It doesn’t matter if you’re painting inside or outside your home you’re going to need to mask some areas off. You can skip the masking of course (many people do because they’re in a hurry) but you’ll wind up with streaks and blobs of paint everywhere. There’s no point in saving 30 minutes of time by skipping masking and then spending 2 days making up for your mistakes right?
Usually the standard masking tape is enough for most jobs. But if the painting or decorating job is going to last for more than a few days you might want to consider what’s called blue tape. This type of tape is just that bit more durable than your ordinary masking tape – especially in outdoors type conditions. It also has a specially designed adhesive that stops it sticking to the surfaces underneath and causing any unpredictable damage when you peel it back off later on.
Most DIY fans tend to use old newspaper to mask off sections of their floors when painting near skirting boards or just over wooden flooring or carpet. This is a very cheap solution to the problem but isn’t the best option. Why? Just because paint is liquid and newspaper won’t stand anything more than a very minor spill. Not only that but it tears so easily and this can lead to paint splashes falling through those tears. The split second you stand on a ladder that has newspaper underneath it the ladder legs will go right through it.
You can get special paper that’s designed for use in masking but it can be pretty expensive and isn’t reusable so it’s not really environmentally friendly from that point of view. It’s still an option for you and a lot better than your bog standard newspaper.
If you’re really serious about protecting your floors or carpets then you need to use plastics or tarps that are designed for painting jobs. Using plastic rubbish bags won’t be enough – they also tear really easily so you know what happens then! Tarps and proper plastic covers are also reusable so you’re doing your bit for the environment here too.
Masking off areas doesn’t take a lot of skill. It’s more a case of being patient than anything else. The time you put into it though will pay off tenfold because you’re not going to have to spend days cleaning up splashes of paint afterwards. This means that your newly painted room can be put to use almost straight away (once the paint has dried of course).
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