How to Paint Around Trim
Painting is a lot like mowing the lawn. You can knock off the main body of the job in short work, without much skill or care. It’s doing a neat job around the edges that takes the most time and attention.
Fortunately there are tools to help us handle this problem. For the lawn you have your edgers and string trimmers. For painting? You have a few alternatives:
Masking tape – This is the best way to get a clean, sharp line between one color and another. You can use it on door and window trim, between walls and ceilings, even to create multicolored graphics on your walls.
If you are painting with a brush, masking tape about an inch wide is a good choice. It’s wide enough to let you work quickly without fear of slopping over, yet narrow enough to conform to your work and handle gentle curves.
If you will be spraying, you need something wider to keep over-spray in check. In this case, I use 2- or 3-inch tape in conjunction with sheets of newspaper or craft paper. Run one edge of the tape along the dividing line between finishes, and press that edge down lightly to tack the tape in place. Then slide your paper sheets under the other edge of the tape and press everything down firmly.
If this seems too clumsy, you can usually find extra-wide masking paper at paint stores. This comes in rolls with a gummed band along one edge, so you can press it into place in a simple, one-step operation.
There’s not much trick to using masking tape. Just mak e sure you press it down firmly to prevent paint from seeping under the edge. I like to leave the tape in place until the paint has dried. This prevents me from accidentally getting wet paint on adjacent surfaces.
Don’t wait too long to remove tape, however, or it may become difficult to remove. And when you do remove it, do not pull it straight out. Instead, peel it back over itself, pulling parallel to the surface it is masking. This should eliminate the danger of ripping off paint along with the tape.
If you want to do some decorative striping, you should know that there are special masking tapes made just for this job. They come in rolls, with two or more strips of tape affixed to a paper backing strip. You press both backing strip and tape in place, then peel off the backing strip and the tape is left behind, perfectly spaced for a neat uniform stripping job. Some paint stores sell these striping tapes. So do marine supply shops.
Paint shields – These are most useful for keeping paint off carpets as you paint your baseboards. Though paint stores sell special tools that look like venetian blind slats with handles, I just use an extra-wide putty knife as shown in the accompanying sketch.
To use a shield, press it against the baseboard, then slide it down to compress the pile of the carpet. Paint the area above the shield, then withdraw the shield by pulling it out from the wall and then up. This will bend the pile away from the wet paint. Now wipe the shield free of paint, move down the line and repeat the process.
Shields also work for the line between wall and ceiling, if the joint between these two surfaces is smooth and regular. If the ceiling is texture, or if the joint is bumpy, the shield can’t achieve the tight contact needed for a clean line and paint will leak around it.
In this case, your best bet is a good old-fashioned brush control and a technique called cutting in. I like to do my cutting in with a fairly stiff beveled trim brush. Fill a can with an inch of paint so you can stab your brush in the can until it hits bottom … without fear of dipping too deep and overloading the brush.
Let’s say you are cutting in a wall next to a contrasting ceiling. Dip your brush, wipe off the excess paint on the edge of the can and place the brush at a low angle on the wall. Align the brush so its end is parallel to the ceiling, then slowly slide it up until the tips are about 1/16-inch below the ceiling.
As you slide the brush upward, a small bead of paint will form along the bristle tips. This bead will form the sharp edge you want.
Now start a slow, steady backhand stroke, keeping an eagle eye on the line of paint you are laying down. Try to keep it just a whisker below the ceiling. The paint will crawl upward slightly, reaching right into the joint for a neat clean line.
It takes a little practice and a steady hand (avoid caffeine) to do this right. If you get the shakes, you can steady the stroke by sliding the heel of your hand along the wall. Or extend your little finger and use it as a brace.
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Tags: interior painting, mouldings, paint, Painting, tips painting, window trim, wood trim