I wish I knew about this painting trick before (cutting in straight lines)

[glenimp617]

I'm painting the entire house during lockdown and always wondered how I was going to cut the ceiling in above the second landing. The distance between the highest step and the ceiling is 4m and there's no safe way to get up a ladder to paint properly. Whilst I have gone up the ladder, it's not really very safe, and there's no way I can paint with any accuracy, although I can just about manage to sand/stick some masking tape on.

I've always usually gone freehand as even using the best masking tape can bleed at times, although I actually need to draw a straight line from one wall to another as the ceiling curves down in front of the landing banister. There's no way in hell I can get that done without tape and a roller on a long pole.

anyways, I stumbled across a youtube comment which said a trick he used was to put masking tape on, then paint over it with the same colour as what's underneath (in my case, white for the ceiling), then once it's dried to paint over it a second time with your actual wall colour (green). The first coat seals the edge of the tape, any bleed is invisible as it's the same colour as before.

Tried it yesterday and just took the masking tape off now. Wow!

This may be old news to most, but it's new to me

 

[dazzerd]

Ooh nice trick I hate cutting in. I suppose the issue with taping up in general is when you pull the tape you may peel off paint from either the wall or ceiling if it's made a seel?

 

[Participant]

Looks great. I personally get up a ladder and do it free hand, but fully recognise that one day I might fall off and break my arse.

 

[Minibiker]

Wish I knew this before decorating the hallway and bedroom during lockdown I got the missus to do all the cutting in

 

[cheesyboy]

This is a nice tip!

I gave up with using tape years ago due to the bleed, but might start again with this method, as it is sharper than freehand

 

[JRJ]

Amazing never seen this before One to save for the 1000's of square feet to do over winter

 

[tom_e]

Perfect timing as I've never done any real decorating other than splashing some paint on other peoples walls if they needed a hand and the mrs wants to do the little ones room properly for her birthday so I'll try and remember this.

 

[Beerbaron]

pfft n00b I worked for my dad during the summers at uni so am pretty good at cutting in

 

[robj20]

Just use better tape not the cheap rubbish.
Though I never use it in the corners I like coving.

 

[Josh]

That's actually genius - wish I knew this years ago.

 

[glenimp617]

You want pink tessa tape (amazon sell it). It won't pull the paint off.

 

[glenimp617]

Wish I knew this before decorating the hallway and bedroom during lockdown I got the missus to do all the cutting in

Tell me about it, I did all the cutting in THEN found out about this trick the same evening It's so much better I'm going to redo it all.

 

[glenimp617]

I'll put some before and after photos up as I go along

 

[kinobestew123]

Tip for removing the tape - run hairdryer gently over it before you pull it off. It loosens the adhesive and I found it came off far easier without peeling the paint under it off.

 

[Beerbaron]

Get decent masking tape, ensure the surface it free from dust and then remove it before the paint dries. Its easier to remove and you can tear the paint if its dried.

 

[Josh]

I done a stupid, explained the trick to my wife...

Guess who's going to have to test this out now starting in the hallway...this lockdown has rotted my brain.

 

[Regy53]

frog tape doesnt bleed.

 

[Quartz]

anyways, I stumbled across a youtube comment which said a trick he used was to put masking tape on, then paint over it

Nice one. In the absence of masking tape, I used a plasterer's trowel. Just place the trowel to protect what you don't want painted then paint up to it. It doesn't matter if paint gets on the trowel as it can be cleaned.

 

[glenimp617]

frog tape doesnt bleed.

Oh it does. Frog tape is crap imho, usually pulls the paint off too (including the green and the yellow, yellows worse than the green).

Tessa tapes what you need, but even that isn’t 100%. Only way is to seal the edge with paint...have heard pros using chalk too although that seems a bit messy to me.

In fact, sado me tried numerous masking tapes to see which one was the best

1. Tessa tape
2. Blue from wilkos
3. Fixman low tac
4. Cheap stuff I bought from Poundland
5. Frogtape


Update: Just redone the hallway ceiling, perfect! Not even 1mm of bleed. Tomorrow, landings, banister, skirtings and door frames.

 

[glenimp617]

I done a stupid, explained the trick to my wife...

Guess who's going to have to test this out now starting in the hallway...this lockdown has rotted my brain.

Just make sure you get some decent masking tape too. I highly recommend the 50mm tessa tape.