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
From Fine Homebuilding #236
RELATED STORIES
- Clean Edges Where Paint Meets Wood
- Get a Perfect Paint Job on Trim, Windows, Doors, and Cabinets
- Paint Wipes That Work
Got a Tip?
Do you have any great tips like this one on how to clean splatter without messing up the paint job? Share your methods, tricks, and jigs with other readers. Tag them @FineHomebuilding on social, email them to us at [email protected], or upload them to FineHomebuilding.com/reader-tips. We’ll pay for any we publish.
View Comments
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.
Good tip, wet the rag for even easier cleanup. Blue tape is expensive and blue tape cut lines are not as good as a nicely brushed cut line. The sooner you break the bad habit of using tape, you will decrease your production costs, improve your speed and produce a better quality job.