[bokeh]

I've been using the contractors packs of scotch plue painters tape so far on my painting projects at home.

I recently started painting a couple more rooms, and decided to give edge lock tape a try. I was happy with it for taping some floor trim. it seemed to go on quicker and the edges stayed true with no paint leaks.

yesterday I prepped a room to spray the ceiling with primer. I hung .5mil plastic on the crown molding to the bottom of the wall. I held the plastic on with Scotch Edgelock 2080EL. I had about 1" of the tape secured to the top of the wall, with the other 1" of it holding up the plastic.

It took me about 5 hours to prep that room sealing it off with the plastic & tape. then I put a few canvas tarps on the floor.

I returned back to that room this morning, happy with the prep work and was ready to go.

I sprayed the room with gripper primer in about 30 minutes. I did this early enough in the day to allow for dry time by later afternoon, then I was going to apply a second coat of primer to the ceiling.

about an hour after spraying the ceiling for the first primer coat, I hear the sound of plasic swooshing. I go to the room and see the tape cleanly and slowly peeling itself off the wall. I don't think I could have removed it better myself. I tried to save it but the tape just would not stick to the wall anymore. it still had a tacky feel to the backing, but the front was wet with primer.

Knowing I could no longer save this prep work. I got off the ladder, lied on my back and watched. Over the next 5 minutes the whole tape job slowly fell from the wall IN ONE PEICE!!!

 

[Leah Frances]

Bokeh - the only thing you forgot was to have a beer handy when you watched it fall. Must have been heartbreaking.

Four years ago, I would spend similar amounts of time taping things off and spraying. It's hard to avoid tape and plastic with spraying :laughing:.

These days, I'm much MUCH faster with a brush and roller. My high quality sprayer has been gathering dust in my basement for more than two years (hey, I should craigslist that!).

I've bought the contractor's packs of the painters tape too, I use it to label things. :thumbup:

 

[chrisn]

then I was going to apply a second coat of primer to the ceiling.


Why?:huh:

 

[xraypaint]

3m Masking Tape and 3m Clear 96'' Masking Plastic

So part of the problem is that you used simple plastic with the wrong kind of tape. The edge lock tape is crap for tack. 3M plastic for their taping machine is designed to cling to the walls by static electricity. Therefor the tape is not holding the weight of the plastic.

There is a more in depth article here: http://khakipantpainting.blogspot.com/2011/06/3m-masking-tape-and-3m-clear-96-masking.html

 

[bokeh]

I did look into the pretaped masking, but it wasnt tall enough. These are 12' ceilings with deep crown molding. The tape machine would just be an unnecessary nuisance, since I would of had to fold the tape under past the first 1/2" of molding where it meets the ceiling.

I do agree I used the wrong tape for the job, that's what made it funny to me. I was impressed with the performance, that I used that same "light hold" tape to hold up allot of plastic weight. I taped up another room in a similar way that had all oak walls, but I used the 3M tape that comes in the contractors pack and it worked just fine for the support. But it tore off in pieces, and had paint seepage under the tape lines.


Leah, yes, a beer would have been great at that time. and a video camera would have made the events entertainment to be viewed over and over.. haha

 

[xraypaint]

Good point I guess most stores don't sell the bigger premasked rolls. It is available in 99" online. Don't knock the hand masker till you've tried it. It should take twenty minutes or less to take a room off with one.