The Best Way to Prep for Painting

June 27, 2010, By Greg Hoard 2 comments

Greg Hoard

How man times has this happened? You are painting a room in the house and you are absolutely meticulous about preparing the trim. You even go as far as pushing the tape tightly into small cracks with a putty knife to make sure not a drop seeps through. (Personally, I’m completely obsessive about this process.)

But, when the job is done – no matter how steady your hand or how fine your brush – and the tape is removed, there are bleeds and smears and spots. What a buzz kill! So in addition to spots, bleeds and smears, now the room is filled with expressions of consternation and angst. &%$@#! Worse than that, you are left with a couple of hours of cleanup.

Well, no more. There is a relatively new product on the market called Frog Tape® that brings this frustration to an end. As long as you are working with latex paint, this product assures straight lines and no bleeds. Hallelujah!

Frog Tape® is treated with an absorbent polymer that reacts with latex paint forming a gel that serves as a micro-barrier, seals the edges of the tape and prevents paint from bleeding through. It’s easy, quick and effective.

The application process is no different than using other types of tape. Nevertheless, here are a few general tips on how to use Frog Tape®:

• Clean and dust the area to be taped.
• For top performance, use Frog Tape® in short, overlapping sections.
• If you are applying more than one coat of paint, remove and replace Frog Tape® between each coat.
• Remove Frog Tape® as soon as you are done painting, and do so slowly at a 90 degree angle.

One caution. If you are working on a textured surface, you will probably have to take some extra steps to insure a quality job. (You can find out more by going to www.frogtape.com.)

Frog Tape is available at Ace, Lowe’s, True Value, Walmart and Sherwin-Williams, and makes a job well done even better.

Greg Hoard is the senior writer and former editor of Cincinnati Profile magazine. He is a featured contributor to ManoftheHouse.com.

Comments (2):

Jeff P. Tim ... great point. While my technique isn't the best as of yet, I'm sure with some more practice and painting I'll get there. - 06/30/2010

Tim L. You really don't need special products to prevent bleeding, it's all about technique. Use whatever masking tape you normally would, but be sure to do a really light first coat of paint at the edge of the tape. If you goop the paint on too thick it will run under the tape, but by doing a light first coat you create a seal between the tape and the wall allowing you to paint heavier on subsequent coats. Also, don't wait for the paint to dry before removing the tape. If you remove the tape while the paint is still slightly wet, that will help prevent the tape from pulling the paint off the wall when you remove it. - 06/28/2010