Less paint and police the undersides to make sure there isn't any run over. I just got done doing all of my cabinets, 20 some doors. I used a roller. And brushed out any overlap.

 

It's harder to manage if you are painting them in place, where the main surface is vertical as opposed to taking them off and laying them flat.

In either case, three very thin coats are better than two medium coats. The other thing I have done is apply the paint with a brush, and then go over it with a dry roller.

 

If you get drips with painting, then you are not doing it properly. Less paint on the brush.

 

If I was doing it properly, I wouldn't have had to ask for help!

 

dip the last 3/8 - 1/2 inch of your brush then clear most of the paint off your brush in the side of your paint container , then brush the paint on , your not looking to cover in one coat or even 2 you want thin application of pigment with virtually no build up , work the paint in

yes it takes more time , but this is how you don't get drips

apply in the middle then work out to the edges also helps

pay attention and don't rush , take brakes as you can wear yourself out it is going to find some muscles you haven't used in a while

if your taking a short break wrap your brush in plastic wrap and cover your paint

if your break will be over an hour wash your brush , use a brush comb to get it clean and the bristles strait , the brush goes back in the cardboard sleeve to keep it's shape

have a few brushes

 

I'm the painter. I have good brushes for a reason - they hold more paint.

I NEVER (unless I've screwed up) wipe paint off my brushes. Instead, I work out of a gallon paint can only 1/4 full. I dip the brush, then slap it against the insides of the can, as I draw it out of the can.

This knocks excess paint off, but doesn't negate the whole purpose of buying good brushes.

When I have to paint a corner, and depending on the type (e.g., corner goes to the back of a door, or to an edge), I'll come at it at NEAR a 90-degree angle for roll-over edges leading to the back, or more to a 45-degree, if dealing with an edge.

Hit the edges first, then work the face. The latter ideally done with a fine roller or sprayed.

dip the last 3/8 - 1/2 inch of your brush then clear most of the paint off your brush in the side of your paint container , then brush the paint on , your not looking to cover in one coat or even 2 you want thin application of pigment with virtually no build up , work the paint in

. . . .

 

Petes post pretty well covers it. Two things that many do not seem to learn very quickly, multiple thin coats, and multiple rechecking of the edges to brush out any drips. When you think you have the edges taken care of, check a couple of more times


Keep on working at it, at least your smart enough to ask for advice and energetic enough to do the work. Many do not seem to be able to do either.

 

Make sure the cabinets are clean before painting. Paint doesn't stick well on dirty or greasy surfaces.

Apply a thin layer of paint. Thick paint runs and drips.

 

Hi MoonRiver,
You might try using something like this from Home Depot. Put paint on it with your brush, very lightly, then run the tool down the edge of the door. The trick is to not have much paint on the liner.

SBJ

 

Hi MoonRiver,
You might try using something like this from Home Depot. Put paint on it with your brush, very lightly, then run the tool down the edge of the door. The trick is to not have much paint on the liner.

View attachment 118120



SBJ

I'm using a 4" roller and I think that solved my problem. I started with a 9", changed to a 6", and then tried the 4" and that seems to carry the right amount of paint.

 

Any size roller can carry too much paint. The ridges on a paint tray are for rolling of excess.

 

See what? It's what I used.

 

All the suggestions about policing the edges, avoiding too much paint on the brush or roller, thin coats etc. went right out the window. The “solution” was to use a narrower roller that doesn’t carry or apply any less paint (per inch), but just does a narrower stroke. Nothing to address the drips and runs, which was the issue we were put to work to solve for him.

 

OK, gotcha.

 

Nit picking.

 

Painting is a learned skill just like anything else and some are much better at it than others. Listen to the advice you're given here, watch Youtubes, etc. and just get to doing it. You can always sand down and repaint mistakes.

I've got a real pro I use when we need painting done. This guy makes it look easy, no over runs or drips, immaculate work and hardly ever gets any paint on himself or his clothing.

 

And you learn by doing it right AND screwing up.

In the end, it's nice to be able to stand back, look at a project and say YOU DID IT. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you saved a whole bunch of nickles in the process, and may even have done a better job than a pro would have done.

I just finished painting our house. That involved:

(1) Scraping spots where the paint was raising.

(2) Sanding everything (I have toys and used a sander that lets me switch between angle grinder (aggressive) mode and polish (random orbit). I used some high end disks and they worked so well I only had to use three. The vacuum attachment grabbed so much of the dust I could have worked in my Sunday best.

(3) I primed all the raw wood spots.

(4) I used foam backer and caulk to take care of every crack, crevice and so on that would have detracted from and compromised the end job quality.

SIDE NOTE: You can use a 1" chip brush with bristles cut down to around 1-1/4" long to apply caulk. Where your finger would leave a smooth spot the eye would be drawn to, on textured surfaces, the brush follows the texture, and also pushes the caulk into the crevices and holes.

(5) I back-brushed and back-rolled the paint I applied via my airless. I could have just used the 5 gallon bucket by rolling the roller across the surface, lifting it out a bit, then using the sides of the bucket to spin it more to knock off excess.

SIDE NOTE: Back-brushing and back-rolling make a visible difference in the end appearance, AND it pushes the paint into the holes and crevices (accounting for that notable difference in appearance from just spraying).

Then there was the deck railing that wrapped three sides of the house, and stair rails. All of which needed the scraping and sanding.

When all was done, we had about $1,000.00 into materials. It was a lot of work, but it felt good knowing having done all the above done by paid types would have cost nearly $10k.