How to Mask a Room for Painting
If you decide to paint a room by yourself, one of the most difficult concerns you have to remember is how to not accidentally splatter and put paint on the wrong surfaces. This is why you have to know how to mask a room for painting, so you’ll end up with a neat and professional looking paint job. Here’s how to do this task.
What You’ll Need:
Petroleum jelly
Painter’s tape
Masking tape
Utility knife
Garbage bags
Drop cloths
Plastic sheeting
Twist ties (optional)
Procedure:
Purchase painter’s tape. You can buy this at home improvement stores or hardware stores and it’s available in different widths. Although it costs a bit more than regular masking tape, it’s better because it has less adhesive on the back, making it easier to remove. If you can’t find any painter’s tape, though, just use regular masking tape.
Get the garbage bags and put them over the hanging fixtures in the room, such as the chandelier and ceiling fan. Afterwards, lay down drop cloths and old newspapers all over the furniture in the room.
Start laying down the painter’s tape. You should put them in relatively short lengths, at least 12 to 24 inch long. When you apply them, make sure the sections overlap by a couple of inches. Firmly press down the tape, making sure there are no folds, open seams or bubbles where paint can sneak under.
Protect the floor by running painter’s tape along the floor edge, then securing a dropcloth to the band of tape. If you are only painting a trim or wall, just use a disposable paper dropcloth.
For adjacent surfaces, run painter’s tape along the edges that won’t be painted, securing masking strips to it. When you come to the wall’s baseboard, lay down a tape, just along the upper edge, forming a ledge that catches drips. Use painter’s tape to cover the trim. Afterwards, tape some plastic sheeting to large wall surfaces.
For hard-to-remove hardware, use masking tape to cover, after you’ve removed and hidden the easy to remove parts.
Press down masking tape to window glass using a putty knife, sealing the edges. Make sure you remove this after half an hour of painting, so the paint will still be tacky.
Paint the room when you’re done masking. You can now safely paint over the tape’s edges, without worrying about paint going underneath.
Let the paint dry. Make sure you’re done with all coats before you remove the tape.
To peel the painter’s tape, start at a seam, removing it in a continuous, but slow motion, while pulling at a 90 degree angle. Do the same for the masking tape. They should easily come off, removing a clean paint line. Remove the garbage bags, plastic sheeting and drop cloth and clean the newly-painted room.
Some Tips
Try to warm the glass a bit when applying painter’s tape to a window. This ensures that the tape stays in place firmly.
You can also put petroleum jelly on glass you don’t want to be painted. Just wipe it off when you’re done.
Don’t leave painter’s tape sticking to your surfaces for days. This might cause it to dry firmly, making it hard to remove.
As long as you mask a room properly, you won’t need to worry about accidentally getting paint on other surfaces. Follow these easy steps and painting won’t be a problem.