When to pull off painting tape

[rmanrman]

I’ve finished painting my garage upstairs office/man cave walls
Now I have started to paint the windows and trim and interior doors
I’ve bought 3m blue painters tape. I’ve tried to remove the tape as soon as I’m done but usually some is dry and some is wet then the tape pulls off paint at irregular places and the lines ****. The window glass is ok and I finish up with a straight edge blade to clean up the mess. What’s the point of blue tape if I still spend a lot of time on touch up. Do I wait till next day or days? What’s the secret to get clean lines and less mess?? Btw the green painting tape same results plus doesn’t hold well. Thanks

 

[SALIV8]

The best results i can ever seem to get is pulling the tape off while the paint is still wet.

 

[sweetk30]

also any paint tape pull at 180* or as close to it as possible to make it break and cut the paint for a more clean line .

i remember autobody guys i worked with would pull yellow tape in a few hr's max but that was catalyzed hardened paint .

 

[scottydosnntkno]

Either pull it right away or wait til it’s completely dry (2-3 days). Also use green frog tape or 3m edge guard (not the $6/roll stuff, the $9/roll stuff) for laser sharp lines.

 

[3rdgendslmech]

Wet worked best for me at home. Best I can remember when we painted our fleet of trucks, once we were happy with the final coat, we let it sit for an hour max, then started pulling tape in the same manner like SWEETK30 said. Pretty much like pulling the tape back onto itself.

 

[JRC3]

The best results i can ever seem to get is pulling the tape off while the paint is still wet.

Yep, I go maybe 30-45 minutes. Let it setup enough so it doesn't run when you pull it off, but not enough so it starts to adhere the tape to what you're protecting. A second coat on the same tape withing an hour or so and you can restart the 30-40 minutes clock.

 

[JRC3]

Oh, And I use a wood shim or a piece of stir stick to press the paint into place. Lightly hit the edge well with two passes.

 

[_Stang_]

Gave up on tape years ago and started buying good cut in brushes.

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[rburke65]

I would thing within an hour or so. In the house, I don’t use tape at all. Just cut it in.

 

[dirtrich]

I've always used the Blue tape from Home Depot and never had any problems.
Adheres well to most anything, and comes up fairly easily. I've pulled it anywhere from just after putting the paint brush down, to two days later with no problems whatsoever.
And yes, pull at 180 degrees.
Was buying paint at Kelly Moore one time and decided to try their tape.
Horrible. Extremely poor adhesion. What was I thinking?!

 

[mikec35]

I'm going on 11 months with the tape on my shop lights. Guess I'll try to pull it off next week when I'm back home. Hopefully it's not fused to the lights...

 

[JRC3]

Gave up on tape years ago and started buying good cut in brushes.

Doesn't work as well when painting walls while leaving existing baseboard paint.

 

[Kaizen]

I only use tape when painting two adjoining colors. As said above learn how to use a sash brush and it will make your life easier.
For taping between two colors I use frogtape. Seals better then blue tape. Pulled off when done.



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[Git]

When I paint I always use two coats. So as soon as I get the second coat on and while the paint is still wet, I pull the tape

I always get a laugh over these 'learn how to use a brush' type comments (I would be willing to bet they still have an AOL email address)

 

[cvairwerks]

I typically pull the tape for long lines and edges after about 30 minutes. Pull 180 along itself and angle away from the fresh paint. Around labeling and intricate details, have to wait til the paint is dry and use a razor blade or X-acto to lift and peel.

 

[rmanrman]

I’ve been painting for what seems like forever. When I had great eye sight and steady hand I rarely used tape. Now after a failed cateract surgery (by a family member doctor HUGE Mistake) and Mother Nature screwing me i’m Trying tape off painting jobs I’ll get the frog **** a shot. I also think these new all in one paints are also to blame
Way too thick and hard to avoid brush strokes. Yes I’m using a great expensive Purdy sash brush. Do you guys thin out the primer and paint all in one paints?
If yes what do you use and how much per gallon?

 

[jonshonda]

Gave up on tape years ago and started buying good cut in brushes.

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I can't say I have up on tape but do enjoy a nice cut in brush. What I found is that a brush wider then 2" was much more difficult for me to get straight lines with. Ymmv

 

[rieferman]

I saw a neat tip recently, that I used for a small painting job with success, and could be useful in some scenarios.

After the green tape is down, cut a very small hole in the tip of a clear, paintable caullk tube.

Apply a tiny bead of the clear caulk to the edge of the tape that you will be painting.

Immediately use finger/putty knife/whatever you like to remove all the caulk that you just spread... the tiniest bit will have squeezed under the tape, preventing bleed-under by the paint.

Paint the tape edge while the caulk is still wet (in other words, don't caulk an entire room at one shot) and remove the tape while the paint is still wet.

Same trick works with paint (by using the adjoining wall / trim / ceiling color in place of the caulk step... but I found the clear caulk approach to be faster, easier, less cleanup).

I only use this when I need laser perfect lines (e.g. fun recent example = painting a ******** set for a customer) or if the walls have some texture. In all other cases, I have found that green tape works nicely if you don't glob the paint on too thick at the edges and remove the tape while paint is still wet.

 

[Kaizen]

I’ve been painting for what seems like forever. When I had great eye sight and steady hand I rarely used tape. Now after a failed cateract surgery (by a family member doctor HUGE Mistake) and Mother Nature screwing me i’m Trying tape off painting jobs I’ll get the frog **** a shot. I also think these new all in one paints are also to blame
Way too thick and hard to avoid brush strokes. Yes I’m using a great expensive Purdy sash brush. Do you guys thin out the primer and paint all in one paints?
If yes what do you use and how much per gallon?

I don’t. Last wall I did in ac plywood I just rolled it. If I wanted perfect lines I would paint from the tape to the wall. Going from wall to tape pushes it under. Try cutting in at the tape, roll the room, then give another cut in on tape and remove it. I’ve found very different characteristics between different brand names if this all in one paint. I try not to thin it. But some definitely flows better in some surfaces. Coverage is also dependent on surface and color. I’m doing a dark blue and the color changes much with a second coat.


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[Kaizen]

When I paint I always use two coats. So as soon as I get the second coat on and while the paint is still wet, I pull the tape

I always get a laugh over these 'learn how to use a brush' type comments (I would be willing to bet they still have an AOL email address)

If it’s not needed as op does it’s a waste of time. In the time it takes to put up tape I can cut it in. I don’t see pros taping up much.


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[Davefr]

What's tape??

With a good brush, good paint and good technique you can eliminate most (if not all) taping. Faster too.

 

[Kaizen]

I'm going on 11 months with the tape on my shop lights. Guess I'll try to pull it off next week when I'm back home. Hopefully it's not fused to the lights...

Hair dryer will soften the glue if it’s stuck


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[fartymarty]

I've always sucked at this. First off, like rmanrman said, I think the green tape (aka frog tape) might **** even more. It seems like it works no better than the blue stuff for crisp lines and it doesn't stick half as well as the blue. I also have had bad luck pulling the tape away from the edge as some say to do it. Difficult to describe but I'll try. First I pull the tape at 180 degrees then slightly skew it 10-20 degrees away from the dried edge and continue the pull. When I do it that way (with latex, which is 100% of what I paint with except for rattle can work) the paint almost always starts to stretch and pull instead of breaking clean at the tape. I've had much better luck slightly skewing the pull towards the line instead of away from it. The only real semi success I've had is to get a sharp snap tip blade and tediously cut the dried paint along the tape edge going with a new blade tip every 10 ft or so, then pulling the tape. Like I said, tedious, but much less tedious than trying to "cut it in" for someone that doesn't paint for a living. Also less tedious than trying to repair all the little squiggles I got when I pulled the tape on wet paint.

I don't post this as a useful tip, rather as commiseration for all those that also **** at this, and feel bad when the experts all tell them to use the techniques that they've already failed at. To them I say, you're not alone my painting tape (of all colors) challenged friend. I feel your pain and disappointment ,........
.... but I also enjoy your company.

 

[cvairwerks]

What's tape??

With a good brush, good paint and good technique you can eliminate most (if not all) taping. Faster too.

Can't exactly brush this type work....