Pro Handyman Blog

When you are painting, particularly when using an airless sprayer, preparation often takes more time than actually painting. When you are painting walls, you have outlet covers and switch covers to content with. When you are painting doors, you have door knobs, strike plates, and hinges. Should you cover them with tape and paper or just remove them from the door?

The answer lies with your ability. I personally remove the hardware. With a drill driver, I can remove the screws and set everything in a neat pile, cover it with a drop cloth and keep it from the spray. Many people, however, would say I am wasting my time. They cover everything up with tape and paper. I don’t agree with them however, because I have tried their methods and end up missing a small area, or paint runs under the tape’s edge, etc. I usually spend far more time, in my opinion, cleaning up the paint off of door handles, etc. I also spend too much time focusing on taping everything just perfectly so that I won’t end up cleaning paint from these items.

So in my opinion, I can remove hardware and reinstall hardware in less time that it takes me to cover everything up and then clean any paint errors off of the hardware. You might be much more skilled at that than I am however.