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Masking tape...


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Bit of a random one... can anyone recommend a good masking tape?

 

I am trying to repaint my decks - the expanse of grey is broken up with white lines which I quite like. Last time I did it, I used the white gloss (International toplac) which gave a nice crisp finish but when wet it created a slippery line in the middle of the deck -- not ideal -- so this time I have put a texture paint underneath the toplac. I painted the lines ok, but am now trying to mask them to paint the grey "panels" and I cannot get the masking tape to stick! I smooth it down firmly - it sticks to some things (like itself, small flakes of paint which have resisted a wire brush and an electric sander, and my arm hair), but it simply blows away in the fierce down-draft from the savage beating of the wings of a passing butterfly...

 

Any ideas or alternatives from painting experts? I think it would look awful if I try to paint the straight lines by hand (the curved corners are OK, but I could never get the lines straight enough)

 

I suppose I could paint over the white then repaint the white lines, but the deck paint is quite  thick and I want that to look like a panel on top of white rather than a panel with a white cross painted on it, so the boundaries make all the difference

 

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Edited by Bacchus
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Kleenedge tape….from Toolstation amongst others is one of the best in my opinion. Be warned that any tape on hot steel will either leave a residue or remove paint if left on for more than a day or two in the sun. If you are in a covered dock you will get a bit longer. 

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1 minute ago, frangar said:

Kleenedge tape….from Toolstation amongst others is one of the best in my opinion. Be warned that any tape on hot steel will either leave a residue or remove paint if left on for more than a day or two in the sun. If you are in a covered dock you will get a bit longer. 

 

Cool, ta, we have a Toolstation nearby - I have tried Homebase and Scotch so far...

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If you are putting masking tape onto a textured surface I fear it is inevitable that some paint will creep under the edges of the tape and give a ragged edge.

 

One tip I have found is that after putting the masking tape on you apply two coats of the second paint at the minimum time interval specified by the manufacturer, then remove the tape and allow the paint to dry thoroughly. Applying two coats like this gives you a raised edge along the edge-of-tape line, and with care you can now touch up the first paint colour up to that edge, using a small artist's brush, to cover any areas that have bled under the tape.

Edited by David Mack
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3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

If you are putting masking tape onto a textured surface I fear it is inevitable that some paint will creep under the edges of the tape and give a ragged edge.

 

Yeah - I can put up with a little bit of ragged here and there, but I just need to be able to get the tape to stick for long enough for me to get the paint on!

 

I think because it's textured, the tape is trying to adhere to the "tips of the texture", so only a tiny percentage of the area is actually stuck so the breeze just whips it off. I have waited most of the summer for a couple of dry days, I am not going to hold out for dry and still...!

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1 minute ago, Paringa said:

Search for Rough Surface Masking Tape... Scotch do one at Screwfix. Might be worth a try.

 

Now that sounds like a good call - never heard of it but it makes sense - have just looked at their website at the Scotch version and it gets good reviews

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12 minutes ago, David Mack said:

If you are putting masking tape onto a textured surface I fear it is inevitable that some paint will creep under the edges of the tape and give a ragged edge.

 

One tip I have found is that after putting the masking tape on you apply two coats of the second paint at the minimum time interval specified by the manufacturer, then remove the tape and allow the paint to dry thoroughly. Applying two coats like this gives you a raised edge along the edge-of-tape line, and with care you can now touch up the first paint colour up to that edge, using a small artist's brush, to cover any areas that have bled under the tape.

 

Or let the pain dry for the minimum specified time and take the tape off. Any that has bled under the tape is likely to still be wet so it wipes off with white spirit of if any has dried take great care and gently and sparingly use cellulose thinners.

 

As steady hand and cut into the edge of the white with the grey paint?

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2 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Or let the pain dry for the minimum specified time and take the tape off. Any that has bled under the tape is likely to still be wet so it wipes off with white spirit of if any has dried take great care and gently and sparingly use cellulose thinners.

 

As steady hand and cut into the edge of the white with the grey paint?

 

"let the pain dry" - you have no idea what a pain this has been! There has been much profanity  (c:

 

Because it is so exposed and quite a large area, I don't know that my cutting in would be good enough, any slight imperfections will really show up. I have done one of the lines at the very rear edge by hand, but it is curved and easier to deceive the eye!

 

 

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I have used thr yellow frog tape , I once left some on for 2 months thought it wood be hard to get off come off really easy and never left any residue, also used klean edge good stuff as well 

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Just to wrap this up - I ordered the rough surface tape as recommended by  @Paringa and @Tracy D'arth - I have yet to peel it off, but I certainly managed to get it to stick!

 

I wish I had known about it before, not least because it is wider than standard masking tape and I can get away with one strip per white line which would have saved a lot of masking!!!

 

Big thanks to everyone.

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That generic blue stuff is garbage, if it wasn’t for the fact my good lady wife had bought a ten pack of it cheap i would not entertain it in the house. It might be lo-tack and easy to remove, but it has a tendency to curl and unstick itself if you turn your back on it.

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