How many of you have found that marking a piece of drywall or paneling for cutting can be, well a little frustrating? Personally, I’ve had my share of being frustrated when I would mark the edges of the plastic cable utility box or electrical box with chalk, gingerly placed it against the wall and dots – just faint pastel colored dots were all that was transferred to the wall making for a less than perfect cut outline.
Chalk it turns out isn’t the ideal material for marking plastic surfaces. Most plastic surfaces are quite slick thereby making it quite difficult to get chalk or other powdery material to stick. I soon learned to use grease pencils to trace the edges of the plastic box and I’ve been using that technique for quite a while but that all changed yesterday. I received the following do-it-yourself tip via email (Ed. Note: emphasis mine):
When installing drywall or paneling, you need to cut holes for electrical outlets. To know where to make the cutouts, rub chalk onto the edges of the box, then push the panel into position against it to transfer the mark. TOH Reader Monte Fisher of Whitewater, Kansas, discovered that chalk won’t stick to plastic boxes, so he uses lipstick instead. (source This Old House)
I tried the lipstick do-it-yourself tip in my workshop yesterday and it worked quite well. The lipstick went on smoothly, fast and best of all took no pressure at all to make it’s mark – unlike the grease pencils which required a bit of pushing down hard onto the surface. The transfer mark was nice and crisp leaving little doubt as to where the cut should be made. I don’t recommend that you use your favorite lipstick but how many of us have lipsticks we’ve purchased and hate? Well, now instead of tossing that ugly lipstick shade you can toss it into your decorating diva toolbox.
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