The painter’s tape section at your local Home Depot can be overwhelming. Tape ranges from 1″ to 3″ wide, or anything in between. There is beige tape, black tape, blue tape, green tape, yellow tape, and even some tape with little frogs printed on the container. You will notice the tape with the frogs is a little more expensive. Is Frog Tape really any better than regular painter’s tape? And is it worth the extra investment, or just a gimmick to make an extra buck?
Frog Tape claims to have a paint blocking technology that keeps wet paint from seeping under the edges.
Anyone who has done any painting knows that paint has a way of creeping under the edge of painter’s tape. There is nothing more frustrating than pulling your tape up and seeing a jagged, jacked up, uneven line. After all, we bought the tape to make us look like better painters, right? As a professional, this phenomena had always made me doubt the usefulness of tape in its entirety. Why not just learn to paint straight lines without it and save the $6 for a beer or lottery tickets (gotta play to win)?
The problem is, there are many situations when tape actually IS necessary…
Tape is needed to protect baseboard from the spritz that comes off of a roller when rolling walls. Tight corners that don’t quite have room for a full-sized brush need tape to mask off areas that don’t get painted. Door knobs and hinges are much easier to paint around when masked off with tape. And tape is needed, in some cases, to make wavy ceiling joints look straight. Homeowner may not realize how crooked the joint can be where the wall meets the ceiling. This is especially prevalent in older houses that have settled over many years. Even the steadiest professional hand will have a hard time making crooked ceiling joints look crisp and clean without the straight edge tape can provide.
Should we spend the extra dollar on frog tape?
In a word, YES. Using Frog Tape really does make a world of difference in the ease of the painting process. Despite the under the breath grumblings heard by old school painters around the globe, frog tape has “reinvented the wheel” of painter’s tape in the best way possible. By eliminating paint bleed (well, drastically improving it at the very least), Frog Tape is easily one of the best industry innovations in the last 20 years.
GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHOICES?
The good people at Frog Tape invested a ton of money into research and development. Green frog tape was the first version to hit the shelves (and the marketing was brilliant). Soon after came the yellow “delicate surface” variety, followed a few years later by the blue Pro Painters Grade tape. For the professional, all of these tapes have niches which i will detail below.
Green Frog Tape, when to use:
Green Frog Tape is the best choice for daily painting needs. This multi-surface painter’s tape works across the largest variety of different tasks. Green Frog Tape has medium tack (slightly less than typical painter’s tape), and is safe on most surfaces. Taping off carpet and fully-cured walls are common places to use this version.
Yellow Frog Tape is the best choice when needing to mask off anything with a delicate finish. The low tack is just enough for the tape to stick to surfaces without being so sticky that it can cause damage. The Yellow Frog Tape works best when needing to mask off cabinets, spindles, hardwood floors, or on any freshly painted surface that has not been curing for at least 3 weeks.
Blue Frog Tape Pro Grade has the highest tack of any Frog Tape on the market. This tape is ideal for hard to stick to surfaces such as metal and glass. Blue Frog Tape is also great for masking walls and trim that are fully cured, as well as any other place one might consider using a different type of tape.
Helpful Pro Tip for Frog Tape:
Make sure wipe down any surface before applying Frog Tape. Use a putty knife to press the tape down and ensure the tape has good contact/adhesion to the surface. And lastly (drumroll please…) use a slightly damp rag to wipe over the edge of the Frog Tape. Wetting the edge will activate the paint blocking chemical before you start painting, creating a strong seal for extra insurance against paint bleed.
We hope you have enjoyed this blog about Frog Tape vs Painter’s Tape, Is It Worth The Money? Please feel free to reach out to us for estimates – and also if you are a DIYer and just have some questions we can answer in an email. We are happy to talk shop about all things painting even if you are planning to do a job yourself!
Can you use green frog tape to mask borders when painting walls?
Hi Ralph – Boarders can be tough, especially with a thinner paper or if the paper was not installed with correctly/has weak adhesion. I would go with the yellow delicate surface tape for that, and possibly even low tack EZ mask if you don’t need the paint blocking. Good luck!