I did not get as clean of a line between my ceiling and my wall as I wanted when painting my kitchen, so 10 DAYS after I had primed and painted my ceiling and wall (with latex), I placed blue 3M tape to the wall and touched up my ceiling. After about 30 minutes, I began to remove the tape and my WALL paint came up, leaving a rough, jagged edge. The primer adhered fine, but the color peeled up. Obviously, I do not plan on EVER pursuing a perfect line by using any kind of tape EVER again. What I do need to know is, HOW DO I FIX THIS?? HELP!

PS: 3M BLUE TAPE IS THE DEVIL!

Barb...

You are not the only person this has happened too... ;)

I have seen every single homeowner I know (including myself) do this at least once trying to paint some job or other. We all do it once... never again!

I swear.. that 3M tape should say, DO NOT BUY FOR THE REASON YOU THINK YOU SHOULD BUY.

I know I have thought that there should be some class action suit for all the homeowner's that got screwed by this stuff...but word's getting around!! :)

TO FIX THIS, you could just try sanding the jagged edge to smooth and then prime/paint and see how it goes.

MOST LIKELY, you will want to sand the jagged edges created by pulling tape off the wall with a fine grit sandpaper, then you will want to get some fast dry spackle and BLEND the spackle with the jagged edge to create a smooth transition to wall. After spackle dries you would sand to smooth and then prime and paint over this to create a smooth finish!

This is a bit of work but result is worth it!

PS: When painting edge use an angled brush and load the brush heavy... spread the paint onto wall about 1 inch lower than the cut edge... then pull the paint up into the edge with the angular brush to create very straight lines... try it!

I agree...3M blue tape stinks!

MARK

I like Redi-Patch from Home Depot.

Blue tape isn't bad. Just don't apply it to paint that isn't dry. For real troublesome areas use Post-it Tape. Yea, that stuff stickies are made from.

Also, paint the trim first.

Cutting it by hand like Mark suggests can be tough to do unless you paint a lot, you could try a sure line tool on the wall to get a straight edge without any tape. They are good for a DIYer who has not cut many ceilings.

CONVENIENCE TOOLS

:)they make a blue tape for fresh paint and delicate surfaces

Just put up some crown molding or cove molding to cover the mistakes!

Barb your only mistake was thinking your wall paint was cured. It was certainly dry but not cured, read the can. Many latex paints actually take weeks to cure. Like most of the others folks here I just cut with a 1 1/2" angled trim brush, the eye can't see the minor imperfections.

Next time you have to tape, try that tape meant for lines. Its kind of white/clearish. Try to only stick as little of the edge of the tape as you can and leave the rest hanging... I always pull off right away.. If it starts to peel the old paint, take a razor knife and carefully cut the painted edge against the tape. But, it sounds like you will have to go with MassPlumbers fix it problem for now.