You’ve managed to avoid it for a while, but now the recommendations to stay at home have put you face-to-face with the honey-do list (Thanks a bunch, COVID-19!). The next thing to cross off the list involves paint and an interior room. Despite your best efforts, however, a measure of paint spills onto the carpet. Well, if you don’t do your best to clean it up, you’ll probably hear about it later. So, how do you remove paint from a carpet?
Identify Your Target
One of the main challenges with paint stains is identifying what kind of stain it is, as in what kind of paint is used. The most popular paints have one of four different bases: acrylic, oil, latex or water. Now, removing latex and water-based paints take the same procedure, but oil and acrylic-based paints take different steps and solvents. Therefore, we’ll start with water and latex and move on to the others.
However, removing paint often involves strong solvents and fumes. Make sure to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves, a face mask, and safety glasses. If you have any questions about these procedures, please call Preferred Carpet Care for more details.
Water-Based or Latex-Based
Use an old rag or towel to blot the paint spill. Make sure the cloth is clean, but something you don’t mind losing. Blot, but don’t scrub – the last thing we want is to work this spill deeper into the carpet. Mix a tablespoon of dishwashing detergent (Remember, no bleach or lanolin included) with a cup of lukewarm water. Using a clean white rag or towel, start dabbing and blotting the stain from the outside inward. If the stain is already dried, you’ll need to mix the dishwashing liquid with hot water and let it sit on the stain for about five minutes to break it up, then dab and blot.
If you have a wet vacuum available, use it to vacuum up the dislodged paint and any remaining detergent solution. If the stain remains, pour rubbing alcohol onto a clean white cloth, then dab and blot once again. Try vacuuming up the remainder again. Spray the area with clean, warm water to rinse it, then remove the excess moisture with either more towels or the vacuum. Use weighted paper towels to soak up any remaining moisture.
Oil-Based
With oil-based paints, they are often a thicker viscosity. Use a firm edge like a putty knife or dull table knife to scrape up and discard the excess carefully. Be careful, though – you don’t want to catch or damage the carpet fibers or scrub the paint deeper into the pile. Using a clean white cloth, blot the stain as much as you can, until there is no more color transference.
Some methods involve the use of turpentine or paint thinner to remove the paint. Using this method poses a mild level of personal risk as well as potential damage to your carpet, so Preferred Carpet Care does not recommend this method.
Pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol onto a clean white cloth and blot the stain with it. Do not pour the alcohol directly onto the carpet, as this could break down the backing underneath. Mix a tablespoon of dishwashing detergent and two cups of cold water and then apply the mixture to the stain using a clean white cloth or paper towels. Use a stack of weighted paper towels to absorb the remaining moisture from the stain for the next hour.
Acrylic Paint
Mix a tablespoon of laundry detergent with a cup of lukewarm water and blot the stain, but don’t expect much transference. This will not clean most of the stain but will help to loosen up the paint from the carpet fibers.
Many cases suggest using acetone or nail polish remover to get acrylic paint to break down, making it easier to remove. While this often works, there is a measure of risk to you and your carpet involved, and usually requires commercial carpet cleaning solutions to deal with the acetone.
As a result, we highly recommend that you leave this type of stain to the professionals at Preferred Carpet Care. We have powerful equipment, experience in avoiding dangerous chemical reactions, and most importantly, removing every kind of stain, including Acrylic paint. Even if it dries over time, we can remove any type of paint from your carpet without causing damage or discoloration. So, feel free to finish your honey-do list, but let us be the bane of your carpet stains!