How to avoid and fix common painting mistakes
Follow these tips and tricks on how to skip painting mistakes and fix ones that happen, all informed by a professional painter.
Our experts independently review everything we recommend. If you buy through our links, we may earn commission.
It's conventional wisdom, but it's true: the best way to clean up painting mistakes is to avoid making them in the first place. When you paint your home, you'll want to take precautions before you begin, as well as prepare for the inevitable cleanup.
Paint is a liquid medium, so it nearly always results in drips, splatters and runs. Professional painters know this, so the good ones always roll out the drop cloths, tape and plan their work. We talked to Austin Strawn, owner of Austin Strawn Painting and Restoration in Greensboro, N.C., to get his take on how to prepare properly.
If you've decided to order brushes and rollers and do the job yourself, ensure you know how to protect your home like a pro painter would. Here's how to avoid painting mistakes and fix them if you make them.
How to avoid common painting mistakes
A room is masked with paint, paper and drop cloths for a new paint job
Avoiding painting mistakes means carrying the tools you need for cleanup and using smart strategies, so you don't leave lap marks or paint yourself into a corner. Most importantly, always mask surfaces and apply protection first.
Tape edges
Blue painter's tape is your friend. When you're painting, use painter's tape to protect wainscoting and other surfaces or to map out straight lines that you wouldn't necessarily be able to cut in yourself.
When you lay down painter's tape, first ensure that the edge that will face in toward wet paint seals first. This will lessen the chance of it wrinkling. You can then run your five-in-one or putty knife along this surface to flatten any wrinkles that do appear. Do this carefully, so that you don't scratch the surface. Your tool can also help you achieve a consistent seal where the baseboard moulding meets the wall.
Consider attaching a skirt of paper to this tape layer. You can use this to protect the area between the walls and the ground.
Use drop cloths
Drop cloths are a crucial part of your painting toolkit. Lay drop cloths over the flooring or furniture for indoor painting jobs, or lay them across bushes and decks if you're painting outdoors.
There are many different types of drop cloths available, from true cloths to plastic protective sheets. Pick your drop cloth based on the scale and bounds of your project. If you expect your project to finish in one day, you may be able to get away with single-use protection. However, drop cloths come in handy for all types of projects, so it's not a bad idea to have one on hand, and heavier-duty tarps and fabric drop cloths will be good for many projects.
When working over especially sensitive surfaces, it may be worth applying a plastic layer beneath a drop cloth. If someone kicks a bucket full of paint or water, it can soak through fabric drop cloths and damage the floor beneath them.
Prepare walls for painting and staining
To ensure paint adheres correctly, make sure to prepare your surface for painting or staining. This means scraping away loose paint, sanding and doing any other prep work that the surface needs. "If you don't get the old debris off, then you're basically painting over loose paint, which will just come off." Strawn told us.
In some cases, you may even want to apply primer first . For more context on how to prep walls, read our full guide to preparing walls for painting .
Avoid lap marks
It's important to paint strategically. Start with an edge and paint inwards, making sure that as you move, you leave a wet edge. This will ensure that you don't have lap marks, where the paint dries partway across a wall or board, leaving a visible mark.
Decks or fences with individual boards make this slightly simpler, as you can use the gaps between the boards, which are often about as wide as a keyhole, as natural barriers. Paint a few boards at a time, completing them in chunks so that they don't show lap marks.
Don't paint yourself into a corner
If you're painting a floor section or staining a deck, always start from an interior corner and work toward your exit. This exit might be the stairs off the deck. Work toward this so you don't have to cross the wet stain to exit the deck or room.
Use a brush with your roller or sprayer
Painters use rollers on a wall and ceiling in a room
Paint rollers generally cover open walls and decks faster and more evenly than brushes, so the average homeowner will usually get more mileage out of rollers. "You're going to go faster if you use a roller," said Strawn.
That said, a roller isn't always the final step, especially if you're rolling stain onto unprimed wood, painting over brick or painting other uneven surfaces. Rollers have limitations: they can't get into corners, can leave too much paint behind and will consistently leave a roller texture. Strawn recommends brushing out this pattern. "Go back and brush what you've done to get into the nooks and crannies and disperse it out."
Beyond filling crevices, backbrushing can improve the look of the paint job, smoothing out the pattern that the roller leaves behind. "Roll a little section, backbrush it. To me, it looks better than that roller texture on the wood."
If you are planning to leave the roller texture, brush paint into the corners first and leave a wet edge, then roll over this wet edge, getting as close to the interior of the corner as you can go. This way, the rolled surface fades into the brushed edge. If you brush the corner after, the brush risks cutting a visible edge into the uniform texture of the rolled wall.
Fix drips before they dry
Drips are easiest to fix if you catch them quickly. "If you get any drips, brush those off so they don't look like a drip." Strawn said.
Look for drips from your roller or brush, but it's also a good idea to pay attention to any overhangs that may have a heavy coat of paint, as these can occasionally drip before the paint sets up.
Brush and roll in the same direction
Walls look best when paint is brushed or rolled on in one uniform direction. Roll in strokes that slightly overlap, retaining the wet edge and carrying the stroke from above eye level to the bottom of the surface.
If you're backbrushing, spread the paint and then brush it in one direction, so that the brushmarks all move in the same direction.
Take ladder safety seriously
Ladders aren't only dangerous for your health; they can also be dangerous for your home. Beyond picking the best ladder for your needs, you should also be sure that you're using it as it's designed to be used.
If you don't set up a ladder correctly, you could fall and hurt yourself. Beyond painful falls and broken bones, be very careful when you leave wet brushes, paint buckets or roller trans on ladder platforms; these can easily fall and cause major paint spills.
How to fix painting mistakes
Paint spatters a drop cloth and the pants of a child
Always have a five-in-one on hand
A five-in-one is a crucial tool for painting. Use yours to open buckets, scrape, clean paint rollers, pull nails, cut and much more.
While these tools are usually called five-in-ones, they can be more complex; nine-in-ones and 13-in-ones are also common. These have more angles and more functions than a classic five-in-one.
When combined with a damp rag or thinner (depending on whether you're using water- or oil-based paint), a five-in-one can work like an eraser. Wrap your five-in-one or putty knife in a damp rag and pull its flat end across the accident area. This will generally pick up the spilled paint. When the damp surface is stained with paint, simply pull it down, adjusting the part of the rag that is exposed, and use it again.
Rags are your friend
Rags are possibly the most important cleaning tool that you can have on hand. Use these to mop up paint wherever drips happen. A damp rag will pick up latex paint and pull it off the wall, while thinner-soaked rags will pull oil paint away from surfaces.
Store oil rags properly
Remember to always store oil rags immersed in a can of water. Rags that are soaked in oil or solvents can spontaneously combust. Designate a sealable metal bucket and fill it with water. Be diligent and store all oil rags in your rag bucket. Do not leave oil rags out unattended, especially on hot days.
Have a cleaner with you
Heavy paint stains may require more than water. Spray cleaners like Goo Gone can help with latex. If you find a spill or drip that's started to set up or has already dried, spray it with Goo Gone and use a rag to clean it.
Consider hiring the pros for painting help
A painter works in an active construction site
Painting walls or staining a deck is generally an achievable project to do yourself, but there are times when it's better to hire someone . It's important that you don't skip steps when painting your home; masking and protection are crucial parts of the process.
If these steps are beyond you, or you don't want to buy the rollers, drop cloths and potential paint sprayers yourself, then consider hiring a professional painter. While painters can be expensive, hiring a professional is an investment in your home. Pros are much less likely to spill buckets of paint or cause significant damage to your home in some other way.
