Removing paint that leaked under masking

[The Chairman]

Hi,

We recently redid a room which involved stripping the wood, restaining and "polycrylic"ing it, then painting the walls.

However, when we removed the blue masking tape, there are smudges of paint that leaked under, and hence are on the wood. What do you guys think is the best way to remove these spots? Scraping with a razor blade is ok, but it tends to go too deep...

HELP!

Also, anyway to avoid this in the future? Maybe we didn't stick the tape down hard enough, or maybe we did things in the wrong order... I don't know.

Thanks!

Ryan

[cm]

To prevent this in the future you need to caulk the edge of the tape. Apply a very thin bead to the edge of the tape and then smooth as thin as possible. We use the cheapest Dap caulking from HD or Lowes. The caulking must be spread very very thin.

Peel the tape off as you paint. We paint 2' - 3' and peel off the tape and then paint another 2' - 3' and peel tape.

We use this technique when we paint interiors. Once you learn all the ins and outs of this system you will never go back to your old way of painting. You will have perfect edges regardless of you brushing skills. No paint will bleed past the tape!

AZCRAIG

[The Chairman]

The Chairman wrote in news:Xns966CC3EB2504Bmonsterearthlinknet@140.99.99.130:

Sorry, it is a latex paint before anyone asks!

[Hopkins]

Try a wet rag covering the tip of a flexible putty knife. May take a bit of effort. Depending on how much paint you need to remove, you'll have to move the rag around to clean spots.

To avoid this I use the putty knife -- either the end or the side -- to push down on the edge of the tape. This will seal the tape against the woodwork.

It also help if you avoid globs of paint on the tape [not saying that's what you did, but...]

[The Chairman]

"cm" wrote in news:MLOoe.289144$ [e-mail]:

Seems like a smart idea, although a little labor intensive. We'll try it next time. Are you in the painting trade? If so, is this a widely used trick?

However, I like to keep the tape on when I am painting the walls after cut- in in order to avoid little speckles of paint jumping off the roller. Perhaps my technique is off?

[Hopkins]

The wet rag will work on latex. Just pull the rag kinda tight on the putty knife.

No offense to cm, but that sounds like a time consuming effort. I mask the entire room at once, and run the putty knife along to seal it to the trim.

I say "flexible" putty knife but a stiff one will work too; it's just a little thicker.

[Hopkins]

in in order to avoid little speckles of paint jumping off the roller. Perhaps my technique is off?

[cm]

We have a home repair business and we do a fair amount of painting. In Arizona almost all walls and ceilings are textured and can be hard to get a clean line by hand brushing. Although tape/caulking appears to be labor intensive it has actually speeded up our painting times and increased the quality of our jobs.

Tape/caulk the room, Roll the walls, then brush to the tape and peel. That's the order it's done.

I don't know how widely used it is in my area, but it's the only way to go for us.

Labor intensive? Beats cleaning paint seepage off baseboards, cabinets, flooring etc.

AZCRAIG

[The Chairman]

"Hopkins" wrote in news:1118026395.194249.218210 @g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Just wanted to thank you and tell you that the wet rag worked. I think the putty knife will be the key, too. We had someone else paint another room and they masked it with tape only and it was fine. I think I missed that step!

Ryan

[Hopkins]

Good. As long as you get to it reasonably soon it'll come up -- I typically check, just to make sure, after I'm done with a room and have demasked.

Most of the problem with masking base is getting into the very corner of the base/wall to press down the tape -- most fingers are by no means pointy.