Spray paint woes

[red baron]

So recently I had a brand new can of very bright blue spray paint sitting on the edge of my workbench, and of course I managed to knock it off. Usually not a big deal, as I would normally pick it back up and go on my way.


Not this time!

Somehow in the course of the fall it got punctured, and it pinwheeled down the length of my shop spraying bright blue goodness EVERYWHERE!

I spent the weekend with lot of laquer thinner and assorted cleaners cleaning what I could and cleaning vehicles before it could dry. Now I am at the point that I have dried blue rustoleum on the floor, and in would like to clean it up better.... any suggestions as to what might work the best?

 

[bradleykd]

If it is smooth bare concrete, I'd try a sharp scraping blade. If the scraper doesn't work, hit it with a sander.

If it is rough concrete, remove everything from the shop, grind the floor, and polish it so it is now smooth concrete.

 

[ItsNemo]

LoL I hate to laugh at your misfortune, but that is too funny...can just imagine the "oh ****, oh ****, oh ****" going on. This would be one valid case where "jumping on the grenade" to minimize the damage is the right move.

 

[Falcon67]

Lacquer thinner is likely the best bet, depending on the floor. Could be worse - white auto paint overspray on a gray epoxy floor won't come off without a grinder.

 

[6768rogues]

If you can get your hands on a soda blaster, it will do the job without harming the concrete. At the school where I worked, we used soda to blast painted graffiti from some fairly delicate surfaces without surface damage.
You could use a floor cleaning machine with black pads, but probably don't have access to one. They are about a thousand bucks but I bought mine for ten dollars at an auction.
The simple and cheap way is to buy some paint stripper. Or a female stripper and while she is on the floor, give her some sand paper.

 

[SVE Performance]

I have found xylene to remove spray paint even if hardened . Bill

 

[619DioFan]

try goof-off

 

[NUTTSGT]

Depending what the floor is coated with, you could dump some sand on the floor and grind it in with your boot sole. . . basically sanding the floor but you can control the pressure/grit with your foot.

 

[malibu101]

I am not laughing at your misfortune, but, it surely was something you'll never forget.

The answer is simple, grind it all perfectly level then coat it.

 

[lbperry]

A number of years ago when we first moved into our house my shop consisted of one side of our utility room. My side consisted of a homemade 2x4/particle board bench with 4 6' shelves above it. The other sided of the narrow room was the wife's washer, dryer, brooms, mops, etc. Just as you had, I had a can of spray paint cartwheel off of the top shelf and land on the sharp end of a hammer. It pinwheeled on the bench until I subdued it, held a finger over the hole and managed to get it to a garbage can that I took outside and let it spray itself out. Managed to cost me a shirt, jeans and a lot of cleanup on the bench top and tools laying around. Thank god I got very little on the wife's washer and dryer and they were easily cleaned. It's things like this that make life interesting and build character ... or so I'm told.

 

[bczygan]

Time for a new floor color.........how about bright blue?

 

[red baron]

Some good ideas here.... and yes it was an oh ****, oh ****, oh ****..... moment.

 

[Jazz1]

paint spills ad character to garage, I be spilling some this weekend squirting my truck.

 

[Rory Bellows]

try goof-off

This works! I used it in my basement floor where I had spray paint overspray on the floor. Took it off relative easily. You can buy it in gallons too.

 

[LXCam]

Well you must be awfully damn slow since we all know rustoleom takes like 3.5 weeks to dry......gezzzz



Get some MEK, it'll scrape right off with no effort.

 

[ard]

Tip for the cars...Clay Bar.

I once had a little epoxy spray drift iossue into a garage with two new cars. Once cured NOTHING would touch it. Clay bar right off in an hour or so.

Just FYI. Likely not good on the floor....

 

[Musicinabottle]

Any chance a video security camera caught this action? Man, that'd make for some awesome viewing!

 

[Two Speed]

paint spills ad character to garage, I be spilling some this weekend squirting my truck.

Bingo. Its a working floor, embrace the randomness.

Alex.

 

[MatBirch]

18 years in the paint and coatings business, and one thing I learned for sure-
Follow the directions, do all the prep correctly, everything by the book, and it will not last nearly as long as you want, expect, or what the advertising tells you.
SPILL IT, and it will be there FOREVER!!

 

[AngryBeaver]

This just happened to me last weekend painting a vise... can fell off the tool cart I had, landed on the corner of a vise stand I just built. I now have hammerlite dark blue paint all over my garage, tool cart, beer fridge, engine stand caught some also..

and there wasn't enough left to finish painting my vise...

 

[flat350]

I'd almost give oven cleaner a try,works on car plastic's pretty good for removing paint.

 

[bushmechanic]

I once backed over a can of that Rustoleum Professional satin black.

That sucked. Silver vehicle, too.

 

[bmxdukie]

First take this as you may..
as part of what we do, pressure washers are on the list.
Graffiti removal companies use pressure washers.
With that you try to emulate the SOLVENT from the paint ( this is the stuff that makes liquid)
With every time you use something to remove it paint thinner, oven cleaner. It makes it harder to remove.
I would suggest you try to find some Elephant Snot. It will come off in seconds. EVEN if you have made the pigment harder by using other stuff.
Just my two.

 

[Hubscrub66]

I had a spray can get hung spitting big blobs out from under the nozzle, when I was a kid in dad's garage. It was a lite blue and we used gas to clean it off the floor. I was worried all day he was gonna be mad when he got home.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

If the floor isn't too coarse or porous, I say try brake cleaner. It seems to remove every paint known to man...

Tommy

 

[NUTTSGT]

Well you must be awfully damn slow since we all know rustoleom takes like 3.5 weeks to dry......gezzzz



Get some MEK, it'll scrape right off with no effort.

It only dries that slow when you need it to dry, any other time, that stuff dries in an hour.

 

[graffix000]

Where are the pictures??

 

[Brian_WK]

Where are the pictures??

I picture he looked like this right after ---> and now this so many blue emotions lol.

Brian

 

[DeltaWye]

18 years in the paint and coatings business, and one thing I learned for sure-
Follow the directions, do all the prep correctly, everything by the book, and it will not last nearly as long as you want, expect, or what the advertising tells you.
SPILL IT, and it will be there FOREVER!!

So friggin' true.

 

[MikeF2316]

I'm with those that would leave the paint on the floor and other garage "furniture", like shelving. It's one of the battle scars that shows what goes on in a work space.

 

[gasserdan]

I would try acetone scrubbing with a scothbrite pad first,if that didn't work I would try paint stripper. Maybe even a clay bar.

 

[bcoke]

I knew an over the road owner/operator who had a beautiful Peterbilt which he kept immaculate........came back from a trip to his hometown......stopped at girlfriends house to spend the night before going home to wife........well someone spotted the truck told wife hubby was home...........Yes she had keys........opened door.....threw a spay paint can in the closed cab with the hole in it .........it was bright blue by the way...........he spent 3 days with thinners ,acetone etc. trying to remove it , he would come in the bar reeking of paint thinners and was a shade of blue we all called him smurf after that .......oh by the way she took him back !!!!!!!!! true story.... bobbycoke