Masking for wall stripe

[bshusted]

I'm off of work this week and one of my goals is to repaint my garage. I got the whole thing primed and painted white, but decided it was too much white. I decided that the fix was to go with the traditional grey lower and a stripe to separate the two. I got two coats of the grey on yesterday and spent a lot of time with the laser level this morning to mask out the stripe. I'm trying to use the technique I've heard on this forum and others to paint over the tape with the color of the wall behind the tape so that any bleed through doesn't show. The white went as expected, but the grey seems to be removing the tape.




You can see in the pictures that the tape that got the grey paint on it is buckling and peeling away from the wall. The tape is a brand new roll of 3M painters tape. Both paints are Glidden interior, though the grey is the Duo, while the white is 220. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I think it's obvious that painting the stripe as it is will not work. Looking for any suggestions you may have.

 

[skidozer670]

I used frog tape from lowes it worked great I brushed the edge first.
I ended up buying 3m vinyl 4" stripe online for $40 for 250 feet made things way easier.

 

[dfiler2]

I would assume it isn't the type of paint rather that the grey paint is running down under the edge of the tape. I would go with the Frog tape.

 

[Colin Len]

I've read that method a handful of times and it never made any sense to me, but maybe I just don't understand and need someone to show me.

The method I've used with great success:

1) Layout your tape, make sure it's nice and smooth with no gaps or bubbles on the masking line.
2) Apply a thin bead of caulking along the edge of the tape for 5-10'
3) Use your finger to wipe off excess caulking
4) Paint over the tape and caulking
5) Pull up the tape after you've painted
6) Repeat with the next 5'-10' section

Basically what you're doing is applying the caulking so that it fills the small gaps between the tape and the wall which normally cause the paint to bleed through. Make sure to use normal painters caulk, not the quick dry stuff. You must lay down the paint and remove the masking tape BEFORE the caulking cures. If you're doing it alone it takes a little getting used to in order to figure out how much caulking you can lay down and paint before it'll cure, but you'll find a rhythm.

 

[Caman]

Why doesn't it make sense? It works great and no silicone mess!

Basically you're using the background colored paint like the silicone, it seals the edge and whatever bleeds through is not noticeable. You don't have to use much paint, just enough to seal the tape edge, don't bother painting the rest of the area away from the edges. Let it dry and paint with the stripe color. Make a couple coats if needed and pull the tape off, you will have a perfectly crisp and straight edge.

Sorry don't know why the tape buckled, probably some odd reaction between the paint and tape, looks like you may have used a little too much paint as well. I'd probably pull the tape, clean it up and retape with a different brand. Use a bit less paint as well, you just need enough to cover the edge.

 

[Colin Len]

Why doesn't it make sense? It works great and no silicone mess!

Basically you're using the background colored paint like the silicone, it seals the edge and whatever bleeds through is not noticeable. You don't have to use much paint, just enough to seal the tape edge, don't bother painting the rest of the area away from the edges. Let it dry and paint with the stripe color. Make a couple coats if needed and pull the tape off, you will have a perfectly crisp and straight edge.

Your description makes more sense from a process standpoint, although how does the tape not pull off the dried paint? Whenever I've used masking tape I always pull it off before the paint dries so that you don't lift the fresh paint you just laid down.

And I don't use silicon caulking, I use latex painters caulk. Much easier to deal with than silicon.

 

[MarkG]

Your technique is sound----that's how I do stuff like that (I'm a signpainter), but it sounds like you either got a bad roll of tape or maybe didn't apply it firmly enough. I've never seen tape buckle like that. Did you press it firmly down the whole way with your thumbnail or a squeegee? I wouldn't use caulk along the edge-----that just makes a huge lump. Get some good tape or a new roll and do what you did again, but pressing it down more firmly------it's got to work! You already said you did it once! You might have brushed the paint on too heavy with your first 'sealing pass'. Brush it out good, thin even coat over edge and move on. If it's too heavy, it might have a tenancy to wrinkle the tape like that.

 

[ford33]

I have never seen painters tape pull away from the wall like that. Did you apply something to the wall prior to applying the tape? I use Frog tape and like it.

Take off the bottom tape and use something else. How strong is the adhesion of the top tape?

 

[RegeSullivan]

Never saw a decent painters tape get wavy or pull away like that. I see in the picture it is buckled on the bottom where there is no paint. Makes me wonder if you didn't rub it down tight along the edge? I only rub it down on the edge because you have less chance of pulling off paint than if you rub the entire width.

On a smooth wall most of the time when I need a sharp paint line I apply the tape, rub it down tight with a rag then seal it with paint, stripe color by brushing with slightly dry brush. Brush from the tape toward the strip. Give it an hour or so to dry then apply a normal coat to the stripe. It saves time and you rarely get any bleeding and if the is any it's an easy to touch up with wall color.

On a rough finish I use the painters caulk method.

 

[bshusted]

Thanks for the advise guys. I picked up some of the frog tape at the hardware store while I was there. I try to lay it out again tonight and see what happens. I feel like I got the tape stuck to the wall as well as I could. When I laid it out, I ran my hand down the line to get it to stick and then went back around with a rag and pushed it down again. The top is fully stuck to the wall. No pulling or peeling. Maybe I did go too heavy on the sealing coat that caused it. We'll see what the frog stuff does a little later.

 

[Slednut]

Never saw a decent painters tape get wavy or pull away like that. I see in the picture it is buckled on the bottom where there is no paint. Makes me wonder if you didn't rub it down tight along the edge? I only rub it down on the edge because you have less chance of pulling off paint than if you rub the entire width.

On a smooth wall most of the time when I need a sharp paint line I apply the tape, rub it down tight with a rag then seal it with paint, stripe color by brushing with slightly dry brush. Brush from the tape toward the strip. Give it an hour or so to dry then apply a normal coat to the stripe. It saves time and you rarely get any bleeding and if the is any it's an easy to touch up with wall color.

On a rough finish I use the painters caulk method.

This works, the super thin coat seals between the surface of the wall and the tape.

 

[chopperguy01]

I had a similar experience using the blue painters tape, now I wouldn't use anything but frog-tape. Perfect lines!


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[RegeSullivan]

Looks great! Nice, sharp, straight. Doesn't get any better then that!

 

[bshusted]

Things seem to be going better using the frog tape. Thanks for that suggestion. I'll avoid the blue tape from now on. Now I just need to get another coat or two on so I can remove the tape and see what I've got.

 

[nolimits76]

Basically you're using the background colored paint like the silicone, it seals the edge and whatever bleeds through is not noticeable. You don't have to use much paint, just enough to seal the tape edge, don't bother painting the rest of the area away from the edges. Let it dry and paint with the stripe color. Make a couple coats if needed and pull the tape off, you will have a perfectly crisp and straight edge.

This is the method I've used on a few different paint projects around the house, and have had very good results. I noticed you have textured walls like me, and it should be stressed to spend a few extra minutes going back to make sure the tape is sealed firmly down in the "valleys" created by the texturing.

My weapon of choice is a plastic putty knife.

FYI, another vote for the Frog's Tape.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

I always used blue tape, never had a problem with it. Not the cheap off brand blue tape that you can find at Walmart. That one has a crinkly feeling to it. The nice smooth blue tape always works perfectly fine for me. I press it on the wall, and then RIGHT before I paint I run my thumb over the entire top portion or which ever portion I am going to paint so that there is no gap or seperation from the wall to the tape...

Comes out nicely every time. Both in the garages and in the house depending on what I am painting...

I tried using cheaper blue tape and it was a nightmare, after that experience I never used cheap tape again. Never used frog tape but people like it. I'm tempted to try it but it's always expensive, more so than the blue tape that I know works for my style...lol

Pics just to show. These are all old.

-Nigel

 

[bshusted]

Pulled the tape off tonight. Just two small spots where the red bled into the grey. Thanks for all of the help guys.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I used the blue tape and had no problem at all. Looks like you used too much paint. I pressed the tape tightly then painted the taped edge lightly. Very little should actually seep under the tape IF you taped it right:



And this is over MDF!