I stumbled on the fastest, and easiest way to perfectly cut in casing, and baseboards this morning. I put up a new ceiling, and needed to paint the Dining Room in a lake rental house.
I had watched a youtube video titled something like "caulking your masking tape", and decided to give it a try. I'm probably fairly good at cutting in with a brush, especially on casing, but the top of a baseboard is no fun for me. I've tried several types of masking tape, including Frog tape, as was used in the video. I've never been That impressed with Frog tape.
The caulking method involves putting caulking over the working edge of the tape, painting over it while it's still wet, and pulling the tape off before it dries. I bought a tube of clear, latex caulking to use for this trial, but once I got into it, I decided to skip the caulking step.
I tried both Frog Tape, and 3M 2093 Sharp Lines tape. I like how the 3M tape works coming off the roll better, so I only did one side of door casing with the Frog tape. It worked like a charm. I think pulling it off while the paint is still wet lets the paint part cleanly at the edge of the tape, whereas otherwise, it comes off leaving some kind of a jagged edge.
I put the 2093 on, and contrary to 3M's directions, I didn't wait 20 minutes for it to set. I used a fairly stiff, cheap paintbrush to make sure it was sealed down good, as I rolled it out.
The wood trim in this room is natural finished Pine, and the walls painted this time with S-W Emerald Vanillin, sort of a very pale yellow.
After I had done several sections, I timed myself, without getting in a hurry, on a 16' baseboard. From the start of putting the tape on, including painting with a brush, and pulling the tape off, it was close to exactly 3 minutes.
It's faster, and easier for me to do this, as good as I am at cutting in vertical casing, on any of this trim.
Now, none of this old stuff had been caulked to the point of having a fillet at the joining line of the parts, so that made it some easier. I pulled off a little of the tape to start a section, and reverse rolled it off with the tape roll being held directly against the wall, so it came off in exactly the correct plane.
I never did open that tube of caulking.
If you read the instructions for the 2093 tape, you will see I didn't follow the instructions. I had that complete room painted today, and cleaned up, ready to move furniture back in tomorrow. I did have to do some sheetrock touchup, and priming those spots to start with this morning.
https://www.scotchblue.com/3M/en_US/...4340561&rt=rud
I used 3/4" tape. The whole floor was masked, because I sprayed the new ceiling, so there was little worry about the wet paint on the tape, as it came off, getting on anything that mattered. I wish I had known this long ago.
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