Painting baseboards in carpeted rooms without taking the necessary safeguards is one of the mistakes that may damage an interior painting project the fastest. By doing this, a homeowner is quite likely to get a trifecta of unpleasant issues. When pulled off, carpet lint can leave an unsightly damaged place on the wall from being gathered up into the brush and painted there. Nevertheless, even a steady brush hand could leave paint on the carpet fiber tips. A painter may try to avoid painting too near to the carpet in order to avoid the first two issues and avoid leaving an uneven line of baseboard that isn't painted. A competent painter can avoid all three issues with a single action, and homeowners can follow his or her example.
Easy Process Of Painting Baseboards Or Trim With Carpet Installed
Apply a 2 or 3 inch strip of blue painters tape over the carpet before painting. Leave no gaps where you can see the carpet as you run the tape next to the baseboard. Using many short pieces of tape will result in seams where paint can seep through; instead, use one long piece of tape to cover the entire length of a wall, even if the sections are overlapped. The tape's edge should then be pushed downward and tucked beneath the baseboard. For this stage, a hard, flat tool like a putty knife might be useful. The carpet will stay in place under the baseboard once it has been slid under the tape because of the tape's stickiness.
Vacuum Around All The Baseboard
- The corners and borders of a space are often filled with dust, trash, and particularly hair (both human and animal). The first step is to thoroughly vacuum the first 4 inches of carpet surrounding the baseboard with a shop vac.
Run Your Tape Onto The Baseboard
- The thickness of the carpet or the distance between the baseboard's bottom and the top of the carpet should be determined. This typically measures around a half-inch.
- Apply your 2 inch masking tape to the baseboard, about half an inch up. Instead of attempting to run your tape down an entire wall at once, you might find that doing them in two-foot strips is the simplest option. Do not apply pressure to the tape; we are still working with it.
Tuck The Tape Under The Baseboard
- Grab the tape edge that is furthest from the baseboard with one hand and gently pull it away from the baseboard until the tape edge that was touching the baseboard peels away from the trim. The tape should then be carefully tucked underneath the baseboard using a 2' or 4' flat putty knife. On your first wall, you'll find this to be a pretty slow process, but once you get the hang of it, it will go much more quickly for you.
- This totally separates the tape from the carpet by getting it down under the baseboard. For the paint to reach the carpet and for carpet fibers to reach the paint, you have made it impossible. In order to ensure that no unpainted surfaces are visible once the job is complete, you've also made it simple to paint your baseboard all the way down to the bottom of the board.
Run Extra Tape And Carpet Shield For Extra Protection
- To provide yourself approximately 3' of working space for brushwork or spraying, you must run a second strip of 2' masking tape after the first strip has been tucked under the baseboard all the way around the room.
- To prevent paint splatter or paint footprints on the carpet after the second strip of tape is in place, move a roll of carpet shield around the room. This also prevents carpet debris from getting near my painting area.
- Only while spraying should you take the final step, which involves covering the remaining portion of the room with plastic. This is entirely unnecessary when brushing.