How many times should I cut in

painting

I am using a water-based paint (based on Eskaro Akrit 7) to paint interior walls. At this point I have masked the edges of my target area, and have cut in those edges once. The wall is otherwise unpainted — I meant to make multiple coats (two or three).

How do I proceed now? Should I remove the tape, start rolling, and just touch up the edges? Or should I keep the tape, cut in all the edges a second time, and then roll?

Perhaps more generally, what is the right sequence in which to paint edges vs. large areas in multiple coats?

Best Answer

How many times is mostly dependent on the quality of the paint and the particular color.

You want to do it enough times so that it matches the rolled-on areas.

There is no 'one way' to do this, but typically I cut in first, then roll, then touch up as needed.

I don't bother with tape. It's much faster, less messy, and (over time) more accurate to get the hang of using a good brush and cutting in manually. The tape rarely works as well as you want and adds a whole lot of time to the project.