Paint a Beamed Ceiling
Ceilings that have exposed wood beams present a special problem when it is time to repaint, at least if you don't want any of that paint getting on the wood. Taping the edges of the beams where they meet the ceiling is not enough, because when you roll the paint onto the ceiling it will inevitably spatter on the sections of the beam without tape. This guide provides a procedure for wrapping the entire beam using broadsheet newspapers, most of which happen to be just wide enough to cover all three exposed sides of a standard 6 x 6 wood beam.
Instructions
1. Set your ladder under the first beam, at one end. If the beam rises to a peak, start at the peak.
2. Tear a broadsheet section of newspaper lengthwise, so you have a full front page about a foot and a half wide. Wrap the paper around the beam, with the length of the paper lining up to the length of the beam, to make sure it will cover all three exposed sides of the beam. It's okay if the paper is bigger than the beam and sags in the middle.
3. Take the paper back down and tear a bunch of broadsheet sections into single pages until you have a stack of them. Pull out a length of painter's tape about as long as the length of the newspaper. Press it to the long edge of one of the pages of newspaper, so that the paper covers about half the width of the tape. Repeat on the other edge of the newspaper, so that the paper is bordered on both long sides by tape, with part of the tape exposed off the edge. Make sure not to let the exposed sticky side of the tape touch anything. Repeat the process to get a dozen or so pages bordered with tape.
4. Take two of the sheets and drape one on the top of the ladder and raise the other one to the beam. Press the long, sticky edge of the tape to the length of the beam on one side, right at the corner where the beam meets the ceiling. Wrap the page around the beam and press the other side of the tape into the other corner where the beam meets the ceiling on the other side. The beam should be completely wrapped by the length of the newspaper.
5. Put the second sheet of paper up next to the first, overlapping slightly at the edges. Repeat the process with the rest of the sheets, making more as you need them, until all the beams are completely wrapped in newspaper. Put additional painter's tape over the ends of the beams, along the width of the end pieces of newspaper where it meets the wall.
6. Paint the ceiling by first cutting in around the taped beams with a brush, then using a roller on an extended handle to do the rest of the surface. Do not remove the newspapers from the beams until you have finished as many coats of paint as you are going to do.
Tags: around beam, beam meets, beam meets ceiling, Beamed Ceiling, , corner where, corner where beam