You’ve just spent hours working on your latest project and walk away feeling elated because you’ve just painted the perfect masterpiece, free from blemishes! Only to notice drips and runs after the project has dried that weren’t there before. We’ve all been there right?! This is so frustrating to say the least! Don’t panic, your project isn’t ruined! Keep reading to see our little secret on How To Fix Paint Drips!
The Problem | Paint Drips
Paint drips are a common problem when painting cabinets, furniture, moldings, or walls. But what causes this problem?
The biggest culprit is loading your brush with too much paint while trying to “stretch” the paint as far as it will go.
Before you know it, you’ve moved on with your painting and come back to notice a drip has formed. This happens because the excess paint is pulled downward by gravity.
Before you get too frustrated, don’t panic, we’ll give you tips how to fix this problem while still wet and even after the paint has dried!
Fixing Paint Drips While Still Wet
The easiest and quickest way to fix a paint drip is to catch it while it’s still wet. Simply take your brush and stroke across the drip area in the same direction you previously painted.
If you try to knock down the paint drip by brushing in the opposite direction, you’ll end up creating a bigger mess and create cross strokes! Then you’ll have a larger area to fix.
It’s best to try a few brush strokes at a time and see if it’s making a difference. If the drips smooth out simply wait for your project to dry.
If this doesn’t seem to be helping, or the paint feels tacky, then the paint is likely already too dry to manipulate. At this point it’s best to wait for it to completely dry before fixing the problem.
Fixing the Paint Drips When Dry
The other option to fixing paint drips is to allow the paint to completely dry! And by completely dry, we mean ALL THE WAY DRY.
Trying to fix the problem too soon will only cause more area that needs fixing.
If the paint is even a little wet it can peel or bubble up when scraping or sanding.
How To Fix A Dried Paint Drip
The first step to fix a dried paint drip is to take a utility knife, razor blade or 5-in-1 painters tool, and start scraping down the bumped up drip surface.
Try to limit the scraping to the paint dripped area only.
Once the raised paint drip has been removed, use a 220 fine grit sandpaper to lightly smooth out the surface.
Be sure to sand in the same direction as it was painted (as well as trying to only sand the paint drip area), again to avoid causing a bigger area to fix.
After the paint drip area has been smoothed out, you’re ready to add on another coat or two of paint.
Once the paint has been applied and dried this area will blend in nicely with the surrounding area.
We hope you’ll give these tips a try when fixing paint drips on your next project! Watch for MORE painting tips to come!
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