Painting - Cut or Roll First?

I always cut as I roll (wet into wet), even on rough surfaces. It’s just habit. When you cut in, and then roll while it’s still wet into your cuts, it will make your brushed areas and rolled areas blend together. Not so important on top of knock down or stucco, but on a smooth interior wall, this eliminates the possibility of seeing overlap.

Mainly, for me, it breaks the monotony of just cutting or just rolling.

I always do the trim last. Reason being the smoother surface of the trim (to set my brush on) makes for a neater cut.

You know, I cut first.... then rolled for years. Now I'm finding it faster to roll first. I tend to cut in more than I need to when I do it first.
But I always do the trim last, and all at once. That way the brush only goes in once

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If you are using eggshell, satin, pearl, or matte finish, or any of the other new-fangled sheens that are so popular now, and try to roll first and then cut in, its gonna look like hell.

And I find its much easier to cut in the wall against a door frame, as compared to cutting the edge of the frame against the wall.

But everyone has their personal style. Thats what makes the world go 'round.

Here's what I do:

Ceiling (usually only gets 1 coat with guarantee to cover)
Cut in the walls first coat
Roll first coat walls
Paint Crown molding 2 coats
Doorway and window frame returns first coat
2nd coat cut in then roll out walls
Top off doors, windows and baseboards
Using white safe release tape. tape off returns and 2nd coat trim returns, pulling off SR tape while trim paint is still wet giving a real straight line.
2nd coat top off doors and baseboards.

I'm not a painter but I've done plenty of painting in my own home. I usually cut in then roll then touch up the cuts. Then I paint the trim.

Crown molding is a trim piece that usually goes around the perimiter of the wall where it meets the ceiling. Go to www.fypon.com and download their molding catalog. It shows you many different moldings and dentils.

I used to paint the trim last, but I read a tip about doing the trim first since it is usually an alkyd enamel (I usually use Ben Moore satin impervo), and it's much easier to wipe off over cuts of latex on alkyd trim than to wipe off over cuts of oil on latex. At any rate, I tried it and it works pretty well. I also like to cut and roll as I go keeping that wet edge. Besides, it makes me feel like I'm accomplishing more (mind games-ya know).

I paint the trim first - 2 coats and let it dry for at least a day

then I tape off (blue release tape) all the trim (cause I cant paint a straight line)

then do all the cut in - 2 coats

then roll - 2 coats

Traditional way is to paint ceilings first. Cut in the walls, roll 'em. And then do all the trim last. But lately I find it much easier to wall paint around a window, then to paint that little 1/2" edge of molding along the wall. And if you are going to double coat the walls there is also a little twist.
So the new way to do a room is: Do the ceilings first, then do all the trim 2 coats, except baseboard - do just one coat. If you are going to do one coat on the walls - cut 'em in and roll 'em. If you are going to do 2 coats, then roll it first and then cut on the first coat, and then cut and then roll on the second coat. Then follow up with a last coat on the baseboards.

The reason I say to alternate the cutting/rolling, is that if you want to get 2 coats of paint on the wall in one day. You have a much better chance of it drying if you roll it first thing. So by the time you are done cutting the first coat, the wall might be dry enough for a little light sanding and a second coat.

BTW. Even though Dale style purdy brushes don't hold much paint. They seem to superior to cutting the wall around a window then regular angle sash brushes with thicker ferrules.

I'm an old timer and still prefer the old fashioned way. I cut in and paint the ceiling first (one coat coverage). Then cut the walls and roll them, this way I can roll within a 1/2" of the cut in. I then roll the walls. Then cut in a second time.Roll a second coat. Then paint the trim. I have started to get away from oil base on my trim as 100% acrylic looks just as good, and many times will dry quickly enough to get a second coat. I can generally finish an "average size" room in 10-12 hours.

www.shimmerz.biz

Donb, you are one of those old-timers that uses oil on all the trim, eh? I have heard of guys like you, LOL. I still paint oil on trim if people want oil paint. Benny Moore's Satin Impervo seems to be the most requested, although I would think if you wanted oil, you want it because of the high sheen. Anyways, oil is so dang sloppy and drippy - I can't believe you old timers had the wherewithal to be able to cut in neatly after the walls are all nice. Cutting in trim first in my opinion started from the frustration of painting oil on trim. If you paint oil on trim first, after it dries - all you have to worry about is neatly painting in latex on the walls, which is no big deal.
And now the technique remains even if you use latex on trim.

-PlainPainter

P.S. Do you use 100% acrylics on the trim at least?
P.S.S I couldn't stand how much oil paints yellow, did this bother other people as well?

I can't believe you old timers had the wherewithal to be able to cut in neatly after the walls are all nice.

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Well that's just what I'm accustomed to. I've seen those that cut the wall into finished trim, only thing is if you use oil on the trim and get it all over the walls then not only do you have to wait for that oil base to dry before doing the walls, but you also have to sand the area around the trim where the oil got on the wall, if not youre gonna have seperation of the latex on the oil.

P.S. Do you use 100% acrylics on the trim at least?

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Yes

Ive even noticed that most of the painters today paint the lip of the crown mold and baseboard with the wall not the trim....it looks alot better cutting it in with the trim. Also you can show off your skills cutting in that small lip of white next to a wall of sandstone.

I have never had much a problem with painting the latex paint over the little oil paint that gets on the wall. I understand that latex does not stick well to an underlying of oil paint whether you sand it or not. But it seems this is more an issue on woodwork that gets high abuse, such as a door or the trim. The little areas where you cut in some latex paint over the overbrush of oil doesn't seem like a high problem area. That being said, I do still worry about it and have used those little rotary palm sanders and even thought about masking a window around the trim with those paper + tape dispensers to minimize oil getting on walls. But to the credit of many painters I haven't seen a failure of latex adhering on the wall next to the windows where they overbrushed the oil trim paint. Now someone who painted semi-gloss latex onto an old oil gloss finish on a door - yes, that I have seen and is horrible.

PlainPainter

P.S. I have thought that if I go through the trouble of masking trim, then maybe I should go all the way and spray oil paint on the trim. I have been on jobs where this was done. Finishes came out sooooo super smooth and perfect - even oil paint shows brush marks. But The cost of 14+ gallons of trim oil for a 2000 sq. foot home is kind of daunting. And the fact that spraying has absolutely no ability to fill in cracks - even the most hairline cracks that ordinarily get filled by brushing now need to be caulked. So it's a total different way of painting that requires masking and 10 times the amount of caulking. So it's 6 or 1/2 dozen of the other.