# Masking for ceilings



## canopainting (Feb 12, 2013)

Hi everyone Merry X-mass. I have been painting semi custom new homes for a small builder developer. 2600 to 3000 sq ft. We come in after the trim package, floors, and tile are in, don't ask me why thats how he builds:blink:...ON the first home we filled nail holes, primed and BR walls and ceilings, BIN on raw MDF, sprayed finish enamle on doors and trim, back masked trim and sprayed and BR ceilings then mask ceilings and spray and BR walls. It was not easy papering off ceilings and I got over spray on ceiling. told me the last painter whose quality went down hill, masked the walls and sprayed ceilings last. I am going to try this, does anyone mask walls and spray ceilings last? We don't cut in walls, only TU. The walls are 9 to 10 '.


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

Yep, based upon how your deveolper stages things, I see why you started this thread. I have sprayed many a ceiling after masking off walls. Just take care with your taping below the ceiling to ensure nice lines, and you should have no problems. I have never masked off ceilings before, and hope I never have to...


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

canopainting said:


> Hi everyone Merry X-mass. I have been painting semi custom new homes for a small builder developer. 2600 to 3000 sq ft. We come in after the trim package, floors, and tile are in, don't ask me why thats how he builds:blink:...ON the first home we filled nail holes, primed and BR walls and ceilings, BIN on raw MDF, sprayed finish enamle on doors and trim, back masked trim and sprayed and BR ceilings then mask ceilings and spray and BR walls. It was not easy papering off ceilings and I got over spray on ceiling. told me the last painter whose quality went down hill, masked the walls and sprayed ceilings last. I am going to try this, does anyone mask walls and spray ceilings last? We don't cut in walls, only TU. The walls are 9 to 10 '.


Based on some previous threads, masking off the walls seems to be fairly common. As you found out, masking off the ceiling is a royal pain. I think that's probably the main reason masking off the walls seems to be as common as it is. It's a lot simpler to use a hand masker loaded with plastic film and work with gravity, rather than against it.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

I do it all the time.
It's faster to spray first, but you get a much nicer line if you spray last.
Your typical ceiling cost will double though.
Invest in some good air movers for when you complete your walls. Their those on over night to help speed up the drying/hardness time.

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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

SemiproJohn said:


> Yep, based upon how your deveolper stages things, I see why you started this thread. I have sprayed many a ceiling after masking off walls. Just take care with your taping below the ceiling to ensure nice lines, and you should have no problems. I have never masked off ceilings before, and hope I never have to...


Most ceilings around here have some sort of swirl finish or other types of finishes plus some have popcorn/texture so taping would never work right. We use shields but we don't spray in completed homes. this area is funny about it, so many look online and as soon as they see a bad thing about a sprayer they are convinced they don't work right. So instead of arguing with them we just don't offer it. NC we spray everything.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> Most ceilings around here have some sort of swirl finish or other types of finishes plus some have popcorn/texture so taping would never work right. We use shields but we don't spray in completed homes. this area is funny about it, so many look online and as soon as they see a bad thing about a sprayer they are convinced they don't work right. So instead of arguing with them we just don't offer it. NC we spray everything.


Virtually all GWB around here is textured as well, so masking wall/ceiling angles is problematic.

We see the strong prejudice against spraying in (or outside) occupied homes here as well. In fact, that's often the very first question from a potential client.


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## canopainting (Feb 12, 2013)

The walls are 10 ft high do you think i can get away with 99" film?


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

canopainting said:


> The walls are 10 ft high do you think i can get away with 99" film?


I use either 12 or 20ft. poly

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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

We just talked about this a few weeks back in a thread called masking vs freehand. I don't know how to link it, but there's some stuff you may find of interest in it. Yes, 99 will work but I'd bag base if you use the drop down. We're switching to good ole dual tack and painters plastic. It's wayyyyyy more cost effective. Lots of masking for sure doing lids last, but it should be a money maker in the back end. Pull the last bit of plastic and you're pretty much done. Good luck! It's wayyyyyy easier than bagging lids for walls.


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## Bighead (Nov 28, 2008)

Trim, floors and tile are in?? Good lord that makes things difficult.


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## PNW Painter (Sep 5, 2013)

I'm curious, but with the Dual Tack you use standard painters plastic from a box and not the 3M Handmasker plastic? Did I understand that correctly?


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

PNW Painter said:


> I'm curious, but with the Dual Tack you use standard painters plastic from a box and not the 3M Handmasker plastic? Did I understand that correctly?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


This is going to sound like a lot of work, but first I go around the room using regular 2 inch Shur Tape, then I tuck the Polly under the tape.
One job it took 5 hours to mask, 45 mins to spray 2 coats, and about an hour to clean up.

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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

PNW Painter said:


> I'm curious, but with the Dual Tack you use standard painters plastic from a box and not the 3M Handmasker plastic? Did I understand that correctly?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yup!


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

This is how I "tack" the plastic to the wall, either lower on the wall or a couple feet from the ceiling line in order to hold it tight. The pic is just in my garage spray booth, not a jobsite but oh well.
Reach behind plastic and attach top of tape strip to plastic, twist 180° and attach lower part to the wall, etc.


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## canopainting (Feb 12, 2013)

LPC I cant find the duel tack tape here in Sacramento, do you have a link for it? BTW the ceilings came out great we tried out several different types of tape, yellow and green frog tape, SW crappy 1.5" green, regular blue and white, the blue edge lock seemed to work the best. We had propane heaters to warm up the the rooms and the wall surface somewhat. Painting in the winter is such a pain, a lot of the plastic would fall after the first coat.


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