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These picks will ensure clean lines without damaging your walls.

Painting is like measuring: plan twice and execute once. This is a tough job, so you want to make sure to determine every detail before the first stroke. From the best interior paint and color choices to painting techniques, everything is essential to achieve the best end result. However, the real secret to making your work look professional is the painter's tape. The painter's tape will help prevent confusion and ensure cleanliness regardless of experience. It is an important part of most painting jobs, providing a clear definition between color transitions and keeping the paint away from unwanted surfaces.

The engineering experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute test all the latest home improvement projects to upgrade your house. In order to find the best paint tape, we consider factors such as ease of use, cleanliness of the edges of the paint, and whether it will peel off when it is peeled off a range of surfaces such as primed plasterboard and fine paper The surface to which it adheres. Then analyze the tape and the wall to see if (and how much) the removal of the tape damaged the surface. According to our experts, after analyzing nearly 100 data points in laboratory tests, here are the best painter tapes for all jobs:

GH Lab Tip: When using painter's tape, it is important to push the edge down firmly (especially with lower tape) to prevent bleeding and feathering. Run a finger along each edge to make sure the tape is safe.

Using the wrong painter's tape may result in loose lines or may remove the wall below it during the demolition process. When buying paint tape, please consider your specific work to ensure the best results.

Don't be fooled by the name: Although this painter's tape is designed to work on delicate surfaces, our tests found it to be effective, making it the first choice. In our laboratory tests, we found that the slightly sticky paper tape is easy to handle, from tearing it off the roll and sticking it to the wall, all the way to the final removal, making it suitable for simple lines and more complex Design. Once it is hung on the wall, it will maintain its position on the dry wall of paper and primer-and it can stay for up to 60 days before painting. After removal, the tape leaves clean, sharp lines.

Available in widths of 0.94, 1.41, and 1.88 inches, the tape is designed to treat finished wood, new paint, wallpaper, veneer, laminate, vinyl and primed drywall, and can cover many floors in the home. However, for unfinished or unprimed surfaces, it may be better to use a stronger adhesive.

Painter's Mate Green is easy to handle from application to removal. Although it has a medium adhesion, it is gentle on the surface. It is a multi-surface crepe paper tape that can be used to paint surfaces, glass, wood, metal, and vinyl. Each roll is several dollars cheaper than other paint tape options of the same width. However, in the GH Institute test, we found that there will be some bleeding and feathering after removal, so this tape may not produce the cleanest edges. This tape has widths of 0.94, 1.41, and 1.88 inches.

For hard surfaces, you need tape with enough adhesive to keep it intact, but not too much adhesive to avoid tearing your walls during the removal process. Frogtape Multi-Surface finds a middle ground between cured paint, unfinished wood, metal, glass, stone and carpet.

Although this tape is a bit thick and sticky, making it more difficult to handle, in tests conducted by the GH Institute, we found that this is an advantage that allows it to stick to a more durable surface. It is still easy to apply and remove, and leaves a clear edge.

It can stay on the surface for 21 days, giving you plenty of time to complete your project, but if you work in direct sunlight, the time frame will be shortened to only 7 days. The tape is available in widths of 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inches.

Amazon's Choice and No. 1 best-selling book, Scotch Blue Original Multi-Surface painter's tape won the share of fans, and this is for good reason. This medium-tack crepe paper tape is suitable for a variety of common household surfaces, including walls, decorations, tiles and glass. 

This tape has a width of up to 2.83 inches—about an inch more than most other options—and a cost-saving packaging for large projects. Tests by the GH Institute found that the tape was easily torn from the roll, stuck to the wall, and then removed, but the engineer noticed feathers and some oozing on the edges, as well as peeling on fragile surfaces.

IPG ProMask Blue with Bloc-It is thin and easy to handle, but has enough adhesive to be used on harder surfaces, including unfinished wood, wall panels, and painted surfaces. Our laboratory test found that this kind of crepe paper tape can produce clear, clean paint edges, almost no obvious bleeding, and leave a nearly perfect surface condition, showing a little peeling when removed. 

However, the real selling point is that this tape can stay on sunlit surfaces for up to 14 days without damaging your new paint or surface, making it ideal for windows and outdoor work. It is available in widths of 0.70, 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inches.

Highly durable surfaces such as brick, stone, and concrete will require more adhesive to bond. Scotch Rough Surface's high-viscosity formula adheres to durable surfaces while still being easy to use. It is a crepe paper tape available in widths of 0.70, 0.94, 1.44 and 1.81 inches.

Reviewers report that this tape adheres well to slightly textured surfaces and provides them with the clean lines they want with minimal bleeding. However, this tape is not suitable for standard interior surfaces, such as painted drywall, plaster walls, and wood finishes, and may damage these surfaces when removed. 

Shurtape's medium tape is thick and sticky to the touch, but our tests found that it is very gentle on the wall and only slightly peels off after removal. The tape leaves a clean, clear painted edge, bleeds very little, and is easy to tear and stick. 

It is suitable for indoor and outdoor painted walls, glass, vinyl, metal and wood, and can last up to 14 days even when exposed to sunlight. However, it is not sufficient for wallpaper, unpainted wall panels, ceilings or uncured coatings. It has widths of 0.70, 0.94, 1.41, and 1.88 inches.

This gentle tape is one of the easiest to tear, stick and remove, making it ideal for delicate surfaces such as wallpaper. In laboratory tests, the mild adhesion keeps the wall intact after use, but the results are somewhat different: the tape sometimes peels off the wall prematurely, when it peels off completely, it reveals a slightly feathery paint edge, and Not your clean lines will usually look for.

It is designed for indoor use and is suitable for light-weight drywall, wallpaper, finished or engineered hardwood, cabinets and veneers, with widths of 0.70, 0.94, 1.41 and 1.88 inches.