A: Due to the industry labor shortage, today’s painting companies hire all levels of talent, and some painters may have minimal experience. Helping these new hires understand the importance of tape selection could mean the difference between project success and a callback. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Consider the big picture

It’s important to teach a new hire that before they select a tape, they must consider everything about the environment—whether it’s interior or exterior, what type of surface it is, and its overall condition. Is the surface wood, metal or drywall? Is it decaying or stable? Is it a stucco exterior with adhesion challenges? Is it a living room, where lines need to be crisp and clean? You want the painter to have these questions popping up as they assess the situation.

Differentiate between interior and exterior tapes

Educate your new hire on the types of masking products by splitting them into two categories: interior and exterior. Interior products like FrogTape® Multi-Surface, Pro Grade and Delicate Surface painter’s tapes offer various levels of adhesion and are designed for a variety of interior surfaces. Specifically, they are developed for those clean, crisp lines your customers love.

Exterior tapes like FrogTape® Pro Grade Orange tape are formulated to perform in hot, humid conditions and adhere to rough surfaces, while High Bond Exterior painter’s sticks to surfaces even with paint formulated to not allow anything to stick to it. These high-adhesion levels, however, will damage interior surfaces. A new hire must know the difference between these offerings so they can immediately eliminate one category and zero in on the correct one.

A closer look at interior options

In most cases, inexperienced painters tackle interior work, using tape to protect molding from wall paint and vice versa. Honestly, these are great places to begin teaching a new hire if your workload allows for it. For interior work, FrogTape® Multi-Surface or Pro Grade are versatile choices due to the added assurance of PaintBlock® Technology, which reacts to latex paint or water to create a micro-barrier, sealing the edge for that clean, crisp line.

Our Delicate Surface Painter’s Tape also has PaintBlock® Technology, but with low adhesion to prevent from damaging a surface. This tape is ideal for when you don’t have time to wait for paint to cure, and need to apply it when a surface is only dry to the touch. Understanding where these tapes fit in on interior work is a great place to focus a new hire’s attention to help them make good decisions.

Using and applying tape correctly

Some tapes, like Multi-Surface and Pro Grade, offer similar performance, but a different number of clean-removal days. Multi-Surface allows 21 days and Pro Grade 14 days. But remind your employee they never want to wait days to pull tape after painting. When paint completely cures, you need a blade to break the seal at the edge of the tape, and the knife could damage the wall. for best results, remind them to pull tape at a 45° angle when the paint is dry to the touch.

It’s also important to remind your new hire to burnish the tape edge. They can also run a damp cloth along the edge of the tape to activate the PaintBlock® Technology.

And finally, let’s not forget the importance of prep. Your new hire should be trained to clean that interior surface, then wipe it down with a microfiber cloth before applying tape. And on exteriors, pressure wash before masking.

Keep these tips in mind to help your new hires choose the right tape for the job and find success in the field.

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Kim Winters is the Senior Channel Marketing Manager for Shurtape’s Paint and Home Center division. A liaison between Shurtape’s marketing/sales teams and retailers, Winters also develops in-store educational materials to help customers choose the best product for their situation.