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Painting is like measuring: Plan twice, execute once. It’s a big job, so you want to make sure you nail down every detail before your first stroke. Everything from the best interior paint and color selection to painting technique is crucial to achieving the best end result. The real secret to making your job look professional, however, is painter’s tape. Painter’s tape will help keep messes at bay, ensuring a clean painting job, regardless of experience. It's an essential part of most painting jobs, providing clear definition between color transitions and keeping paint off unwanted surfaces.
The engineering experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute test all of the latest home improvement items for upgrading your home. To find the best painter’s tape we consider factors like ease of application, cleanliness of the paint edge and whether it peeled the surface it was adhered to when removed on an array of surfaces like primed sheetrock and delicate paper. Both the tape and the wall were then analyzed to see if (and how much) the removal of the tape disrupted the surface. After analyzing nearly 100 data points in Lab tests, here are the best painter’s tapes for all jobs, according to our experts.
Our top picks:
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Most Popular Painter's Tape on Amazon
Scotch Blue Original Multi-Surface
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Best Painter's Tape for Textured Walls
Scotch Rough Surface
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GH Lab Tip: When applying painter’s tape, it’s important to push edges down firmly (especially with lower adhesive tapes) to prevent bleeding and feathering. Run a finger along each edge to ensure that the tape is secure.
How to choose the right painter's tape for your job
Using the wrong painter’s tape could result in sloppy lines, or can remove the wall beneath it during removal. When shopping for painter’s tape, consider your specific job to ensure the best results.
- Wall finish: It’s crucial to select a tape that is well suited to the material it will be used on. Multi-surface tapes will stick better to harder surfaces, but they might peel gentle surfaces like wallpaper or fresh paint. If in doubt, go with delicate.
- Width: Unless you’re painting a tight space, wide tape between 1.5 and 2 inches will be the best bet because it protects the most area from stray brush strokes. Wider tape may be a bit more expensive, but it’s easier to spend a few extra dollars up front than to go back and clean up any messes!
- Timeframe: Consider the amount of time you expect your job to take. Most tapes recommend an amount of time that the tape can stay in place before being taken off. It’s important to observe this recommendation to avoid adverse performance of the product, such as premature peeling or leaving residue on surfaces upon removal.
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Best Overall Painter's Tape
Frogtape Delicate Surface
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Best Overall Painter's Tape
Frogtape Delicate Surface
Pros
- Easy to tear, stick and remove
- Stays in place for 60 days
- Produces clean, sharp lines
Cons
- Adhesive isn’t strong enough for unfinished surfaces
Don’t let the name fool you: Though this painter’s tape is designed to work on delicate surfaces, our tests found it worked hard, making it a top pick. In our Lab tests, we found the lightly adhesive paper tape to be easy to manipulate, from tearing it off the roll and sticking it to the wall, all the way through the final removal, making it good for both simple lines and more complex designs. Once it was on the wall, it held its place on both papered and primed pieces of drywall — and it is able to stay in place for up to 60 days before painting. After removal, the tape left behind clean, sharp lines.
The tape comes in 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths and is designed to work on finished wood, fresh paint, wallpaper, veneer, laminate, vinyl and primed drywall, which can cover a lot of ground inside a home. However, for unfinished or unprimed surfaces, you’ll likely be better off with a stronger adhesive.
Pros
- Less expensive than other tapes
- Easy to tear, apply and remove
- Gentle on walls
Cons
- Tests found some bleeding and feathered edges
Painter’s Mate Green is easy to manipulate from application to removal, and it’s gentle on surfaces despite its medium adhesion. It is a multi-surface crepe paper tape that can be used on painted surfaces, glass, wood, metal and vinyl, and it’s a few dollars cheaper per roll than other painter’s tape options of the same width. However, in GH Institute tests, we found some bleeding and feathering after removal, so this tape may not produce the cleanest edges. This tape is available in 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths.
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Best Multi-Surface Painter's Tape
Frogtape Multi-Surface
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Best Multi-Surface Painter's Tape
Frogtape Multi-Surface
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Pros
- Sticks to durable surfaces, like unfinished wood, stone, and carpet
- Produces crisp edges after tape is removed
Cons
- Harder to manipulate than lower adhesive tapes
- May peel delicate surfaces, like wallpaper
For harder surfaces, you’ll need a tape with enough adhesive that it’ll stay put, but not too much adhesive that it’ll tear off bits of your wall during removal. Frogtape Multi-Surface finds that middle ground to work on cured paint, unfinished wood, metal, glass, stone and carpet.
While this tape was somewhat thick and sticky, making it harder to manipulate, in GH Institute tests, we found that to be an asset, allowing it to stick to more durable surfaces. It was still fairly easy to apply and remove, and it left behind crisp edges.
It can remain on surfaces for 21 days, giving you ample time to complete your project, however if you are working in direct sunlight, that timeframe reduces to just seven days. The tape is available in 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths.
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Pros
- Easy to tear, apply, and remove
- Available in thicker 2.83-inch width
- Multi-packs available for large projects
Cons
- Produced feathered edges and noticeable bleeding
- May peel walls and delicate surfaces
Amazon's Choice and a number one best seller, Scotch Blue Original Multi-Surface painter's tape has earned its share of fans, and with good reason. This medium adhesive crepe paper tape works on a variety of common household surfaces including walls, trim, tile and glass.
This tape comes in widths up to 2.83 inches — about an inch more than most other options — and money-saving multi-packs for large projects. GH Institute tests found this tape to be easy to tear off the roll, stick to the wall, and remove, however engineers noticed feathered edges and some bleeding, as well as peeling on delicate surfaces.
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Best Mid-Weight Painter's Tape
Shurtape CP 27 ShurRelease Blue
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Best Mid-Weight Painter's Tape
Shurtape CP 27 ShurRelease Blue
Pros
- Clean, clear paint edges with minimal bleeding
- Easy to tear, stick, and remove
- Sticks on indoor and outdoor surfaces for up to 14 days
Cons
- Not for use on delicate surfaces, like wallpaper and ceiling tile
Shurtape’s medium adhesive tape feels thick and sticky, but our tests found it to be surprisingly gentle on walls, showing only minor peeling after removal. The tape left clean, clear paint edges with minimal bleeding, and it was easy to tear and stick.
It’s made for use indoors and outdoors on painted walls, glass, vinyl, metal, and wood, and can stay in place for up to 14 days, even when exposed to the sun. It is not, however, gentle enough for use on wallpaper, unpainted wallboard, ceiling tile or uncured coatings. It comes in 0.70, 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths.
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Best Outdoor Painter’s Tape
IPG ProMask Blue with Bloc-It
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Best Outdoor Painter’s Tape
IPG ProMask Blue with Bloc-It
Pros
- Thin; easy to handle
- Produces clear, clean edges
- Stays on sun-soaked surfaces up to 14 days
Cons
- Walls showed minor peeling after removal
IPG ProMask Blue with Bloc-It is thin and easy to handle, but with enough adhesive to work on tougher surfaces including unfinished wood, wallboard and lacquer-coated surfaces. Our Lab tests found this crepe paper tape to produce clear, clean paint edges, with barely noticeable bleeding, and it left behind near-perfect surface conditions, showing a little peeling upon removal.
The real selling point, however, is that this tape can stay on sun-soaked surfaces for up to 14 days without risking damage to your fresh paint or surfaces, making it good for windows and outdoor jobs. It is available in 0.70, 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths.
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Pros
- Sticks to harder surfaces like brick, stone, and concrete
- High adhesive, but still easy to use
Cons
- May damage common interior surfaces like drywall, plaster, and wood trim
Highly durable surfaces like brick, stone and concrete are going to require more adhesive to stick. Scotch Rough Surface’s high adhesive is formulated to cling to durable surfaces, while still being easy to use. It's a crepe paper tape, available in 0.70, 0.94, 1.44 and 1.81 inch widths.
Reviewers report this tape adhering nicely to slightly textured surfaces and giving them the clean lines they hope for with minimal bleeding. However, this tape is not meant for standard interior surfaces like painted drywall, plaster walls and wood trim, and may damage those surfaces upon removal.
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Best Painter’s Tape for Delicate Walls
Scotch Delicate Surface
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Best Painter’s Tape for Delicate Walls
Scotch Delicate Surface
Pros
- Easy on, easy off
- Left walls in good shape after removal
Cons
- Produced a slightly feathered paint edge
- May peel off the wall prematurely
This gentle tape is among the easiest to tear, stick and remove, making it a good option for delicate surfaces like wallpaper. In Lab tests, the gentle adhesion left walls in tact after use, however with some mixed results: The tape sometimes peeled off the wall prematurely, and when it was fully peeled, it revealed a slightly feathered paint edge rather than the clean line you’ll typically be looking for.
It is formulated for interior use on lightly textured drywall, wallpaper, finished or engineered hardwood, cabinets and veneers, and comes in 0.70, 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inch widths.
Alissa Schulman
Contributing Writer
Alissa Schulman is a freelance writer and editor based in in Connecticut. She’s currently training to become a cheesemonger, but when she’s not assembling cheese plates, she makes handcrafted greeting cards and runs around with her two young nieces. She also loves house plants and her stationary bike.