You can also cover the ridge of the paint can with masking tape to prevent paint from getting in there. Use several short pieces of tape and stick them edge to edge over the ridge (rather than trying to go lengthwise).

Tip--If you have to sand a painted surface, it usually comes off in sheets that look horrible when painted over. Instead, Wet your fine sandpaper with diluted ammonia before sanding. The paint won't sheet but it will get a little glossy and smoothed over. Then, you can add another coat. This is great for old chipping paint or if you get an errant kitty hair in your wet paint. This is the best tip I ever learned when painting my cabinets.

I just found these tips after spending the weekend painting. Sigh. I'll remember them for next time, though!

For pouring paint, just buy one of these: http://www.ronhazelton.com/tips/images/606t-b2lg.jpg

They's like $3 at the hardware store, and they keep your paint from getting a skin on it without requiring you to put the lid back on. Not to mention the clean pour you get.

Before using a brush or roller, wet them in the solvent of the paint (water for latex, mineral spirits for oils). That will make the tool work much better.

if your painting goes for more than one day, remove excess paint from the roller or brush, then wrap it tightly in plastic and put it in the fridge. The next day, just give it a little time to warm up and use it again. No cleaning needed between coats.

Boomer -- I wouldn't bother cleaning a roller unless it's an expensive lamb's wool one. Throw it away -- most roller covers are meant to be disposable, and they'll never work well after they've been cleaned and dried off. Always clean brushes, however, and invest in good ones. Store them wrapped in their original cardboard or in folded newspaper so they don't lose their shape.

Use angle brushes turned on edge into a point (and a steady hand) to cut in and get a clean line next to moldings. So much faster and even neater than taping everything.

Painting help please? I painted a room in my apt a while ago and made the mistake of waiting until the paint was dry to lift the tape. When I started taking it off, the paint peeled with the tape, exposing the color beneath. Is there any resolution short of repainting where the tape pulls off the paint? The tape is still up!

missmary -- get out a utility knife and really carefully (and not too deeply) break the line of the paint at the edge of the tape.

boomer -- I agree, the $10 covers are probably good ones. But anything less expensive (most roller covers these days are $5-$7, I think) aren't really made to be reused. That's why they have cardboard centers.

True about the landfills, and that plagues me (but being green about painting is a whole other issue). Most expensive rollers are not made for latex paint. The really expensive ones are lambswool, meant to be used with oil paints and finishes. You have to match the type of paint to the material of the roller cover (just like brushes).

That's why I recommend saving a used roller in the fridge between coats of the same color, rather than washing it. You shouldn't need more than one roller per room (or less, if you're using the same color throughout). If we're talking about painting tips, painting with a used and dried roller will give you a bad paint job, as the fibers will end up crusty and hard, no matter how well you clean them. Just like you can never fully get paint off a piece of clothing, you can't get paint out of roller fibers.

any tips for painting outside surfaces?

the surface of our deck is currently covered in dirty, chipping grey paint. we tried washing it with a power washer, mop, and scrub brush to get some of the dirt off and it only looks marginally better. i want to give it a new coat of paint this weekend -- how clean should it be before hand? and do i need to scrape or sand or prime first? (or all three?) and how many coats do i need?

not much experience painting here, if you couldn't already tell!

Ben Moore recently came out with a waterborne satin impervo, it "settles" like it's oil-based brother (less brush marks, b/c it spreads out) but dries ultra-fast and cleans up with soap and water. It's a little more tempermental in terms of application but the results are fabulous. Work quickly in nice even long strokes and don't over brush or it will get ropey. The finish has a great lustre, not too shiny and feels so smooth and luxurious, especially after 2 coats and sanding in between. I love it! I both a Pratt and Lambert satin trim finish paint but it felt so gritty and rough, I decided to get the the color matched in the BM impervo and painted my mullions and sashes all over again. Absolutely no fun (for those who do paint), but totally worth it.

"Tape pull" can be caused by a lot of reasons. Most common being dust, dirt or grease between layers of old and new paint (remedy: clean with TSP prior to painting) or using a tape that is too sticky (remedy: use a low tack usually green-colored tape or a brand called EasyMask rather than blue tape, which also often leads to "bleed" when trying to paint crisp lines.