Painting Cutting-In & Sealing wooden doors

yop

Lads and the ladies,

2 questions please and advice.

We are cutting in at the moment but how in the hell bar with a small brush and shugger loads of patience do you cut in around the ceiling and that without dabbing the ceiling? Is there a good way of doing it?

Sealing doors, the doors we have hung are swelling up, no heat due to the lazy people in ESB not bothering to come out!! :rolleyes:

So we were told to use a sealer, so I brushed on this sealer the last day, like a bleeding gas chamber! but what is the process after this?

Thanks

Gordon Gekko

Cutting in is a royal pain. I tried using one of those thin sheets of plastic designed for painting around windows, but tbh they're cack and actually more effort than they're worth. There's really no substitute for patience, a steady hand, and lots and lots of breaks - allow yourself to get tired and you'll start getting careless. Oh, and use a small say 2inch or lower brush. Oh and make sure you don't overload your brush - dip just the tip in the paint - takes longer, but worth it.

After sealing your doors, primer, undercoat, then topcoat.

yop

Thanks Gordon,

I am varnishing (clear) the doors. So I presume that I seal, sand, seal, sand, varnish, sand, varnish?

Same applies for the stairs does it?

Macy

Don't do anything with the doors until you have the heating on a few weeks - they'll shrink back in our experience. Same thing, the set's were hung, doors swelled, but once the heating was on they came back perfect. Then seal them.

As for the cutting in, get the missus to do that bit Other than that, perhaps a paintguard, but still the potential to smudge. A good quality brush important as it's stray hairs that are the biggest problem in my experience.

Fingalian

Get your hands on a Purdy brush,(handmade in the US) I suggest a 2 1/2 sash brush ( its cut on an angle). They cost about twice as much as the usual crap sold here but they they won't shed bristles and you cut pinstripes with one. MRCB and good paint shops sell them.

Handy tip- before you start painting with a roller or a brush , roll the roller down a a strip of masking tape and 'pat' the brush down a similar strip. Any loose bits of fiber/bristles will come out on the tape instead of in your paint/varnish on the wall/trim.

FrankGrimes

I agree with Finaglian - a good brush is worth its weight in gold. Purdy are the daddy of brushes and painting is a joy with them.

That said, they are pricey and a DIYer might just want a decent brush, not top of the range (though it is a good investment). I recently bought some lossless synthetic brushes (think it was harris) in Atlantic and they do a great job - no hair loss and smooth, sharp application that greatly reduces cutting in effort. I cut in with a 3 inch brush but maybe start out with a 2 inch until you get the hang of it.