Paint on carpet

[Roy Wall]

I had four doors sprayed (oil base) from a paint contractor on the recommendation of a friend. Well, he delivered them today - they look fine - but to my dismay the bottom edge of one door was still "wet" and left TWO paint marks on our downstairs carpet!!!!!! (FUMING)

I've got Mineral Spirits and Laquer Thinner in the garage.........what's the best way to clean it up and..........hopefully not bleach the carpet!!

Thanks guys!!

I don't think I'll be using this guy again............

[Matt Meiser]

Not sure about oil base. You might have to use mineral spirts before it dries. For latex, Crud Cutter, available at Lowes works on even dried paint. However, I've never used it on oil.

[Jim Becker]

Um...it seems to me that the painting contractor should be held responsible for this damage to your carpet. You really have to be careful with solvents around carpet...you could melt it with the wrong stuff...

[Cecil Arnold]

Jim's right. I think laquer thinner has a really good chance to melt the carpet. Depending on the dye in th ecarpet, mineral spirits may fade it so you might want to try it out somewhere it won't show--a closet perhaps

[Roy Wall]

Thanks guys........


Yeah.........I hope something works without damage (obviously) or it's not going to be pretty...........

I got a hold of him. He' come out in the morning. He said to try a razor skimming the carpet - so I might give this a try tonight.....

BUMMER!

You know, I basically built this house with my FIL. Did most everything. EVERY TIME I DECIDE TO LET SOMEBODY ELSE DO SOMETHING - THIS KIND OF THING OCCURS!! IT's really unbelievable.............I'm sick of contractors. I must have very poor judgement...........

[valerie williams]

ok, first of all, just breathe... feel better? Good.
This can be fixed several ways. My first choice would be to call the contractor and have them fix it, but then I would think of the guy that did it, we all make mistakes, and of the children he may or may not have to feed, Of the paycheck he may or may not desperately need, and I would try to fix it myselfe, but thats just me. SOOO, Get something sharp and firm, like a kitchen knife(it works fine believe me I know!) and scrape off as much as the dried crusty stuff as youcan. Did it all come off? If not keep a towel soaked in very hot water on it for awhile, it will VERY slowley loosen the rest of it up. What color is yhour carpet? If you still have a stain tha will not come out with "over the counter" carpet cleaning stuff, rent a carpet shampooer, the kind that sucks the water up, and instead of the solution that comes with is, mix in dawn dishwashing liquid and some bleach and whatever else you want(ex. fabrick softener...) Measure the bleach accordeing to the color of your carpet. I did this on dark rose colored carpet and it lifted stain's beautifully and didnt fade the carpet at all!

I know diddly about WW so for, but by golly I can tell you haw to clean your carpet!lol. let me know how it goes!
Huggs
Val

[Roy Wall]

Thanks Valerie,

Yes - I'm settling down....and using water with the knife - good idea on the knife!!:)

The paint is coming off..........I'm making some headway. It's not as deep as I once feared.......................will report back in the AM!!

[Matt Meiser]

Reminds me of when I bought my first house. I painted the bathroom a dark blue...then tracked dark blue paint on the light beige hall carpet. :eek: Luckily it was latex and I was able to get it out by scrubbing repeatedly with hot water.

[Jason Roehl]

As a painting contractor, I can confirm not to use any solvents on carpet...DAMHIKT. You might be able to try something like Fast Orange or GoJo, but I'd test them first in a corner of a closet to see what they do to the carpet. They definitely work well for getting oil-based materials off one's hands. The only time I had to get something solvent based out of carpet was some Minwax stain (I had to stain some new door jambs in place, and the carpet layer was there too soon, I thought everything was fine, but the carpet wicked the stain off the door jamb overnight). Anyway, I figured out real quick that mineral spirits was a bad thing, and I ended up using dish detergent to scrub the reddish-brown stain off the light beige carpet. Whatever you do, do it sooner, rather than later--you have a much better chance of getting it out.

[Roy Wall]

Thanks all,

I kept working at it till late last night. It has pretty much completely come out!:) Just a tiny bit that's very faint...I think it will wear out over the next few weeks with normal traffic and vacuuming.......

Scrub and scrub - water and rag - scrub and scrub...