How To Remove Paint Drips From Wood Cabinets

The (Mostly Gratis) Way to Go Dried Paint off Wood

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We dearest a fresh paint job for transforming a room (or even a smaller project, like DIY painted abstract fine art). But no affair how careful y'all are with your drop cloths and plastic, paint splatter happens. Of course, it'southward best to wipe upwardly any messes while they're still wet, but sometimes that doesn't happen—by the fourth dimension y'all notice a baste it's already dry. And sometimes the drip's not even your error, like if the house you've moved into comes with dried evidence of imperfect paint jobs by.

Don't worry—yous're non stuck with paint-flecked wood floor, article of furniture, or trim forever. Here's how to get those dried paint drips off, no matter whose goofs they are.

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Beginning by gently scraping upward the stale pigment

"Use a plastic-edged putty pocketknife or even the border of a credit card to endeavor to scrape up the drip," says Pam Estabrooke, owner of Brooke Home Painting in Braselton, GA. Katharine McMillan, author of "Home Decorating for Dummies", prefers the deadening blade of a five-in-1 tool, but says yous can choose your ain go-to. "Even a butter pocketknife would work—you but want a dull border that won't damage the surface of the wood beneath the baste," McMillan says. Whichever tool you try, piece of work slowly and advisedly.

Adjacent, use a damp rag over the dried paint

If the scraping doesn't remove the drip, endeavor rubbing the surface of the paint with a damp—not wet!—rag. "The wet might soften the paint enough so that yous tin then scrape information technology off," says Estabrooke. If plainly water on the rag doesn't do the play a trick on, progress to a gentle cleanser. Estabrooke and McMillan advise options similar Uncomplicated Light-green, Mrs. Meyers, or Murphy Oil Lather. "Basically, any non-solvent-based cleanser should help," says Estabrooke. But note: The water or soap-and-water mix will non exercise annihilation to soften upwardly oil-based paint splatters. If you painted with oil, see step 3, beneath.

Tip: To effigy out whether an old drip is from latex or oil pigment, rub a cotton ball moistened with denatured alcohol over the baste. If the colour comes off on the cotton ball, it'southward latex.

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Hit the dried paint with a little estrus

A hairdryer on high (or a estrus gun, if you lot have 1) can soften hardened paint enough that you can scrape it off. "But don't use a heat gun if you have a really big drip or spill," says Estabrooke. "You'll end up with a huge mess."

Try a solvent for any remaining dried pigment

If scraping, ragging, and heating don't practice diddly, you'll need to resort to a solvent to break down the pigment. For latex drips, try denatured alcohol or a product like Goof-Off, both bachelor in paint and hardware stores. "Soak a rag—not a towel, but a microfiber rag or like—with the solvent and rub carefully so you don't harm the wood end by mistake," says MacMillan. (If y'all exercise cause an imperfection in the woods stain, try filling it in with tinted forest wax or with a marking made for hiding scratches in furniture, she suggests.) For oil-based drips, enquire your local paint store for the all-time solvent and removal method, or effort step five, below.

Tip: If there's stale paint in-between floorboards or other small cracks, use soap-and-water or solvent on a pointy-concluded cotton wool swab—"the kind they sell for makeup," says MacMillan—or an old toothbrush.

Stop with super-fine grit sandpaper

If yous have a wide surface area of tiny spatter or your rubbing and scraping don't go the chore completely done, have a careful get with super-fine grit sandpaper (360- to 600-dust) or a sanding block, says Estabrooke. "But don't sand hard: You don't desire to wear through to the wood. You're just trying to break upwards the stale paint enough so that scraping and damp-ragging will stop the job." Sandpaper might be the best approach if the baste is stubborn oil-paint.

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