A Neat Way to Wipe Up Paint
Even the steadiest of hands spews some paint. Here's how to clean it up.
Good painters don’t use a lot of masking tape. In the interest of efficiency, and as a point of pride, they cut in with a carefully loaded brush and a steady hand. Occasionally, though, some paint strays onto the adjacent surface. The best way to clean it without messing up the paint job is to wrap a cotton rag tightly over the blade of a 5-in-1 tool. This lets you wipe up the paint with surgical precision and maintain a straight line. I can’t remember what painter I stole this tip from, but I’ve used it since, whether painting stair risers and window muntins, or cutting in trim.
—Kevin Ireton, New Milford, CT
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #236
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Show me a painter who can paint like a sign painter and then I'll believe that they don't need to use masking tape.
Better yet, don't use caulk where trim or base meets a wall. Slip a piece of paper in the joint. ...and put a couple of layers of box board beneath the quarter round when fastening it. This provides a gap into which you can slip a piece of paper so that you don't get paint on that nice hardwood floor.
Chuck Miller showed a great tip for painting the risers on stairs. Give it a try.
A Design-Build company I worked with always contracted with a painting company whose painters wore company logoed dress blazers. They never masked and rarely dripped paint and charged for a job well done the first time. Guess who painted my addition.