How to Get Paint Out Of Carpet?

Get Paint Out Of Carpets

When you’re painting the walls of a room or any other indoor item, there’s always the risk of getting paint on the carpet. Taking care to cover the carpet and paint carefully can help to reduce this risk significantly, but it’s impossible to guarantee that your carpet will stay clean. As such, it’s important to know how to get paint out of the carpet once you spill some, as it’s a problem that can happen to anyone, no matter how carefully you prepare.

We at Best of Machinery have put together some helpful guides to how to remove paint from carpet for a range of different paint types, helping you to refresh stained carpets and get them back to looking fresh and new again. Below you’ll find short guides for how to get each type of paint out of carpet, from water-based paints to oil paints.

Remember, with all of these methods, you should do a spot test of all cleaning products on an inconspicuous area of your carpet first to be sure that the cleaning products won’t stain your carpet!

How to get Water Based Paint or Latex Paint out of Carpet?

Water-based and latex paints are the easiest type of paint to get out of the carpet and can be cleaned relatively effectively with common household supplies. This is a relatively simple process, requiring only a few steps. Mix a tablespoon of dish soap with a cup of warm water, dip a rag into the solution, and gently blot the stain out of the carpet.

This will pull most of the paint out of the carpet fibers with no issues, although if the paint has dried, you may need to apply the soap and water solution and leave it for a few minutes before blotting. After blotting, vacuum up the dislodged paint and detergent with a water safe vacuum. You might need to repeat the process, but it’s a fast and easy enough method that this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

How to Get Acrylic Paint out of Carpet?

Acrylic paints are challenging to remove and take a long time and several stages to fully extract them from carpet fibers. Be prepared to spend a long period of time working to remove this type of paint from the carpet! Start by wetting the paint stain with a damp rag, making sure you cover the entirety of the stain. Then, add a tablespoon of laundry detergent to the cloth and blot the paint stain rather than scrubbing it.

With this step, you’re not looking to remove the stain effectively, but rather to loosen the paint a little, weakening its hold on the fibers of your carpet and making the following stages much easier. The second step requires acetone or nail polish remover. The fumes caused by this can be dangerous to your health if inhaled over a long period of time, so make sure the room is well ventilated and wear a mask during this step.

Add a little acetone to your rag, but only enough to wet it slightly, and dab the paint stain as in the previous step. The acetone will break down the paint further, making it easier to remove; you may see some of its lift out of the carpet fibers at this stage, but don’t worry if you aren’t seeing much difference yet.

Then, apply carpet cleaner directly to the carpet and scrub it lightly with a toothbrush. Now that you’ve weakened the paint with the previous steps, it should lift out of the carpet more easily. Once you’ve done this, leave the carpet cleaner in place for five minutes after you finish scrubbing, and then vacuum it up from the carpet with a water safe vacuum cleaner. This should remove the majority of the paint from the carpet, but if there’s still a visible stain, you’re going to have to repeat the process!

How to get oil Paint out of Carpet?

Oil paints are harder to get out of carpet than water-based or latex paints, but easier than acrylics. Start by softening the paint slightly with a carpet steamer, weakening its grip on the carpet fibers a little. These paints are usually thick enough that you can scrape some of it off with a putty knife, being careful not to push it further into the carpet fiber. Scrape upwards, trying to lift the paint up and out of the carpet as carefully as possible.

Then, dip a clean white cloth into a little turpentine, and blot the carpet carefully The turpentine will help to separate the paint from the carpet fibers, making it easier to remove the paint without intense scrubbing. This should remove the majority of the paint, but there’s one more step you can try if there’s still a little stubborn discoloration left behind after you’ve blotted extensively with turpentine.

Mix a tablespoon of dish soap with two cups of cold water. Dip a clean white cloth into this solution, and blot at the remains of the paint spill. This will lift the last of the discoloration out of the paint fibers, returning your carpet to its original state. Once you’ve done this, mop up any leftover cleaning solution with a paper towel to prevent the liquid from damaging your carpet any further.

Conclusion

These are some of the easiest ways to remove each type of paint from the carpet. With a guide to how to get paint out of carpet, you should be able to return a paint-stained carpet to its original condition with only common household equipment, fixing any minor paint spillages from decorating or other interior painting accidents.

All of these methods will be most effective while the paint is still wet, but should remove most dried paint as well, as long as you’re prepared to take your time and repeat the process if needed.