Spread a drop cloth over the floor to protect the flooring.
How to protect floor when painting baseboards.
If you need to mask baseboards apply a masking film and tape the edge to the plastic sheets that are on the floor.
Be sure to clean the top of the baseboards in particular as dust naturally collects on horizontal surfaces.
If you need to paint baseboard next to a wall to wall carpet you could try to peel that carpet back as you brush along the edge of the molding and hope you don t get any paint on it but there s a better way.
Plastic or canvas materials are often slippery on these floors but rosin paper is easy to walk on.
Mix a solution of trisodium phosphate tsp with water in a bucket according to product instructions.
Choose rosin paper to protect your hardwood vinyl or tile floors.
It often comes in a roll so you can unroll it and tape sheets together to cover your floor.
If you want to protect hard surface flooring rosin paper is the best option.
The trick is to use the right tool for the job.
I used a fairly flat tea spoon and rubbed not too rough or hard the blue tape on the floor where the seams meet.
Once you start you can see how it really bonds the tape to the floor.
Instead of painting on poly acrylic i went with the suggestion of burnishing.
Protecting the floor should always be one of the first steps you take when prepping a room for painting.
Al lemke from hopewell junction n y has figured out a way to get masking tape between the baseboard and the carpet when he preps a.