Re-sizing a roll of masking paper, Marking your drops

This tip is one you may find helpful next time you’re masking off areas with several of the same size openings. Standard rolls of masking paper come in 6”, 9”, or 12” inch widths. But what if you’re masking several windows that are only 8” inches wide? In this case, painters often use a 6” or 9” roll that is either a little too big or too small. This results in a lot of overlapping or folding of the paper, which equates to lost profit. Next time you know you’re going to be faced with this type of masking work, take a 12” roll of masking paper, hold it up to the opening and mark it appropriately as you would a piece of wood. Remember to make allowances for tape along the edges. Then simply make use of a chop saw and resize the roll so you can run one strip in each opening and finish off with three strips of masking tape. This not only saves you valuable time, but it also saves paper, and makes your masking job look like gift wrapping. The excess paper can later be used for masking baseboard, chair rails, sills, etc. Believe it or not, even a great looking masking job impresses customers.

Marking your “drops”
Marking your drop cloths is very important in maintaining a clean and problem free painting environment. With the use of a rattle can (color: blaze orange or red) mark two corners as shown here. By doing this you identify which side is up and which side goes against the wall. This way you always have a clean side that lays on top of carpet or furniture; and you never run the risk, when moving your drop to a new location on the job site, of turning them around or upside down. When this happens you run the risk of stepping in wet drops of paint and tracking them onto carpet, hardwood, vinyl, etc. It’s always nice to know which edge of your drop is wet, and keep that edge up and against the wall at all times.