Have I ever told you how much I hate painting?

[CPA]

Well, now you know. I despise it. I loooaaathe it (in my best Newman voice).

Just finished a remodel of my master bathroom. New walk-in shower with rainforest shower head and spa jets, new floor standing tub, new toilet, all of the work involved to get to that point. Started at the studs. All ruined by my crappy job at painting baseboards and trim. F'in bleeding under the tape just ruins everything.

Oh well, time to hire the professionals to fix and/or redo.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Somebody once said to me, "I'm too cute to paint" and walked away.

That was a fun project.

 

[edro]

If you use tape, you gotta get the most expensive types.
Even 3M blue tape has multiple grades. The Green Frog tape is good too.
You gotta press it against the surface very hard.
After your second coat, take it off while the paint is still wet.

Those rolling Shur Line edgers work well too, once you get the hang of it.

 

[CPA]

If you use tape, you gotta get the most expensive types.
Even 3M blue tape has multiple grades. The Green Frog tape is good too.
You gotta press it against the surface very hard.
After your second coat, take it off while the paint is still wet.

Those rolling Shur Line edgers work well too, once you get the hang of it.

I used 3M and peeled almost immediately after painting. A "pro" tip I learned afterwards was to use 1' sections of tape instead of a continuous line. When the tape is one long line and pulled tight it doesn't stick well enough.

 

[Kaido]

I got a cheap Graco sprayer off eBay for like forty bucks (HV2900 or something), works great (not sure if that model is still around, but worth a look). I'll never go back to rollers & brushes again :awe:

 

[Greenman]

I've never seen masking tape work on anything but a very smooth surface, and often not then.

 

[CPA]

I've never seen masking tape work on anything but a very smooth surface, and often not then.

This was on porcelain tile, which was pretty smooth. Well, I'll be bringing in experts to fix and repaint soon.

 

[CPA]

I got a cheap Graco sprayer off eBay for like forty bucks (HV2900 or something), works great (not sure if that model is still around, but worth a look). I'll never go back to rollers & brushes again :awe:

Have one, but the amount of prep work was going to be extensive, so I went with the brush. Bad choice.

 

[Kaido]

Have one, but the amount of prep work was going to be extensive, so I went with the brush. Bad choice.

Prep work is the worst for painting. Someone needs to invent some sort of cool magic tool that fixes that

 

[purbeast0]

your first problem is you got the 3M tape. that stuff is terrlble. frog tape or bust.

i just finished painting our first kids nursery last week. taping is by far worse than painting.

i ran out of frog tape but needed like 6 feet of tape to finish everything, and i used some 3M blue tape i had in the drawer just to finish that part.

needless to say, i had to redo that part (as well as some small sections that bled around the baseboards) and i went and just bought more frogtape.

 

[NoTine42]

your first problem is you got the 3M tape. that stuff is terrlble. frog tape or bust.

i just finished painting our first kids nursery last week. taping is by far worse than painting.

i ran out of frog tape but needed like 6 feet of tape to finish everything, and i used some 3M blue tape i had in the drawer just to finish that part.

needless to say, i had to redo that part (as well as some small sections that bled around the baseboards) and i went and just bought more frogtape.

Painting's not bad. It's the prep work that stinks (and is also the key to a good paint job)
I think the 2nd key is high quality paint and brushes (but I'm too cheap)

Growing up, I heard family story's about a distant uncle who was a very good professional painter...he had a full time painting job at the Hurst mansion (I believe). He was visiting my grandma who had a charming Victorian cottage with these decorative 3" square mulled windows around the picture window. Painting around those windows was a whole day job for her. She asked if he would be willing to paint them, he said sure, so she left to make a pot of coffee (old percolator days). By the time she returned with a cup of coffee, he was cleaning his brush...no tape or scraping, just a perfect paint job.
...so the real answer is skill

 

[smackababy]

I don't think I've ever used tape when painting. Just cut in for walls and use your brush noobs!

But, I did do interior painting for a bit out of high school. Was a pretty cush job; we could knock out 5 or so rooms a day easy (never worked 8 hour days lol).

 

[RagingBITCH]

Painting's not bad. It's the prep work that stinks (and is also the key to a good paint job)
I think the 2nd key is high quality paint and brushes (but I'm too cheap)

Growing up, I heard family story's about a distant uncle who was a very good professional painter...he had a full time painting job at the Hurst mansion (I believe). He was visiting my grandma who had a charming Victorian cottage with these decorative 3" square mulled windows around the picture window. Painting around those windows was a whole day job for her. She asked if he would be willing to paint them, he said sure, so she left to make a pot of coffee (old percolator days). By the time she returned with a cup of coffee, he was cleaning his brush...no tape or scraping, just a perfect paint job.
...so the real answer is skill

^^ This. Prep works takes as long as it does to paint. For professional painters with spray guns, the prep will take 2-3x as long. Cleaning, masking things off, getting tight lines on said tape, etc. Crappy prep job leads to bleeding, etc. I've learned my lesson at the last house.

 

[TheSlamma]

I don't bother with tape at all unless it's a very odd angle in the middle of a wall. If I do use Frog tape then here is the trick I learned, you get the tape on there pretty firm and then you lightly wet the tape with some water to activate that paint block chemical they use then you paint.

But like I said I avoid tape at all costs if I can, when I cut a room I have 2 different purdy medium angle brushes, a 1" and a 2" and I just maintain a good wetline. I've had to paint a LOT in the last 18 months with selling my old house and buying a new one. The lady that owned this place before had the worst color taste in the history of man so this house is 100% repainted now. My big problem with tape is most walls have texture on it so not only can it be prone to leak past but it also doesn't meet up square with a corner anyway, I can adapt to that and maintain a better line with my brush without the tape.