Simple hack for cleaning spilt paint out of carpet shared on TikTok

A simple hack to remove paint spilled on carpets, zero cleaning products required, is gaining a lot of love on TikTok.

With England back in lockdown, many of us are filling our weekends by picking up paintbrushes in an effort to improve our homes.

But rookie decorators always run the risk of splashing paint on the carpet. Cue hours of relentless scrubbing for little paint-removing effect. Gah!

Getting paint out of a carpet is notoriously tough, but one woman has come up with a simple yet effective hack for getting stained carpets back to their pre-spill best, without using a single cleaning product.

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Sharing her incredible cleaning hack to TikTok, Kaytee Haas explained how she accidentally spilt some paint on her carpet while she was redecorating her home.

“This literally happened to me in our brand new house,” she explained. “I got paint on the floor and I thought we were going to have to throw the whole house away!”

Haas is so confident about the effectiveness of the hack, she bravely got her husband to pour more paint on the carpet just to show it off on the video sharing platform.

She recommends TikTokers save the trick for when they need it, as you need to take action quickly because the paint is easier to remove before it dries in.

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“My husband came up with this whole idea, and if you don’t have a carpet cleaner, this is for you,” Haas wrote.

“All you need is hot water.”

The couple start by scraping excess paint from the carpet using a wall scraper and dropping it onto a plastic covering so they could throw it in the bin.

Then, working quickly, her husband pours some hot water on the paint mark and vigorously vacuums it out of the carpet.

The process is continually repeated until eventually the paint stain appears to be completely gone.

The video has had viewed more than 885,000 times with people sharing their thanks for helping to save their carpets.

“That confidence though when you just dump some paint on your carpet,” one impressed viewer commented.

“I had a whole panic attack watching that paint get put on the floor. Then slowly put trust into you,” another wrote.

“Love it! The key to cleaning up paint is to never let it dry,” another TikToker agreed.

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Haas later added another tip to the comments urging those attempting the hack to make sure they remove their vacuum filter to prevent it getting clogged up.

According to Samantha Jones, spokesperson for tradesperson sourcing website MyJobQuote, this hack is perfect for tackling accidental paint spills with one caveat: it depends on what type of paint has been spilled.

This hack works best with water-based paint.

“If you have used oil-based paint, you should scrape it off the carpet immediately with a putty knife,” Jones advises.

“This will allow you to lift the paint and move it off the carpet before it dries. Once the majority of the paint has been removed and thrown away, you should then blot the area with a clean cloth – making sure it is white, as the fibres from a coloured cloth may stick to the carpet.”

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For a more stubborn stain, Jones suggests adding turpentine to the cloth and continuing to blot.

“You should then clean the area with a mild detergent and warm water, although when doing this, try to avoid scrubbing.”

Scrubbing paint on your carpet is not normally advised, but Jones adds that you can use a toothbrush to lightly scrub the spillage along with some carpet cleaner.

“This will not cause your carpet to stain as long as you rub lightly,” she explains. “Following this method will not only get rid of the paint but will also enable you to clean your carpet thoroughly with the toothbrush bristles.”

Baqir Khan, owner of Proactive Cleaners, says another hack for removing paint from carpets that also works on dried-on stains is to use hand sanitiser.

“The alcohol in sanitiser breaks down the paint, which can then be removed with a microfibre cloth,” he explains.

Nail polish remover may also help to clean paint from fabrics.

“You will need to make sure that the nail polish remover has acetone in it, which is a solvent very good at removing both water and oil based paint,” explains Kyle Grant, founder of ecofriendly laundry company Oxwash.

“First, dilute the remover with water so that it is one part water, one part polish remover. Then, pour the solution onto some kitchen roll and dab gently and continuously on the stain until the colour lifts completely, refreshing the kitchen roll when needed.”

If all else fails, Khan suggests getting in touch with expert carpet cleaners who will be able to work on the stain with industrial-strength cleaners.

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