We recently painted the textured ceiling in our hallway. Painting with the thick nap rollers required to cover a textured ceiling is a good way to spray paint all over the place, so we wanted to protect our wood floor. You’d think that it would just be a matter of throwing down a drop cloth and painting away, but it turns out it’s not that easy sometimes.
I have some standard canvas drop cloths I’ve successfully used to protect various surfaces over the years, and I figured I’d just use one while I was painting the hallway. I guess I’d never tried using them on hardwood floors before, because they worked about as well as boots on an ice rink.
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Just as soon as I got them down and we started to paint, either my wife or I would move, and we’d uncover part of the floor. Not to mention I almost slipped and fell several times over sections of bunched up drop cloth as my eyes were looking up at what I was doing. Before we tackled the walls, I decided I was going to purchase one of the more expensive non-slip drop cloths to make painting the walls less of a Three Stooges comedy.
There are several brands of non-slip drop cloths available: CoverGrip, Stay Put, and Scotch Blue, to name a few. I picked the CoverGrip brand, because I could go inspect it at Home Depot before I purchased it.
The CoverGrip drop cloth is a standard 8 oz. canvas drop cloth with PVC rubberized dots on the bottom. When you step on the drop cloth, the dots prevent the drop cloth from sliding around. The dots are also slightly rounded, so that when your weigh shifts, they continue to hold.
Since there is no tacky adhesive, you can reposition the CoverGrip as many times as you need with no loss of “grippyness.” Moreover, the dots on the bottom side of the drop cloth are in regular pattern of alternating rows so that the drop cloth can be folded along it’s length, width, or diagonally along the “dotted” lines. The makers of CoverGrip drop cloths say they are even safe on stairs.
When the drop cloth becomes too dirty or dusty, it can be machine washed without damaging the canvas or the dots.
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I set up the CoverGrip drop cloth in our hallway for three days. I prepped for painting the day before, primed and painted one coat the next day, and put on a final coat the third day. With all the family and dog traffic the drop cloth hardly moved at all during that whole time.
Standard 8 oz. CoverGrip drop clothes are available in several sizes: 3.5′ x 4′, 3.5′ x 12′, 5′ x 8′, and 8′ x 10′ sizes. You can also buy a heavy duty version of the CoverGrip drop cloth, made with 10 oz. canvas. The heavy duty version has a yellow and black safety stripe border. It’s sold in 4′ x 15′, 9’x 12′, and 12′ x 15′ sizes.
The 3.5′ x 12′ 8 oz. drop cloth is available at Home Depot for $22, or $19 each if you buy 4 or more.
Amazon has each of these sizes in stock, with pricing as follows:
- 3.5′ x 4′ 8 oz. drop cloth ($15)
- 3.5′ x 12′ 8 oz. drop cloth ($22)
- 5′ x 8′ 8 oz. drop cloth ($30)
- 8′ x 10′ 8oz. drop cloth ($48)
- 4′ x 15′ 10 oz. heavy duty drop cloth ($45)
- 9′ x 12′ 10 oz. heavy duty drop cloth ($81)
- 12′ x 15′ 10 oz. heavy duty drop cloth ($133)
They also sell larger quantities at a discount.
Hilton
Thanks for this nugget. Here we just use plastic sheets and once they become hard with paint they are pretty unwieldy.
Blythe
I was going to suggest the rug gripper pads my mom always used as a cheaper alternative, but it turns out they’re pretty expensive, for roughly $10 more you get the drop cloth. Depending on the size or how many you need to use it still could be a cheaper option
https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Stop-Non-Slip-Indoor-Size/dp/B003UVCWPC?th=1&psc=1
alex
I was going to try these to paint my living room. Happy to see they work great. Ramboard is nice as well but a bit overkill for painting.
John
I find that inexpensive vinyl table clothes work great too. Ya know, the ones with the fuzzy fabric on the backside that you use at outdoor picnics? They are plenty big for painting a wide swath of wall, but and aren’t so big that they always get bunched up under your feet. The fabric on the back stays put nicely on carpet. We don’t have hardwood floors in our home, so I can’t confirm whether they’d be too slippery for them or not. I have used them on the vinyl floor in the kitchen and had no problems.
Benjamen
I’ve used shower curtain liners as cheap drop cloths on my bench when I need to paint something quick.
Nathan
I’ve been using a set of canvas ones from HF – yes they are cheap but they are also rough. when on carpet they are fantastic.
I might pick up 2 of these for use on wood and tile. Nice find.
kman
I am a painting contractor and I replaced almost all of my tarps with these covergrips. They are far superior. They stay where you put them and stop and absorb paint like any nice canvas drop cloth. Highly recommend. I have about 20 of them. Some runners and some larger ones.
brian
I use them, soon as they get a little dust on them they stop working
Benjamen
I’ll keep that in mind next time I use it and make sure the floor is clean.
NYArtist
I don’t like the part about not gripping if dusty. I am looking for something to put on the floor when it’s muddy outside (like it has been with all the rain in the northeast) that the dogs bring inside. This product can be washed but can it be dried without losing the sticky back? Very important missing information during the muddy cold months. I will have to explore this more. I need something that resists dogs running back and forth and trying to play on it.