I've never used the washing machine for anything but drop cloths, and those I take to the laundromat and use THEIR machines for, lol!
Speaking on the wet rag thing that Teetor mentioned....I keep a bucket with wet rags just for such an occassion and carry a dry one with me. Here's the tip I thought I'd add: When I do my caulking I work directly out of the water bucket. I usually leave the rag in the water and use my finger to smooth my caulk after wetting it in the bucket. Any excess caulk on the fingers rinses off with one dip and a rub against the rag in the bottom. Then, I'm left with a clean, wet finger to lay down the smoothest, cleanest caulk job you've ever seen. Of course, cutting the slightest possible angle in your tube as close to the tip as possible to get a good flow without much excess is critical as well. You'll never see lumps in my corners, finger streaks, or dingleberries from dry fingering caulk.
Here's another good one. When caulking and puttying your trim, always putty first. If not, you'll touch your wet caulk with dry hands and ruin it's look. When caulking, caulk tops and bottoms of trim (don't forget sides on doors). Also use the caulk for any inside corners of trim/crown, but use putty for all of your outside corners, and sand the miters to make sure they meet nicely. This also goes for the face trim on door casings where the 45 miter is at the top left and right on each side...sand and use putty. Caulk in either of these areas ALWAYS looks bad. (inside corners would be like the corner of a room, outside corners are where the corner of a wall sticks out)
Wish I had the money or knew someone to build my website because I'm allready planning on adding a "Tips" section with things like this. One step at a time for me.....I think customers will enjoy having a whole section of tips for free to read about, and also give them a glimpse into our painting process. :Thumbs:
