How to Get Paint Off Laminate Floor
Laminate floors are in most homes now these days because they look and feel like real wood but are cheaper. Where they suffer is with the strength of the wood. Not properly covering up the floors when you are doing projects on a home can cost you more than you think. If you get paint on your laminate floors, you could damage the floor trying to get it off with the wrong methods.
This article will show you the easiest and safest way to get paint off your laminate floor without damaging it. But first what are laminate floors?
What Are Laminate Floors?
To properly educate you so that you can make better decisions and care for your laminate floor. You need to know what they are and what they are made of. Laminate boards are particleboard wood chips compressed together to form a solid piece of wood.
When the solid wood is formed from the compression, it is covered in an image layer and a transparent wear layer to protect it. So basically it is made of wood chips of other wood compressed together and sealed.
Knowing The Type Of Paint That’s On The Laminate Floor
They are different varieties of paint on the market that are made of different ingredients. Some paint can be removed with just water, and liquid soap, and for others, you need heavy-duty chemicals. Knowing the paint that is on your floor will make you make the right decisions below with the cleaning methods.
Latex Paint – Latex paint is made of water for the most part and will be the easiest to remove from your laminate floors because this type of paint has a small number of chemicals in it to damage the floor.
Acrylic Paint – Acrylic paint is a paint that requires you to use paint thinners and other strong cleaning solvents to get it off of a surface. This type of paint is made of chemicals and will stick to most surfaces like glue.
Things You Will Need Before You Start
- Multiple Microfiber Cleaning Cloth
- Painters Razor Blade
- Dawn Dish Soap
- Vinegar
- Paint Thinner
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Acetone
- Large Container
The Process Of Getting Paint Off A Laminate Floor
Below are 4 different methods you can use to clean and get paint off your laminate floor. These methods can work for both water base paints and acrylic paint.
Related Article: How to remove paint from glass
How to Get Paint Off Laminate Floor With White Vinegar
Vinegar is a natural cleaner that will not damage most surfaces when you use it to clean. The best way to clean your laminate floors to get the paint off is by using hot water mixed with 1 cup of vinegar.
Steps To Take:
1. Start by wiping the floor with vinegar and warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. You can use a mop if the area is larger than 3 square feet.
2. Once the 10 minutes are up, use a razor blade or painter’s razor blade and scrape the paint off. The vinegar will soften the paint so it will be much easier.
3. Some paint residue will still be there, so you can use a microfiber cloth and pour a little vinegar on it and wipe the residue off.
4. Once all the paint is off the floor, you can give your floor a normal cleaning as how you normally do.
Related article: How to clean engineered hardwood floors
How to Get Paint Off Laminate Floor Using Acetone
Acetone is a strong solvent that will remove the paint off your floor with a few wipes, people know it by the name of nail polish remover. But acetone can also strip and change the color of the floor. To use the acetone safely, have 2 containers of water with 2 microfiber cleaning cloths.
Use one cleaning cloth to wipe the area with the nail polish remover until the paint is gone and then use the next microfiber cloth with clean water to wipe the area. This will prevent the acetone from bleaching the floor.
Before you use the nail polish remover, make sure that the paint on your floor requires acetone or paint thinners. You can know this by trying to wipe the paint with water and if the water wipes the paint off. Then you know the paint is water-based and water can clean it off. Paint thinner works the same as nail polish remover, but is stronger and can get paint off any surface.
To use paint thinner to remove the paint off your laminate floors, follow the exact methods above when using acetone. But you should wear gloves each time you use paint thinner so it doesn’t damage your skin.
How to Get Paint Off Of Laminate Flooring Using Only Dawn Dish Soap
Using dawn dish soap to clean off paint off your floor will work most of the time on latex paint which is water-based. The only thing you will need to do is scape any large chunks of paint off before you wash the floor with dawn dish soap. Just add some dawn dish soap to a large container filled with water and wash the floor with a mop. If the paint is water-based, with a few wipes the paint will come off. For none water base paint, use the acetone cleaning option.
Using Rubbing Alcohol To Get Paint Off Laminate Flooring
Rubbing alcohol can be used on both types of paint to get them off your laminate floors. You will first need to scrape large chunks of paint off, then spray the rubbing alcohol directly on the paint and leave it for 20 minutes.
When you go back after the 20 minutes, you can pour some rubbing alcohol on a microfiber cleaning cloth and wipe the paint off. You will need to put in a lot more work if the paint was left on the floor to cure for days.