Have you ever ever spilled a complete quart or gallon of paint after which panicked, questioning how on the earth you have been going to get it cleaned up? I’ve. Over my 30+ years of DIYing, I’ve spilled a number of quarts and gallons of paint.
Years in the past, my preliminary intuition would have been to seize an entire roll of paper towels and simply begin mopping up the mess. However in the previous couple of years, I’ve discovered a a lot better (and far much less demanding) technique to clear up spilled latex paint once I spill it on laborious surfaces. (Since I don’t have carpet, I do not know if this might work on carpet, however I’d in all probability be tempted to attempt it.)
The trick? Depart it alone and let it dry fully. When it’s dry, peel it up. After which take care of any little remnants left behind.
Over the previous yr alone, I’ve had to do that thrice. The primary time, I spilled a quart of darkish purple paint in our carport. I didn’t really spill it. I had set the can of paint on a desk, after which throughout the night time, we had actually excessive winds and a big piece of MDF was blown over onto the desk, knocking the quart of paint onto the carport flooring. When I discovered it, it had been there a few hours already. However as an alternative of panicking, I simply left it undisturbed to dry fully. (As soon as I observed that it was fully dry, I wasn’t so cautious round it, and I did step on it. That’s why it has a shoe print on it. 😀 )
However as soon as it was fully dry, I simply grabbed the sting and peeled it up. The majority of it got here up in a single stable piece.
I wasn’t certain this might work in addition to it does on a extremely easy flooring because the concrete has a tough floor, however it got here up simply wonderful!
I did nonetheless have these little remnants left, however these will come up very simply as soon as I get sufficient water hoses to make use of my energy washer within the carport.
The second time this occurred within the final yr was really in our grasp rest room. I had simply completed the grasp rest room and was engaged on the house health club, inching nearer and nearer to ending that room. After I painted the partitions within the closet space black…
…I set the one-gallon can of black paint on the ground within the rest room. And shortly after that, I by accident pushed it over when an extension wire wrapped round it and I pulled too laborious. The remainder of that black paint (a few quart) spilled in a puddle on the toilet flooring.
However I left it there, fully undisturbed, for a few week after which peeled it up. And as soon as once more, nearly 100% of it got here up in a single stable piece. I did have a bit of little bit of scrubbing to do on a few three-inch strip of grout, and there have been a number of skinny splatters that scratched off fairly simply (because it was on tile). But it surely all got here up. And that was a lot simpler than making an attempt to wipe all of it up with paper towels and making an enormous, smeared mess.
So on Friday, once I by accident pushed this model new quart of paint proper off my desk and onto the ground in my studio, I didn’t panic, and I didn’t run for the roll of paper towels. I simply left it alone. However since it is a excessive site visitors space (I’m in right here on a regular basis, however so are Cooper and Felicity), I simply grabbed a cardboard field and put it over the spill so none of us would by accident get into it, after which I set a number of heavy issues on high to maintain it in place.
Once I checked on it this morning, I may see that about 1/3 of it’s dry, however the remainder remains to be moist. I’ll wait a number of extra days after which peel it up and see what sort of additional cleanup is required. This can be a little bit of a unique state of affairs as a result of I spilled latex paint on a flooring that has been painted with latex paint. So we’ll see the way it works. I’m hoping for the most effective, however it might discolor the painted flooring, particularly since I spilled such a saturated colour. However on the very least, that is a lot simpler and means much less demanding than making an attempt to mop up the mess with paper towels.
So that is my technique of coping with spilled latex paint on laborious flooring surfaces. I’ve left puddles of paint to dry on concrete, tile, hardwood flooring (sealed with oil-based poly), and now painted hardwood. Though I can’t assure anybody else’s success with this, I can say that I’d personally by no means select to run for a roll of paper towels to mop up a big amount of spilled latex paint. And like I stated, I’d even be tempted to make use of this technique if I spilled on carpet, too. However that’s simply me. 🙂
Facet word: Evidently, I didn’t get the outside of my again studio doorways painted this weekend. Cleansing the doorways took means longer than I anticipated, after which I used to be portray on the Jasco Primer & Masks onto the panes because the chilly climate set in. As soon as I had an opportunity to go get a substitute quart of paint for the one I spilled, the climate was too chilly to color. 🙁 As soon as the temp will get above mid-40s later this week, I’ll get on the market and paint. However right now, it’s means too chilly for that!)
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and adorn the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
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