Painting a straight line - accent wall, etc.

[Gene Casey]

A long time ago, someone asked this question and there was a response, which I forgot. It involved tape, multiple coats, but resulted in a perfect straight line. Anyone remember? Thanks.

[SteveB]

I would say ........ make sure the base coat is very dry ............ use tape .......... pull tape with paint wet .............

Steve

[dadiOH]

Paint one wall slopping over a bit to adjacent. Let dry, tape that wall, paint over the taped edge to adjacent wall with same paint and let dry to seal edge. Paint second wall, remove tape.

[Doug Miller]

Seems to me that this step

isn't necessary. What's the purpose?

[dadiOH]

As stated, to seal the edge. Otherwise the second paint color will wick under to the first color wall.

[CM]

We seal the edge of the tape with a very small bead of cheap caulking which is also spread as thin as possible with your finger, then paint. The caulking will keep any paint from bleeding under the tape.

cm

[DerbyDad03]

You don't need to prime the caulk before painting?

[Red Green]

"CM" wrote in news:M5Khj.125461$ [e-mail]:

"We"? Just curious.

Anyway, I've never used blue painters tape. Not sure what the premium price is for. Doesn't wick maybe? Low adhesion? Masking tapes come in various adhesions (1,2,3,x day, etc).

I have used the brown painter's tape gummed on one edge on one side. Works excellent on glass (grids that are fixed). Being rigid laterally, it gives a nice straight line. Would not be good where a wall meets a ceiling since that is never really straight. Developed a knack for freehanding that pretty well.

[Norminn]

The number of coats depends on type of paint and what color you need to cover. I haven't found a paint that is "one coat", regardless of how it is advertised. Some deep colors, esp. blue and red, are labelled to indicate they require more coats - just the nature of certain pigments.

If the wall isn't textured, then painter's tape will work fine if used correctly - it is not the same as beige masking tape, and there are different degrees of adhesion. Blue and light green?

The paint should be cured, not just dry, in order to be sure the tape won't pull off new coat of paint. I've taped over new paint after 2 days, but to be sure it won't hurt to wait couple of weeks. Press the tape firmly when you apply it, and take it off before the new paint sets, otherwise you might pull off the paint film that has dried onto the tape. When you pull the tape off, don't pull it out from the wall - start the end of tape and pull it flat back on itself; that helps keep paint film from pulling off wall.

You might find that the corner of a wall is not perfectly straight and plumb - often see little curves. Adjust your tape to get it so it looks right before you paint. Use good paint, not the HD crap.

[Gene Casey]

[Frank Warner]

1. Paint the wall with the base color. Let dry.

1. Apply tape where you want it.

2. Paint another coat of base color only over the edge of the tape. Let dry. (Any paint that seeps under the tape will match the base color, and the edge of the tape will be sealed against further seepage.)

1. Paint accent color. Let dry.

2. Remove tape.

-Frank

[basscadet75]

I dunno what constitutes a "premium" price - I usually pay about $1.50 for a roll of painters tape, doesn't seem too unreasonable...

I'm the opposite of you, I've never really understood what plain masking tape is good for. We used it once because we ran out of painters tape and, like everybody else, we just keep masking tape around the house for little odd projects. Well, obviously, the paint seeped right through it. It wasn't that it went under the edge, it just seeped right through the tape. We ended up having to go out and buy some painters tape anyway and then repaint the edge.

I'm not sure what the point of masking tape really is, but it obviously isn't to mask paint.

As far as getting a straight edge, like a lot of things in painting I think people make it out to be a lot more complicated than it is. Tape, paint, pull off, done. If you don't do any one of those steps properly, you won't get a straight edge. Do them properly, though, and you will.

[Banty]

It *was* to mask paint, but 3M came up with the blue tape, which was a very superior product. Now that 'masking tape' isn't actually used to mask for household paint much, some inferior (compared even to the old masking tape) product has gotten out there which are OK for the other odd uses.

As far as cost - I agree; blue tape isn't *that* much more, and I value my

*time* that I'm putting into a project enough to make little investments to make it come out right the first time.

Banty

[Ken]

Here's a link to an old thread about this topic (watch out for wrap):

Ken