Painting Problem of “Hatbanding” Solved By Vancouver’s Best Painters

PICTURE FRAMING ON DRYWALL (HATBANDING)

Picture framing on drywall occurs when the coat applied around the trim using a brush does not match the coat applied to the main area using a roller.

Hatbanding is caused by excessive cutting-in of the walls, corners, trim, and ceiling areas with a brush or by rolling walls with a roller cover having an extremely long nap. Hatbanding also can be caused by applying a wet finish coat onto areas that have already dried.

Solution

When cutting into areas to be painted, featheredge brushing of the finish coat will produce a coat of paint that is approximately the same thickness as the coat applied later with a roller. The brush should leave a thin, feathered edge of paint that will merge into a smooth layer of new paint, thus eliminating a brush coat that is thicker than the rolled-on finish coat.

When using a roller on smooth surfaces (such as drywall) use roller covers having a nap ranging from 1/4 to 112 inch, depending on the sheen of the finish coat to be applied. When using a roller to paint surfaces previously cut-in with a brush, turn the roller sideways (rotate 90° on the wall) and apply a thin coat of finish, rolling into the previously cut-in areas. When rolling on the finish coat, make sure that the finish strokes of the roller meld back into the drying paint.

TOUCH-UP AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

A difference in appearance between the original paint and a touch-up becomes noticeable when a touch-up is applied on a newly painted surface which has undergone a change in temperature. This problem is more prevalent with latex coatings and occurs when the main body of the substrate is coated at one temperature (usually higher) and then touched-up at another temperature (usually lower). The touch-up spot will not blend in properly.

Coatings cure differently at different temperatures, with cure occurring more quickly at a higher temperature and more slowly at a lower temperature. This difference in the rate of cure also can affect the appearance of a coating film because of the time it takes the film to transform from a liquid into a solid, as in the case of a latex paint.

Solution

It is impossible to know at what temperature an initial coat was applied, but most coatings will accept the median temperature range suggested by the coating manufacturer’s product data sheet. Therefore, one solution is to raise the temperature of the substrate to be coated, as well as the coating to be applied, to a median temperature.