27Jun 2014

Paint is traditionally known as one of the very hardest things to clean out of a carpet. The sight of a paint pot tipping sideways to spill its load on your carpeted floor is something that will strike dread into your heart. However, before you reach for the phone and dial the number of your insurance company, it really is worth trying one of the home remedy methods below. You never know, you might actually get to save your carpet with your own hands! The first step is to identify what type of paint it is. There are different treatment methods for latex paint and acrylic paint. For latex paint make a mixture of washing up liquid and water. Make sure that you use a generous amount of washing up liquid as this will aid greatly in breaking down the stain. Apply your mixture to the entire stain and scrub. You must begin on the outside and slowly work your way towards the centre. Then rinse, and repeat as required. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get the desired results on your first few tries – it may be that a few efforts are needed. Also beware of scrubbing too hard – you don’t want to force the paint further into the carpet. This will only damage the carpet fibres and make it much harder to remove. It’s far better to use a sweeping motion back and forth across the whole stain rather than push in a downwards motion too much. Once the stained area is dry you can then vacuum up any paint which is leftover. Another remedy to try for latex paint is to create a mixture of warm water and an oxi-action cleaner. Soak a clean cloth in the solution and blot the stain gently until it’s gone. Then again, wait for the area to dry and vacuum thoroughly. The sooner you act on any type of stain, the more luck you will have with the outcome. For acrylic paint stains, we use a different approach. You should take one scoop of washing powder – any laundry detergent will do – and one gallon of warm water and soak a cloth in it until it is saturated. Then take the cloth, place it directly on the stain and leave it there for two hours. After this time has passed you should find that the cloth has absorbed much, if not all, of the paint. If there is a significant amount of paint left then a repeat application may be required. Another remedy is apply WD-40 to the stain and scrub until it is removed. It may seem a rather drastic solution, but it is far easier to remove WD-40 from a carpet than it is to remove paint. Nail varnish remover can also be used, surprisingly. The acetone in it makes it an ideal carpet cleaner that you are likely to have in your house and thereby close at hand for emergency spills. Apply the nail varnish remover to a cloth and blot it carefully on the stain. By the nature of this method it is suitable for smaller rather than larger stains. In any case, it is very important to rinse thoroughly with water once you have treated the area. The last thing you want is to replace one stain with another. And again, once the carpet is completely dry then vacuum thoroughly to restore the texture of the fibres. With any luck it will look as though nothing ever happened!

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