Painters Please Help!

[DIAMOND*QUEST]

Hi all- About to start painting inside. I am going to try a small hallway in my home to see if this do it yourself paint job is worth it. I have used blue painters tape for my straight edges in the past and it always seems to bleed. Anyone know of new gadgets to assist with straight lines? Thanks---------------Kel

 

[sumbride]

I think you have to burnish the tape... press HARD on it and rub it in, then remove it before the paint is fully dry.

I''ve tried a few of the gadgets and I haven''t found anything that worked as well as tape.

 

[Miranda]

Ditto what sumbride said about the blue tape. I''ve been successful with a product Lowe''s sells called Shur-Line. It''s a rolling rectangular pad that rolls up against the ceiling and leaves you with a perfect straight edge...No tape needed. Happy painting!

 

[sumbride]

I''ve used the Shur Line too and it is good but be careful when you dip it in the paint not to get any on the edge with the rollers... I''ve done that a couple times and rolled some paint right onto the ceiling! but as long as you''re careful with it, it works great! Also, one thing I discovered after trial and error is to buy the wide blue tape... the narrow stuff isn''t good, but the wide stuff is the width of a paint roller, so if you put it on the ceiling, you can roll right up to the ceiling and then edge with the shur-line.

 

[MelissaSue]

Sumbride - LOL - I have done that a bajillion times.. And I never learn.. The edger is GREAT though. We actually used it to paint our entire kitchen because there are tons and tons of corners to paint around in there with cabinets and stuff..

If you are just worrying about not getting paint on ceilings and trim.. painters tape should be fine.. The only time taht I ahve seen it bleed is when people use it to paint stripes and stuff..

 

[PaulaW]

The secret to painting clean edges with tape is to paint the base color over the edge of the tape first, ie. say your wall was white and you''re painting it blue, tape your edges and burnish the tape, paint the edge of the tape white, let it partially dry, paint the blue. If you don''t have the old color, you can use painter''s caulk also (it''s called Alex Plus). Just use your finger to apply it to the edge of the tape and wipe off most of the excess (the idea is just to get a bit under any egdes of the tape that might be sticking up).
HTH