Protecting Yards and Pools During a Riverside Paint Job

Four hundred feet of tape, a dozen drop cloths and two rolls of plastic go down before a single can is opened on a typical Riverside, CA yard. Painters set up the protection first because a spill or a mist of overspray cannot be undone, as the notes at riverside painters clothes made from scrap describe.

Plants first, because they cannot be moved

Shrubs and flower beds along the foundation take the most abuse. A crew ties back loose branches, drapes breathable canvas over the plants and weighs the edges down with stones, never plastic that traps heat in the sun. Lawns and bare beds get a light spray of water beforehand, since wet leaves and wet soil take drips better than dry ones.

Patios, walkways and furniture

Concrete drinks paint, and a drip on a patio slab is permanent. Canvas drop cloths go down along every wall that is being worked, because they absorb a spill where plastic lets it slide off and pool. Plastic is used only over furniture and grills, and it is taped so the wind cannot lift it. Cars are driven out of the driveway or covered, and the driveway under a ladder gets a cloth.

Pools and the water in them

A pool next to a wall being sprayed needs real attention. Mist and chips fall on the water, and paint in a pool filter is a headache for the owner. The crew covers the water with a pool cover or sheeting taped to the coping, and keeps the pump running only after the work is done and the cover has come off. Walls beside a pool are often rolled by hand instead of sprayed.

Overspray in wind

Overspray travels farther than people expect, sometimes thirty feet or more in a breeze. Crews check the wind at the start of the day, spray the lee side first and put up masking film on fences, meters and wall-mounted lights. When the afternoon wind starts, spraying stops.

Daily cleanup protects the yard too

At the end of each day the crew pulls every cloth, shakes out chips, rinses brushes and rollers into the proper place, and walks the yard looking for drips. Wet drips wipe off in a minute. Dried ones need scraping or a solvent and are far harder.

Gates, hoses and the small stuff

Hose reels, sprinkler heads, mailboxes, house numbers and gate latches all get covered or bagged. These take a few minutes each and spare the owner scrubbing later. A crew that treats the yard as the customer's living space, from Fairmount Park to the quiet streets near the Mission Inn, leaves it looking the way they found it.