How to Paint Baseboards Like a Pro (No Runs, No Drips!)

All right. Today in this video, I'm going to be talking about how I spray baseboards and get a perfect finish. I got another video how I spray a perfect door jam every single time without getting runs. You can go check that video out. And I got baseboards. I'm going to talk about my setup. My setup is two-finger gun. I'm a big fan, only fan, two-finger gun. Don't ever use a four-finger gun because you don't have fingers controlling the gun. I spray with a fan pivot on my gun, which is it rotates your gun 90 degrees. Just like this. It's a magnetic device. I always use a 6 in extension, so I don't have to bend over so far. The least bending, the least fatigue you're going to have, um, your back's going to last you a lot longer in the long run. When it comes to, uh, just spraying in general when doing trim in general, baseboards, door jambs, window trim, always a 6-in extension. That's um, pretty typical. 510 tip. These baseboards are pretty tall. I think they're like 6 in baseboards. And a 310 tip will not span, you know, that gap typically in one pass. I You'll see how I actually do the baseboards. And I'm just a big fan of a 510 tip. If if the baseboards were 4in trim or smaller, I'd use a 310. I use a 510 doing new construction cuz the doors are in a 510. This trim package right here has to be in a 510 because the header. And then same with the baseboards. I don't like changing tips cuz then, you know, you throw it in your pocket. The time changing a tip is just to me obnoxious. I just pick a tip, stick with that tip. On this job, due to the the size of the trim, we're using a um 510, a Triek 510 is right now at the making of this video, that's the best 510 tip that you can actually buy and use. There's no comparison in my humble opinion. Here's the baseboards. Now, one of the things that you want to do is everything's got to be vacuumed extremely well and especially under the baseboards. And I'm going to start I'm going to start spraying around. If there's any dust or debris, it's going to work itself around this room. And I'm going to watch as I see if I get down here to this point where I have um a wet spot and I'm working dust that direction. I'm going to have to like probably cover it with cardboard shields or vacuum it. But hopefully the vacuum guy did a good job. So, and we'll see as I'm spraying because you got 2200 PSI. I always spray the trim. Door jambs, baseboards, window sills, trim. It's at 2200 PSI is what it's set at. I always run a gauge at my sprayer so I know what it's set at at the sprayer. 2200 PSI. These large baseboards, you can't shoot them in one shot. Now, I always shoot at a 45°ree angle. So, I hit the top of the baseboard. Then I hit the face. And I hit the face at two passes on the first coat. And you'll see what it looks like. The two passes. And you can do um logical starts and stops. This is really short. It's simple. So, logical start and stop is just here. But this uh room, logical start stop is from here to all the way over there. On the baseboards, I I'm not as particular about logical start and stops because I'm shooting three times. So, if I did the top, I'd do all the way around, work my way around the top, and then by the time I come over here, it could start flash drying and cause it to be rough. And so, I work, you know, in sections and do my three passes and move around the room. Where you have overlaps, you're more likely to have runs. And so, um, if you're uncomfortable with your spray technique and you're getting runs, then working all the way around the room and not having over overlaps is, um, pretty ideal. Now, when I do a door jam, it's very replicatable. I do it exactly the same every time. I do baseboards exactly the same every time using two different techniques, and that's um, logical start and stops or just working around the room. I found that even with a 510 tip, you know, one pass wasn't hitting it well enough. So, I was doing, you know, two passes and then moving forward. So, let's take a look and see what it looks like here. So, it's look like this. I'm going to shoot the top and then I'm going to shoot the face and come back. So, that was two passes right there. So, this is what it looks like. Top, face, bottom. Just like that. So it's top face bottom top face bottom. So that will actually create a spit every, you know, start and stop. So I'll show you what it looks like. If you're really concerned about a spit or you're you want to do logical start and stops, it's going to look like this. So, if you saw that, like one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of that is you're working the dust back and forth instead of continuously just working, you know, um, possible unvacuum dust around the room. So, I sprayed dust this way and I sprayed it back that way. So, that's two different methods how I go about spraying baseboards uh for and getting a perfect finish. I'm going to do the door jam and roll right around into these baseboards. So top. Now I can't hit the sides here on this door jamb because they're too tight. So adjust the face. Now I'm going to do the opposite side. So, manage your hose really well. Came close to hitting the door there. So, I'm gonna hit the top. This side's too tight. So, I'm going to hit on. I'll continue with the baseboard. I'm going to shoot away from my door jamb so I don't kick dust on my door jamb. Just like that. Also going to do a video how I would spray a window sill to get that perfect flat smooth finish doing a window sill.