Taping off hardwood floors before spraying trim

[branimal]

I'm getting ready to spray baseboard trim. I have factory finished 3/4" oak hardwood floors. Can I cover the floors with yellow frog-tape? I called Frog-tape and asked about taping off with green frog tape. They said absolutely NOT. When I asked about yellow frog tape, they said it's not recommended. What are you guys masking factory-finished hardwood flooring with.


Thanks

 

[Augus7us]

This is very similar to another thread.

Why did they say not to use it?

 

[FMB4]

Name brand (3M, etc) painter's tape over brown paper would do. Not sure why you're thinking of spraying baseboard trim tho. Brushing (bristle or foam) has always work for me.

 

[dcg9381]

That tape will work. Having just done construction with finished floors, we bought big rolls of a plastic stuff that has a very mild adhesive on it, I think about 3' wide. Works great on finished concrete floors and wood floors... Amazon. Let me know if you can't find it.

 

[branimal]

This is very similar to another thread.

Why did they say not to use it?

Frog-tape tech support said b/c they don't know what type of polyurethane or varnish was used to seal the hardwood, they don't know if the tape will pull off the finish. Tech told me a customer used the green frog-tape on a pre-finished bamboo floor and it pull the finish off. They had to settle to replace half the cost of the finished floor. Surprised the tech would even tell me that.

The yellow frog-tape is way less tacky than the green stuff. So I think it will do the job.

 

[branimal]

Name brand (3M, etc) painter's tape over brown paper would do. Not sure why you're thinking of spraying baseboard trim tho. Brushing (bristle or foam) has always work for me.

I hate painting with a brush & roller. Masking is a lot of work. But the sprayed on finish is really a thing of beauty. And there's minimal effort to get into the nooks & crannies of the trim.

 

[branimal]

That tape will work. Having just done construction with finished floors, we bought big rolls of a plastic stuff that has a very mild adhesive on it, I think about 3' wide. Works great on finished concrete floors and wood floors... Amazon. Let me know if you can't find it.

Yeah 3M makes that plastic with adhesive on it. I typically lay down yellow frog tape to get a super straight line. And then cover with blue painters tape and 12" brown paper with a masking gun. It's a lot of work.

My one concern is I'm going to do 2 coats. And the frog tape is really designed for one coat of paint. Once the paint blocking polymer strip on the tape gets wet from the first coat, it no longer works for the second coat (allegedly). I've painted window trim (2 coats) with it without any issues, so I'm just going to go for it.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Blue painter's tape. Use a heat gun to remove. Keep moving the heat gun, it will come up fast. The new 3M easy release tape is violet ish colored. If you are planning on leaving it more than a week, use that, and still use heat. Use a lightly damp cloth to wipe the edges before taping. It doesn't take much dust on a floor to impede adhesion.

 

[pcmeiners]

Taping for spray is a lot more forgiving than brush application, if you apply light coats and have a steady hand. For the trim I would thin the paint and apply 2 light coats letting it dry between coats. If you can. pull off the tape after the second coat just dries, that way if any paint escapes the masking tape, you can get it cleaned before it dries. A 1-2" spatula with a layer of damp paper towels gets the paint of the floor without messing the trim up.

 

[check251]

How tight is the trim to the floor? I've never sprayed trim. It may be too late to do this.
After I install new flooring I tape wax paper down to the floor (no tape goes under where the trim will be), install the trim, paint the trim,
pull the wax paper out.

 

[nadogail]

Is it too late to paint the trim before it is installed?

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Is it too late to paint the trim before it is installed?

Too late?
It’s not worth the hassle- handling, cutting, nailing, caulking- by the time the trim is done it has to be re-painted.

 

[atljar]

I would be extremely concerned about paint running down between the hardwood floor board joints,, or the grain of the wood wicking paint. I always cut the trim to fit, spray it, then install it. At that point you only need to touchup the nail holes with a brush and it still gives the spray affect/smoothness

 

[frankd]

I agree that brush is the best way to go (as annoying as it is). Whatever tape you use, dont let the paint run because it'll find spots to creep through, unless your floor is smooth as glass and you got perfect adhesion on the tape edge. Also, sometimes the baseboard isn't tight against the floor, in those places I'd try to squeeze some thin cardboard underneath

 

[Hank11]

If your project is not perfectly clean, you will find lots of dust, hair, misc. boogers under your baseboards and around the bottom of your door casings. This will all get stirred up by the spray pressure and then stick to your work. It won't be pretty.

 

[JPD Motorsports]

i use the 3m blue tape. cherry floors, laminated floors, poly floors etc. Never had an issue. I space the tape about a 1/16th to 1/8th inch from base board, then caulk that gap back (if painted NOT stained) and let the sprayer eat. When done lift tape and have a nice finished edge line and dont worry about paint bleed.