getting at the trim with a touch-up brush, you will find that things are going a lot more smoothly.
Remember that masking is something that takes time. In some cases, depending on the room and the trim that needs to be protected, it can take nearly as much time as the painting itself. However, the more carefully you are willing to tape something, the less likely it is that paint splatters will be an issue.
Take a moment to consider what you need to know about masking your room before painting. Getting all of the supplies is the first big step for you to take!
