Painting wall Stripe

[Mmfh]

Hey there,

I'm finally to the point where I'm trying to figure out how to make a nice clean line for my paint stripe, or actually two stripes.

I've seen many of you guys with the nice stripes in your garage, and I want to run the tape out and get some paint on the wall, but I just can't get a totally level and straight tape line. And No Beers yet!

What's the trick, just not being stupid probably. So, how did you do it???
I've tried using a level, chalk line, 2x4 with a level, eyeball it.

Maybe a drink wouldn't hurt?

Thanks very much!

Mm

 

[JimVonBaden]

I used a laser level, $44 from HF, and it did a great job. Once I had the top line, I used a light plug cover to tape the lower line spacing.

I used blue painter's tape. The trick is to smooth it down fully, and to remove it with the paint tacky, pulling at a 180° angle. That will help prevent pulling wall color off.

I used less than a pint of paint for the stripe on a 20X20 garage.

Mine took 3 coats to cover.

Jim

 

[Zeke]

Even with a laser or a chalk line you have to pull the tape straight. Sometimes 2 people can do this better than one. Pull the tape out several feet without tilting the roll. Bring it a little closer and let the other person touch it down lightly. If they miss, pull it back up. Keep your end steady and lined up as best you can. After they touch it down in couple places about half way to you, pull some more out. Repeat.

As he said, you need to get the tape down well and it can wrinkle up if you use too much force on the first pass. A wallpaper seam roller works well, but it you have textured walls I find a Nylon comb run along the critical edge puts the tape down tight.

 

[regguy1]

Someone posted a great way to do this recently. You tape your stripe then paint the inside edges of the stripe the same color as the wall, this fills any bleed area with wall color. After it dries paint the stripe and you'll have a clean looking line. Maybe someone will put up the link.

I did a stripe on concrete block and used auto striping tape as a border, covers any bleed and looks nice.

 

[haulna]

http://shopngarage.com/2010/11/painting-stripes/

Check this out.

 

[regguy1]

http://shopngarage.com/2010/11/painting-stripes/

Check this out.

That's the method

 

[TMCdw]

Someone posted a great way to do this recently. You tape your stripe then paint the inside edges of the stripe the same color as the wall, this fills any bleed area with wall color. After it dries paint the stripe and you'll have a clean looking line. Maybe someone will put up the link.

I did a stripe on concrete block and used auto striping tape as a border, covers any bleed and looks nice.

That's a great idea, wish I would have thought about that before doing the office. Touch ups took forever. In the shop the walls are OSB so I didn't sweat it too much, used a laser level to make the tape straight and painted away. The OSB allowed the edges to be a little rough but otherwise worked great.

 

[JimVonBaden]

http://shopngarage.com/2010/11/painting-stripes/

Check this out.

Pretty cool, and same colors as mine.

I didn't have any bleed issues, but I did have pretty smooth drywall and fresh paint.

Jim

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

...You tape your stripe then paint the inside edges of the stripe the same color as the wall, this fills any bleed area with wall color. After it dries paint the stripe and you'll have a clean looking line. Maybe someone will put up the link....

I don't have the link but I just did this last week:

This is on OSB so its relatively lumpy and bumpy compared to plywood or drywall. I had to paint the edge of the tape twice to make certain I fills any tiny gap. Came out PERFECT! By the way, it's a GARAGE! A laser? C'mon. I just measured up from the floor, marked a pencil line and then pulled y tape as straight as I could. Looks perfectly level to me.

BTW, the photo above shows where I originally had the line. I'm raising it to the botom of the window and here is a bad cell phone photo with flash from 2 minutes ago. You can see the OSB texture clearly and still see the line is sharp:

 

[JimVonBaden]

Seriously, you certainly can use a yardstick to make your line, and obviously it will come out great. But the laser is so much easier, and the line is perfectly level, even if the floor and walls are not.

Looks great there Dan!

Jim

 

[Mmfh]

You guys have done a great job on those stripes, I really like the trick of painting the wall colors before the stripe color, nice tip.

Somewhere around here I have a Laser I bought for a tile job, and never opened it up. I'm going to try to find that and see how it works.

I put a lot of work into my sheetrock, mud and tape work, texture work, priming, and now painting. I want it to look as perfect as I can. When I was working with the tape it just wasn't coming out perfect all the way down the wall. When I stood back it just didn't look as good as I was hoping for.

I'm going to try it again with the laser, and maybe my wife will give me a hand, that usually doesn't go real well.

Dan your line looks absulutely perfect! Even though the surface isn't smooth, Nice!

I'm going to give it a go again today, its getting painted perfect or not, so I'm hoping for the best.

Thanks very much!

Mm

 

[ARbuilder223]

Be sure to use the link that Haulna stated..i had alot of texture on my walls and was very pleased with outcome of stripe..no bleeding

 

[Mmfh]

Your texture looks very much like what I did on mine. That is a great link to a great tip, I'm for sure going to paint it that way.

Thanks

 

[ARbuilder223]

Good luck!

 

[RTcat]

Yup, the link by haulna is great! and if your doing multiple colors in your stripe, just repeat the proces in side your first stripe. I painted my purple stripe first and then put the green stripe inside.

As far as marking for the stripe height on the wall, I just cut a stick to the length I wanted the top of the stripe at. Went down the wall and made a light pencil mark every foot. Then I cut the stick down to the height of the bottom of the stripe and marked every foot down the wall again.

Then I just pulled out about 20" of blue tape off the roll at a time and put the edge just so I could see my line (at each pencil mark)

System worked great

 

[Mmfh]

Green and purple are colors you don't see much on this site, do you have a theme that those colors go with? Nice job on the lines by the way.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Green and purple are colors you don't see much on this site, do you have a theme that those colors go with? Nice job on the lines by the way.

I believe they are Arctic Cat colors.

 

[mgilde13]

Green and purple are colors you don't see much on this site, do you have a theme that those colors go with? Nice job on the lines by the way.

My guess is Arctic Cat.

 

[Mmfh]

I goggled the Arctic Cat, I see the green but didn't see the purple. At first I thought it was going to be one of those big diesel powered snow movers you see on the mountains.

 

[RTcat]

Green and purple are colors you don't see much on this site, do you have a theme that those colors go with? Nice job on the lines by the way.

Yup, theme is Arctic Cat snowmobiles. I've been riding/driving sleds since the late 60's as a very young boy. Been sort of passion my whole life. I built a display area notch out of the compressor closet to display some old Arctic Cat memorabilia. I'll try and get some pictures.

I believe they are Arctic Cat colors.

yup

My guess is Arctic Cat.

yupper

I goggled the Arctic Cat, I see the green but didn't see the purple. At first I thought it was going to be one of those big diesel powered snow movers you see on the mountains.

Purple was their first trim color back in the early 70's and then they added Green to their sleds in the mid 70's.

 

[Duker]

Interesting color combos.

Just as an aside, you can get a crisp line by painting over the painters tape with clear shellac before you put down your base coat. Both Oil base and latex will adhere to shellac.

Zinssers Bullseye makes a clear spray you can get at HD or you can make a 1-3lb cut (thinned with alcohol) from any regular can or from flakes.

 

[jdeck]

Bringing this thread way back from the dead.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what the point of the dual color wall and/or stripe is and where it came from? I see tons of people doing it on GJ. Do I have a weird sense of taste that I think it can look cheesy? Or I am I missing something? Also, is there a historical aspect behind it? Race or mechanic shop inspired?

 

[Robbo]

I'm not sure of the history, but I do know a common theme here is white wall up high to reflect more light for when you're working on something and darker lower wall to hide the enevitable dirty grime that happens when working in a garage. I imagine the stripe came as a result of wanting to add some interest rather than just a plain transition.

Sounds good to me anyway haha.

Rob

 

[James E]

Vinyl tape is a cheap and easier way to cover a messy transition between two colors on a wall.

 

[quarterstang86]

I don't have the link but I just did this last week:

This is on OSB so its relatively lumpy and bumpy compared to plywood or drywall. I had to paint the edge of the tape twice to make certain I fills any tiny gap. Came out PERFECT! By the way, it's a GARAGE! A laser? C'mon. I just measured up from the floor, marked a pencil line and then pulled y tape as straight as I could. Looks perfectly level to me.

BTW, the photo above shows where I originally had the line. I'm raising it to the botom of the window and here is a bad cell phone photo with flash from 2 minutes ago. You can see the OSB texture clearly and still see the line is sharp:

Nice to see this worked so well for you! Our walls have a "Florida" style blown on texture to them. The builder continued this treatment on the drywall in the garage. I was wondering what I might run into in painting the walls out there to a more shop friendly color.

Now I know!

Thanks.

 

[Rockford]

I just want to add that, if I were to ever do it again, I'd actually heed the advice I read here and seal the tape edges with the base wall cover. Yeh, my "Edge-Lock" 3M blue tape bled along every inch of my top wall base- but not the lower (couldn't figure that one out). Same paint and sheen, just different colors.
Oh, I did try Frog tape, but it just didn't work for me. I Couldn't get it to stick to the walls for more than 5 minutes, so I ditched that and went with 3M Edge Lock.
Anyway, I must have spent at least 8 hours sitting on stool and touching up the bleed lines with a tiny 1" sash brush. Worth it in the end though.

Back to your original question about running straight lines. My garage is somewhat cut up with the longest, uninterrupted wall being 44'. On that one, I firmly tacked nails in the corners for each line and tightly stretched some braided, no-stretch fishing line. Then, to keep it taught, I carefully tacked the line to the wall with tape every 6-7 feet. Then I was able to run the striping tape up to the fishing line. On the shorter walls a straight edge and 6 foot level worked fine. I did mark off level points at every inside and outside corner with a water level first just to keep everything in check.
Here's a partial shot from another post about garage doors, but you'll get the idea. Walls are semi-gloss, rolled on, and stripe, oil base, three coats.

 

[ErvsGarage]

You guys are my heroes, especially Regguy1 and Dan in Pasadena (those OSB photo's got my attention) as I was at my whit's end trying to figure out how I was going to paint a strip around my 1250 sq. ft. garage on sand textured walls (a standard here in WI). Painting the edges of the tape with base color worked great! Even though it was a lot of work since I had two different colors for bottom and top. it was worth it! Job turned out great!
Erv

 

[JCQuick]

You guys are my heroes, especially Regguy1 and Dan in Pasadena (those OSB photo's got my attention) as I was at my whit's end trying to figure out how I was going to paint a strip around my 1250 sq. ft. garage on sand textured walls (a standard here in WI). Painting the edges of the tape with base color worked great! Even though it was a lot of work since I had two different colors for bottom and top. it was worth it! Job turned out great!
Erv

ooh ooh show me I have the same problem bleed thru on a concrete block wall.with 2 color stripe

 

[skidozer670]

I bought a roll of vinyl used for graphics or signs online for $40. Used a laser level for pencil marks and done. There was enough to do my attached garage and shop. It did fall off the osb on one wall in unheated attached garage after 2nd winter but holding up great in heated shop.



Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[pmiranda]

If you're thinking about Frog Tape, remember it's only useful with latex or acrylic. If you're oil-based (or just a rough surface) don't bother. I used it successfully in my son's room for a two-tone paint job but if you're careful and work top-down pretty much any tape would be fine.

 

[rayra]

Someone posted a great way to do this recently. You tape your stripe then paint the inside edges of the stripe the same color as the wall, this fills any bleed area with wall color. After it dries paint the stripe and you'll have a clean looking line. Maybe someone will put up the link.

I did a stripe on concrete block and used auto striping tape as a border, covers any bleed and looks nice.

yes, that's a very good trick.

Another is not painting into the tape edge with a wet brush. Put the sopping brush in the middle of the stripe area, until things are spread out, then paint from the tape onto the wall with a depleted brush. Less paint packed against the tape.

The other trick is a light spraying instead of very wet brushes or rollers.

Don't pile the paint up on the tape edge, whatever application tool you use.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

You guys are my heroes, especially Regguy1 and Dan in Pasadena (those OSB photo's got my attention) as I was at my whit's end trying to figure out how I was going to paint a strip around my 1250 sq. ft. garage on sand textured walls (a standard here in WI). Painting the edges of the tape with base color worked great! Even though it was a lot of work since I had two different colors for bottom and top. it was worth it! Job turned out great!
Erv

Ah thanks Erv! Glad that picture helped someone.

Even I was impressed that I got the line that clean on OSB. Nice to know it worked for you too.
Best, Dan

 

[teamextreme]

CAUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The link by haulna in post #5 has a virus or malware or something. Mods or haulna, please remove this link!!!
It comes up and locks your system with a flashing screen and beeping noise and tells you to call a number to unlock. Basically highjacking your computer.

 

[mnoeltne]

Yeah, I hit the Report button on that post yesterday after the same thing happened to me.

I hope they kill that link soon.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Back when my dad was around (he was a professional painter for 40+ years), he used a chalk line either working to lines measured up from the floor or down from the ceiling and / or used a line level. Key was just the "right" amount of chalk on the line, holding the line tight, and pulling and letting go of the line perpendicular to the wall. Then free hand "cut in" the line (either as in the traditional dado (machine gray below, white above) or stripes, etc.). Worked well, looked beautiful when complete.