Masking
A basic painting timesaver is to mask off any adjoining surfaces
you don’t want to get painted. It takes a little more
prep time, but with proper masking you can paint faster because
you don’t have to worry about making perfect strokes
or splashing a few drips over the edge.
There are a variety of masking products: tapes,
plastics, tape-plastic and plastic-tape combinations. The
combination products are a bit more expensive, but they can
speed up the job. You want to use tapes that are sticky enough
to stay on during the painting and not let paint seep under
them. But you don’t want tapes that are so sticky that
it takes off the paint underneath when you pull it off.
Most people don’t bother masking off
the glass on multi-pain windows because of the time involved,
so painting them usually requires a lot of time and care.
One modern solution is an acrylic latex product specially
formulated for windows that primes and seals the wood trim
ands masks off the glazing quickly and efficiently. The liquid
goes over the wood as a thick white paste which you lap over
the glass. But it dries as a clear thin sheet. After finish
painting, it sticks solidly to the wood but peels away from
the glass, leaving a clean, unpainted surface.
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Boxing
Finish Paint
If you’re planning a big job that requires more than
a single gallon of any color paint, you run the risk of getting
slightly different shades of what’s supposed to be the
same color. You can makes sure all the paint’s uniform
by “boxing the paint.” That means pouring half
a gallon of paint into an empty container, pouring another
half gallon in from another can of the same color, stirring
them together, pouring that mixture back into the first two
gallons and stirring those together. Do that for each gallon
of that color and they’ll end up exactly the same shade.
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Brushes
Brushes come in sizes to fit any kind of painting job. Brushes
3 to 4-inches wide are designed for walls and doors and ½-inch
to 2” wide brushes for cutting in around walls and painting
trim. Most brush bristles are cut straight across, but some
are cut at an angle to help you get paint into tight corners
and along angles. Brushes are made of both natural (hog or
ox) bristles and synthetic materials. The natural bristle
brushes work well with oil-based paints, but because the stretch
and absorb water they aren’t recommended for latex paints.
Use synthetic bristle brushes, which won’t absorb water,
for latex paints.
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Cutting
In
Most ceilings and walls can be painted with a roller, but
the roller’s shape makes it hard to get into the corners
and tight angles along edges. Professional painters usually
start a job by “cutting in” along the edges with
a brush, spreading a band of paint a few inches wide to cover
areas the roller can’t reach.
Although
it’s tempting to cut in a whole room first and then
use the roller, it’s better to cut in a more manageable
area, then roll it . This way you’ll keep a wed edge
and never paint over dried paint.
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Paint Rollers
Synthetic rollwer covers work well with most paints, especially
latex. But natural materials like lamb’s wool or mohair
produce a smoother finish if you’re rolling oil-based
paint.
Roller covers come in a variety of nap (fiber)
depths. A ¼-inch nap cover produces the smoothest finish
and works best on the flattest surfaces. A 3/8” nap
cover is ued most often. It doesn’t produce as smooth
a finish, but the longer nap forces paint into the small holes
and cracks which are common in ceilings and walls. Deeper
nap cpvers are used on textured ceilings, walls, plaster,
stucco and concrete.
When
you’re rolling out a ceiling or a wall, it’s nice
to have an extension handle that screws into the handle of
your roller and allows you to reach down without too much
strain. It also allows you to reach up to the ceiling without
a ladder (although you’ll still need a ladder to cutting
in the edges with a brush). Besides keeping a wet edge, the
only other trick with tolling out paint is to get an even
coat across the whole wall or ceiling. Work in small sections
about four feet by two feet. First, load up the roller with
paint so it’s full all the way around, but not dripping
wet. Start high and roll up and down in the shapes of “Ns”
and “Ws”. Then roll over the Ns and Ws to cover
the entire surface with paint. Finally, smooth out the section
by rolling down from the top to the bottom of the section,
lifting the roller off the wall after each downward stroke.
This works equally well on walls or ceilings, but if you’re
painting a ceiling, you might want to wear a hat.
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The Wet
Edge
Professionals try to stroke or roll over the paint from dry
areas back into wet areas. That way a coat of paint always
blends back into itself to create a smooth, continuous layer.
This is called “keeping a wet edge,” and it’s
most critical with latex paint in a warm area when the paint
seems to dry seconds after you put it on. You have to move
fast under these conditions. If you paint one area and it
dries, it will often produce a lap mark at the edge of the
dry paint if painted over again. It may not show when wet,
but the lap mark is visible when the paint dries.
Painting
Trim
The main consideration with painting trim and walls is keeping
a wet edge to avoid lap marks. Always paint from a dry area
back to a wet area. Of course this is less critical if you’re
using an oil based paint, which dries slower than latex. Tehn
your main concern is applying a smooth, even coat.
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Sprayers
Paint sprayers are often the choice of professionals who want
to lay down the smoothest finish possible. They may be appropriate
for your job, but be aware of wind direction and overspray,
and cover everything that would be harmed by it, including
yourself. Many pros thin down paint a bit so it won’t
clog the spray nozzle. Latex paints which can’t be thinned
are too thick for some sprayers. Oil-based paints that can
be thinned with mineral spirits or paint thinner usually work
better in sprayers.
Masking
| Boxing Paint | Cutting
In | The "Wet Edge"
Brushes | Rollers
|Painting Trim | Spraying
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