Painting baseboards and stairs

When you are confronted with having to brush down to your precious carpet, there are a couple of things you should know.
Make sure you have vacuumed where they carpet meets the baseboard.
Buy a12" drywall knife or an edger tool, which is between 12" and 36" and is specifically for this task.
With your cutting can and brush ready, make sure you have a damp rag close by and a drop sheet on the carpet. The drop sheet should stop about 2" from the baseboard.
Now push the blade of the drywall knife to depress the carpet and protect it. The blade of the drywall knife should be just under or against the bottom of the baseboard. Next carefully cut in the baseboard.
Don't feel as though you can just slop paint on the blade of the drywall knife, as this will increase the risk of get some on your carpet.
If you do get paint on the carpet, dab it off and add more water if necessary, try not to rub as this can discolour the carpet. Don't continue until the paint is completely gone from the carpet.
Wipe the blade of the drywall knife with every move.
Don't over load your brush, this will avoid drips.
For more info, see last years blogs below, or visit us @ www.mercuryminc.net

Trade secret tip # two

On my website I have mentioned how to buy the correct filling knife. The flexible ones are filling knives, the stiff ones are used for scraping. A 2" and a 4" knife will be all you should need for regular work around the home. Use the two knives together, one to hold the mud, the other to apply it .
A ready made filler like Redifiller is OK for picture hook holes and little dents around your home. Bigger holes sometimes require a filler that is mixed before you apply it. The advantage is that the filler will set and be ready to sand before the premix variety and for bigger holes it won't shrink as much.
DON'T over fill. Press the filler into the hole and then draw the knife across the hole and remove all the filler thats not hiding in the hole. If it shrinks, fill it again. This one technique saves hours of dusty sanding and subsequent clean up.






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