What Is a Quick Way to Paint Exterior Eves & Trim?

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Things You'll Need

  • Paint buckets

  • Rollers

  • Roller tray or grid

  • Extension pole

  • Hand masker

  • Masking tape

  • Masking paper

  • Paint sprayer

Use rollers to quickly paint eaves and trim.

Painting exterior eaves and trim seems like a tedious task; being up on a ladder and painting eaves over your head is a messy job and hard on your neck and shoulders. Spraying eaves is the fastest way to get the job done, but that entails a lot of masking. Eaves and the rest of the trim on your home's exterior can be painted quite quickly with a roller as well as a brush. Rollers come in several lengths besides the standard 9-inch roller, and a smaller roller can make quick work of eaves and trim.

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Painting with Brush and Roller

Step 1

Mix the trim paint, and pour some into a clean bucket for "cutting in" with the brush instead of working out of the paint can. Pour some paint into a 5-gallon bucket for rolling. It's much easier to move a 5-gallon bucket and grid around outside than a paint rolling tray.

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Step 2

Cut in corners, grooves and angles with a 2 1/2- or 3-inch brush. If you are working two or more stories high, work in sections and roll each section after you have cut in. If your home is one story, it will be faster to cut in from the ladder, and roll the flat areas with an extension pole from the ground.

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Step 3

Roll eaves with a 9-inch roller. A 1/2-inch lambswool roller cover costs a little more than a synthetic one but holds more paint and gets paint into grooves and corners much more efficiently.

Step 4

Use a smaller roller for trim. Rollers are available in sizes from 3 to 14 inches; a 6-inch roller is a versatile size for most exterior trim. Always paint edges and corners with the brush first and then roll.

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Spraying Eaves

Step 1

A sprayer is the quickest way to paint eaves.

Mask the body of the house using masking tape and paper. A hand-masker is an indispensible tool for this. It allows you to quickly and precisely apply masking materials. Use two bands of 9-inch masking paper, taping it along the bottom edge of the eaves.

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Step 2

Spray the eaves. Avoid the temptation to spray the fascia and gutters at the same time because you will get paint over spray on the roof, which is impossible to remove from most roofing materials. Paint the fascia and gutters after you spray the eaves.

Step 3

Remove the masking paper and tape after the eaves are dry, which should take between one and three hours, depending on weather conditions. Save time by painting the fascia and gutters while you're already up on the ladder removing the masking materials.

Tip

Keep a damp rag handy so you can wipe away dripped paint from the siding before it dries. Painting two coats of paint on exterior eaves and trim will result in a better looking, more durable paint job.

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