I have painted in houses before so I’m not totally inexperienced, but one thing I am a little unfamiliar with is painter’s tape. Why do you need it?
Kay, who has never painted anything in a house before, is pretty certain that every painter in Switzerland uses tape (even though our painters clearly did not use it anywhere in the flat) and for as long as we have talked about painting the house, he has talked about how we have to do it properly and tape. As we prepare to paint, I’ve been researching more about the pros and cons of using tape and what it might mean for us.
Pros of using tape:
- Clean line
- Straight line
- Professionals do it (is that a real reason?)
Cons of using tape:
- Pulling tape off dry paint may pull paint up from wall
- Pulling tape off wet paint may touch or smear wet paint
- Pulling tape off wet paint might cause wet tape to get paint on non-painted surfaces
- Color can go under tape and ruin the straight line (this is my biggest fear)
- Tape could pull wallpaper off wall (we have pretty flimsy, fragile wallpaper)
- Takes a long time to put up and remove tape
There are actually enough bad things that can happen with tape that I kind of want to just paint the walls when Kay is gone and tape up what I want, but not everything. But Kay thinks the lines will look like shit if I don’t use tape and that I’ll get paint on the ceiling.
Do you use tape when you paint? Where do you use it?
We have done tape and no tape, and I will say that every single place we’ve used tape it’s painfully obvious (in a bad way) because the color bleeds under the tape every single time. No matter what brand of tape we use or how hard we push it down to “seal” the edge, it bleeds under and we get a ragged paint edge. Going tape-less and just cutting in with a brush is what works best for us, but you have to be careful to have a steady hand because if you “wobble” as you go, you’ll have a wavy edge. It’s not as hard/scary as it sounds though. Practice in one area and you’ll get the feel for it, and if you need to touch up the trim in the practice area then so be it 🙂
Ahh, that’s what I’m afraid of! Kay doesn’t think my hand is steady enough.
I was not really involved with the painting of our house, but every time I’ve used tape I’m a little disappointed with bleeding too.
As long as you have a really nice quality brush, you should be fine with no tape. Just be extra careful when cutting in. I have even used a flat putty knife between the wall and the ceiling and that should actually work fine to keep any paint off unwanted areas (just make sure to wipe off the putty knife every so often)
Hoping we can find a good brush for trim!
This is a link I found on pintrest and have been saving until I paint my own home, hope it helps! =)
http://www.familyhandyman.com/painting/tips/10-tips-for-a-perfect-paint-job/step-by-step
I used tape when painting a room. I use it on the trims so i can have clear difference in colors. Last time i did it with my sister, we use the angle brush to retouch in case the paint crossed over.