HOW TO CUT IN CEILINGS. DIY home improvement cut-in hacks and tips

this one. I'm going to go over a couple other specific tips and tricks that's going to improve your cutins. So, I'm going to go over some of the tools that I'm going to be using in this video to show you what I'm using that actually helps me do really, really straight uh ceiling cutins and that will help you do a lot better ceiling cutins that look just like mine. So, I'm going to go over some of these tools right now. And one of them that I use that's one of the basics things is going to be just your cutin bucket. And I've got a two gallon bucket. I like using a two gallon bucket. It has holds just the right amount of right amount of paint. And inside of it, I've got a bucket grid, a onegon bucket grid. And I've had some questions. People want to know what that grid looks like. So, I'm going to pull it out right here. I just had a comment on one of my cutin videos the other day asking if they could actually see the grid. And here's the onegon grid. So, I use a 2gallon bucket and I use a onegon grid. And the one gallon grid just sits down in the bucket just right. and it's wide enough that it actually will cover my 4-in roller and nap. So, this is the roller that I'm using and it's a Worooster 4-in roller right here with the roller cover. I like using the pretty white dove uh roller covers and I like a 3/8 in roller cover. And I use this to actually after I do my cutins, I use that to actually back roll back roll over it. So when I roll my ceilings or roll my walls, the stippling will actually match the walls. When you roll the walls, the cut in when you do the cutins, it's going to leave a brush stroke that grows across the ceilings, but you want to stipple over that so it actually will match the stippling on the walls. And then two of the tricks that I'm going to be showing you in this video are going to require a 5in-1 tool. And that's going to be to score an edge up there or a groove in your ceiling line. That will give you the ability to do a really straight cut in. Got a cocking gun with clear cocking. On some ceilings that are really bumpy and rough, you're going to put or you can put a bead of clear cocking up there. I'm going to show you that. So, those are a couple of accessories that I got with me that I'm going to be doing this. And of course, you got to have a brush. I've got uh the two brushes that I'm using to do my ceiling cutins. They're actually pretty brushes. I do like pretty brushes. I've used the Wooster brushes. They're really good. I haven't used the Corona brushes. I heard the Coronas are really good. But depending on the paint you're using will depend on the brush that I use. And if the paint is a really thin paint, I like using a soft or a medium stiff brush. And the Pretty XL glide right here is the brush I use when my paints are pretty thin. If the paints are pretty thick like this uh Benjamin Moore Ultra Spec right here, I'm going to use a stiff brush. And I like using the pretty clear cut brush right here. This is labeled a stiff brush. It's a nylon polyester brush. And I do use now I used to use just 2 and 1/2 in angled sash brushes. I've stepped up. I'm using the 3-in brushes now. The wider the brush, the farther your cutins are going to go. But I do like an angled sash brush because it can get into the corners a lot easier than just a sta straight brush. So I'm using this right here. Today I'll be using the clear cut the pretty clearcut glide brush right here. And the glide actually just refers to the handle and the width of the fereral itself. So got this right here. All these tools. If you're interested in purchasing the same tools that I'm using when I'm doing my ceiling cutins, you can check out my video description down there. I'll leave a link to all these tools that I like and I've used and tested for a lot of years. You could also go to my tool store at my website theidahoopainter.com. But now we're going to get to showing you how to do these ceiling cutins and make them look perfectly straight like a professional. So, I'm going to go over two new tips or tricks or hacks here that give you really good ceiling lines. I've had a lot of questions on my previous videos on uh situations where the ceiling line or the 90° angle is extremely rough, has the texture, or say you got um uh the popcorn ceilings. And there's a couple of scenarios, a couple things that will actually help you out to make those ceiling cutins a lot easier for you. And one of them is using a 5in-1 tool. And a simple 5 in1 right here. I always carry one of these in my pocket as a painter. There's a lot of things this can be used for. But if you stick a 5 in1 tool up in the corner, the 90° corner, and you just score a little uh cut in there, it's going to leave like this little trough where your brush can actually just cruise along that little score, and it'll help you make a straight line. So the ceiling up there, if there's a lot of texture, if it's really rough, you don't have a nice smooth 90° angle, then just take your 5 in one, score it, and then do your cut in. Another option is to actually take and use a cocking gun and clear cocking. But the the problem with this is is you do have to wait for the cocking to dry. So you have to do all your cocking of your ceiling and then wait a day and then come back and cut it in. But that'll actually give you a really, really smooth 90 degree corner to be able to do really straight ceiling cutins. So, I really like that method, like that option if your ceilings are really bumpy and you really want to have a perfectly straight line. One of the things about it is just you just want to put a little small bead in there. Not too much cocking, but use clear cocking, let it dry, and then do your cut in. So, we're going to get up here. I'm going to show you what just scoring it looks like, what it looks like to put the cocking on there, and then we're going to do some cutins. So, one of the obvious things that you're actually going to have to have when you're doing your cutins is a ladder cuz obviously I can't get up here and do my cutins without having a ladder. So, I got a 6ft ladder here I'm going to be working with. And I got a cocking gun up here to show you this method. And then I'm going to show you the 5 in1 tool up here. This is a pretty smooth uh 90° angle. But if it was pretty rough, I can just take my 5 in one. I'm just going to stick it in here and just gouge it right there. And it just leaves a little cut right there. So once again, I'm just going to put it up here, put a little bit of pressure, and then just score it right down there. And now I can just do my cut and take my brush in there and just run it right along that score. It's not something that you can see, you know, from the video. Even if I got the the video up here close enough, you're not going to be able to see it cuz it's really really microscopic. It's just a little score, and you don't want to see it anyways cuz it's really um cuz it's it's a cut in the wall, but the paint actually will just fill that little trough as you run it right across here. But that's a really handy trick to do if you want to make your ceiling cut in straight. Now, we're going to move on to the cocking method. So if not now we're going to do this option when it comes to coauling and this would be in extreme cases where it's really bumpy and they've got the spray texture or the texture up into that 90° um corner up there. I would take and cut my cocking I'm going to cut my tube at a at a nice 45° angle there and really small. And then I'm going to put a small bead of clear cocking up there. I'm just going to I don't want it to be very big, but it's just going to be a nice tiny little bead along there. And then I would just take my finger and then just smooth that out. And then I'm going to let that dry and it'll have a nice smooth rounded corner right there. And it's going to make it so your cut end, your brush will run along a smooth edge and give you a really, really nice straight line. So, now I'm going to get to doing the cutins on the ceiling. Going to give you some tips and tricks doing the cutins. And I'm just going to put I put some paint in my bucket. I usually put, you know, a couple inches of paint in my bucket. I don't want it up too high. You don't want it too low. You want to have enough in there that you can work with and not have to fill your bucket all the time. But I'm going to get my my roller all loaded up. I want that thing completely loaded up, ready to use. I think it's really important that you back brush your cut ends. And then I'm going to get my brush full of paint. And I like to just take dip my brush in here and I just pat it on the side of my bucket. So I'm just going to pat it on the side, get it loaded up, pat it on the side, and then I'm ready to actually paint. And a couple of the the tips to not spilling paint or getting paint dripped everywhere. Just take it, load up your your brush. Don't want to get too much paint on it, but get little bit of paint on it. Pat it to the side. And as I move it to my area that I'm actually going to be painting, I actually subconsciously I do because I've been painting so long, but you actually turn your brush or rotate your brush so it doesn't actually drip. So I'm going to pat it in here. Make sure it's not dripping. And then I'm going to rotate my brush to where I'm going. As long as your brush is rotating, you can put a lot of paint on this thing. And if I let it set here, it's it's going to start to drip. But as long as I rotate this brush in different directions, it will never drip. So when I'm ever taking my brush to my cut in area where I'm going to do my cut in, I'm actually rotating it. It's a technique that I actually use when I'm rolling walls too or doing my cutins with my 4-in brush. I'm going to take my roller. I'm going to take it out of my bucket and I'm going to be rotating it as I go. And it's just something I do now after so many years. I'm subconsciously pull it out of my bucket and then rotate it so it's not going to do any drips. As long as this thing is rotating, it will never drip on your floor. So, I'm going to get up here and do my ceiling cutins. I do have, I think, at least four or five videos on how to do ceiling cutins. It gives you a lot of tips and tricks, more than what I'll show you even here. So, you got to go check out my playlist on doing ceiling cutins like a professional. But I'm going to get it up here. Put my brush there. And I actually get it away like a half an inch away from my cutting area. And then I begin to work up to it. And then I drag my paint one way. And typically it's going to go about, you know, over a foot or so. And then I'll come back the opposite direction and drag it back the opposite direction cuz typically your wall is going to have texture in it. And as you're dragging your paint one way, it's going to go over the top of the textures and leave some miss spots. So you drag it one way, drag it back the next way. And after I drag it back the next way, then I take and I back roll it. But I'll take and do a full a section. I'm going to do this whole section. I'm going to drag it one way. I'm going to come back and drag it another way. Now I'm going to do a little bit more. Drag it one way. Come back and drag it another way. Do this section over here. I'm gonna drag it one way. And then drag it another way. And then I'm going to come back and back roll cuz this now is brushed. And if I roll my walls now up to here, you're going to see a different texture left by the paint from rolling it versus brushing it. So I always go back and back roll it just like this. And I try to get as close as I can to the ceiling. And then I move on and do my next section. Just like that. You're going to come up. Turn your brush as you're coming just like that. And then you're going to back roll it. And just like that. That's how you do your ceiling cut ends. And I typically like the method of ceiling cutins that I do. I like my my cut in, especially if you got really bumpy ceilings or corners. I like my paint to go up onto the ceiling very slightly versus down onto the wall only slightly because if it goes up onto the ceiling a little bit when you're looking at it, it will always look straighter than if it's below the ceiling a little bit. You'll see a crooked line a lot better. So, I'm always siding to getting my paint onto the ceiling versus keeping it down onto the wall. Okay, I got to get another section. Again, just going to give you one last demonstration. Again, I'm just going to take dip my brush into my paint. Going to pat it on the sides. Make sure my brush is loaded up. And now, I'm going to carry it to where I'm going. I'm going to take get it about an inch or so from my cutin area. And then I'm going to work up to the cut in. glide it right along my ceiling. It's going to go about a foot or so before it starts to run out of paint. Before it starts to run out of paint, just take and cut it back the opposite direction. And then you're going to back roll it. To me, this back rolling process is extremely important to back roll this to eliminate haloing or any type of color difference. When you're actually brushing it versus rolling it, it lays out the tint in a different way. So, you could actually get a color difference where you've actually brushed it versus where you actually rolled your wall. So, to me, I really uh think it's an important process to actually back roll that. And then the next step would be to begin rolling your walls. If you're, you know, the only person working on a room, I like to before this actually dries, I like to roll my wall. So if you do the whole ceiling, I can actually do a whole bedroom basically a 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 bedroom. I can cut that whole ceiling in. It'll still be wet and then I can start rolling on my walls because I can do it really fast. I got a lot of experience. But if you're just learning and your cutins are really slow, by the time you get around the room, this is going to be dry and it could give you a haloing effect where you see the color difference where you rolled it where you cut it in versus where you rolled it. So I I would just as a oneman show just do one wall at a time. So I'm going to cut this ceiling in right here, this wall, and then before before I turn the corner, I'm going to roll this wall and then move on to the next wall. And one of the tips to actually doing these cutins, I think I've discussed it once before in one of my cutin videos, is to actually hold your breath. So when you're doing your cut in, get it up there and just hold your breath. Do your cut in. And cuz it while you're breathing, it has a tendency to actually make your cutins a little bit crooked until you get a lot more experience doing your cutins. Then you could actually breathe and talk and like I'm actually doing and doing them. But it's taken me years and years of and miles and miles of doing ceiling cabins to get them straight like