painting baseboard, how to shield carpet

[Jean]

The baseboards in my house are flush with the slab and the carpet is butted up against the baseboard. I need to repaint the baseboards to the maximum possible depth. Does anyone have a tried method of getting the carpet away from the baseboard so that as much baseboard as possible is exposed?

I've tried a couple methods (wedging cardboard in between the baseboard and wall, and wedging painter's tape in between the baseboard and wall) but both methods take forever to do and don't really expose that much more of the baseboard normal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated-

Jean

[Spam Me Knot]

[Bob Vaughan]

Slats from old venetian blinds also work well.

[HeyBub]

Use a reciprocating saw to cut through the nails holding the baseboards to the wall. Take baseboards outside and paint. Re-nail baseboards.

[felderbush001]

I use a trim guard. Works like a champ. Very efficient way to paint baseboards. Here's the one I use:

-Felder

[Jean]

I have a trim guard and, if I hold it between the carpet and baseboard, I could paint the entire depth of the baseboard. But I'd have to hold it until the paint dried or else the carpet would flip back and touch the painted section.

Jean

[Jean]

I've thought about using slats ...just wish I could find some that were more than 1 inch. Maybe I'll give this a shot though. Thanks.

[Dan Espen]

I have a scrap piece of formica countertop material I use for the same purpose.

[Keith Williams]

Most of my house has no baseboards so the painted walls go all the way down to the carpet. I didn't have much luck with the painting shields but have done pretty well with masking tape. The blue stuff is even better. I use a 10" spakleing knife to pull the carpet away from the wall and then slide the tape down the wall, pull the knife,and fold the tape over the carpet. When I've done the whole wall I go back with another width of tape and pull the first tape back away from the wall.

[Jean]

I tried this (although with a smaller knife) and I had a terrible time keeping the tape from sticking to the knife and the baseboard ...can you explain a bit more how you do this?

Thanks,

Jean

[46erjoe]

Lengths of vinyl siding. Sometimes you can get scrap pieces from broken lots at Lowe's.

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 18:26:42 -0500, Jean wrotF:

[Keith Williams]

Carefully. ;-) I slide the tape down the wall to the knife, trying not to get it stuck to the knife. The tape doesn't really need to go all the way to the floor since the piece(s) of tape behind the first pull the nap back away from the wall. I also use shortish pieces of tape for the first row. Again, the blue tape works better than the white "painter's" or yellow masking tape.

It takes time and some small amount of patience but it's worked out

*much* better than the shields for me. I'm sure this is a personal thing though. They do sell the shields to someone. ;-)

[Dave Combs]

I missed earlier threads on this subject however, for years I've used either a special carpet paint guide (curved piece of steel/aluminum about 12" long) or a 6-8" wide plastering spatula.

[J.C.]

I've used slats from old venetian blinds.