If you’ve done a decent amount of painting you have more then likely come to a point where you have to paint a tight space like a stairwell, and it can some times be a real pain in the rear. And if you are new to painting maybe stairwells are intimidating you from making it your next project, but it’s not as hard as it may seem I promise. Today I am going to be giving you some tips and tools that make painting in tight tall spaces a lot easier and hopefully save you some headaches a long the way. 

The first tip that I have for you takes place before the actual painting process even starts and that’s picking the paint you want to use for the stairwell. When you are working in these kinds of spaces sometimes it can be challenging to properly layout your paint on the wall and get the proper finish you want. I would suggest using a lighter color high quality paint in these kinds of spaces as they are less likely to show any flashing. Darker and low quality paints are less forgiving when it comes to not getting a proper layout making flashing more likely to occur.

Now we can’t talk about painting stairwells without talking about ladders. In a lot of stairwells you aren’t able maneuver your typical ladder through tight quarters. What I like to use is an Xtend+ Climb Ladder; a collapsable ladder making it easy to fit around corners and into difficult spaces. This ladder collapses down to under 3 feet for easy movement and storage, but can extend to heights of over 15 feet, it's an amazing tool for spaces where most ladders won’t fit. On top of this I have carried my PiVit Ladder Tool with me for the past 15+ years when I know I am going to be working around stairs . This tool allows me a safe leveled surface for my ladder on staircases. As of recently however I have started bringing the Ladder-Aide Pro with me when I know I’m gonna be working on stairs, I feel like this is a little bit sturdier and is height adjustable for any sized step. Of course I still suggest that you have someone spotting you on a ladder, there’s always a chance for your ladder to slip or side so I feel more comfortable with or being a spotter. When you are painting a project where you are going to be using a ladder to reach the tops of the walls it’s best practice to start painting from top to bottom, otherwise you’ll run into the problem of having to lean your ladder against a wet wall.

Any time you are painting a surface that requires a lot of vertical reach extension poles are going to be your best friend, and you are gonna want a couple of these friends around. I like to keep a 1-2 foot and a 4-8 foot on the site to handle most situations, but I always keep a 8-12 foot extension in my truck for those particularly high walls. And speaking of friends, like most projects, it’s going to be a lot easier to do it with 2 people. If you have the luxury of someone who’s willing to help you out then I would suggest that one of you hops up on the ladder and starts the cut-ins while the other starts rolling walls. The cut in brush I like the best for interiors is the Premier Montauk. If you are working on the cut-ins up on the ladder I always find it helpful to bring your cut-ins down a little more than normal so that when you come back with the extension pole later you are not having to worry about getting nearly as high up the wall with your roller. Which brings me to another quick tip: try not to roller too close to the ceiling, you don’t want to end up hitting the ceiling and leaving a little touch up spot up there. 

Finally when you have finished painting from top to bottom try and make sure that you don’t start leaning your ladder back against the wall to put back up your vents and what have you until the paint is fully dry. And there you have it with just a little help from specialized tools and maybe a friend or two hopefully your next stairwell project will be a lot less intimidating. You can watch my YouTube video on Paint Life TV that goes over these tools and gives you more handy tips painting in these tight spaces. You can watch the video HERE

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