Cleaning paint overspray on lam. floor

[nate379]

This is in the house.

There's a couple spots that have paint overspray from when the painters did the walls, mouldings, etc. It's not terrible, but I can tell it's there.

I'm not sure what product to use that won't mess up the laminate flooring. Paint thinner? Goo Gone?

It hasn't come clean with the normal floor cleaner.

 

[Piper]

your first thing to do it find out what type of paint it was. Oil/water based are going to be differently attacked. If the laminate is really smooth you may get away with a razor blade which can be run at a 45' angle along the surface. The general rule in trying to remove something with a solvent material is to first check the solvent on an inconspicuous place to see if it'll damage the surface (laminate in your situation) and then use increasingly powerful solvents. Paint thinners, if it was oil based paint, may be your best bet.

 

[rsanter]

first try to remove it by scraping it off with you fingernail
if there was a coating of dirt, floor polish or whatever on those floors then it may come right off

before you use any chemicals anything, get a spare board and test it on that

bob

 

[nate379]

Don't have a spare board to test. It's on probably 20-30 feet all told so scraping with my fingers.... well I'll not need clippers again!

I'll give a razor a shot though.

It's not very thick, but it's not too hard to spot since the floor is a dark maple and the paint is white or cream depending on where it is. The painter said he was going to try "Crud Cutter" but he hasn't come by yet.

 

[tcianci]

Any cleaner that works on Formica type laminates will not damage your floor, they are both essentially the same (melamine) material. It is resistant to just about any household cleaner, stay away from abrasive stuff though. If it is latex paint, my first shot would be a rag soaked with steaming hot water but not wet enough to go through the joints in the floor, let it set for a minute and then use a wood stick or plastic pan scraper to pop the paint drops off.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Any cleaner that works on Formica type laminates will not damage your floor, they are both essentially the same (melamine) material. It is resistant to just about any household cleaner, stay away from abrasive stuff though. If it is latex paint, my first shot would be a rag soaked with steaming hot water but not wet enough to go through the joints in the floor, let it set for a minute and then use a wood stick or plastic pan scraper to pop the paint drops off.

Not all laminate is that junk.

 

[d33pt]

Try 0000 grit steel wool. I think it'll take it off and it's fine enough not to scratch up the laminate.

 

[SC-Eric]

Obviously there is some conflicting advice here. Do you really want to get your advice from us yahoos on some forums where none of us have any liability for our advice at all? We are strangers and while many of us have good intentions there are some who just answer because it makes them feel good.

The short answer here is that not all laminate flooring is created equally. In fact there are some engineered floors now that look like laminate but are a completely different technology. So, how are we supposed to give you advice when none of us know what you actually have? Do you have a melamine layer or do you have a UV Cured coating? Or, did you get a flooring that was made with a waterborne polyurethane dispersion?

It matters since each chemistry is attacked by different types of chemicals. So, you want to use something that will attack the paint without attacking the floor.

So, what is the answer? Either let your contractor take the liability or... Call the flooring manufacturer and ask them what you need to do.

 

[nate379]

Seems that Krud Cutter is working fine.

The flooring is made by Kraus. Has a 27 yr warranty so it must be pretty good stuff. I called them and they said to try it out where it didn't matter if the floor got messed up so I pulled the fridge out and tested it there.