LESLIE: Tom in Texas, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
TOM IN TEXAS: Yes, I’ve got a really kind of a weird situation here. First time it’s ever happened to me. I spilled a whole gallon of oil-based enamel on my driveway.
TOM: Oh, no.
TOM IN TEXAS: And I just don’t know what to – how to get it up.
TOM: How about paint stripper? Have you thought about that? What about using one of the paste paint stripper products where you apply it to the paint, let it sit and then peel off the stripper and the paint comes with it?
TOM IN TEXAS: Well, yeah, I was thinking about that or maybe putting the paint stripper down and then using a pressure washer to get it off.
TOM: Well, that would be the last step because if you use a pressure washer on that, you’re definitely going to damage the concrete. You will find that you’re going to have to resurface it after that because you’ll probably blast away some of the softer parts of the concrete. You’ll be seeing some aggregate after that but …
LESLIE: But the paint will be gone. (chuckles)
TOM: But the paint will be gone, so that’s a good thing. I would try to use a paint stripper on this to try to lift it up. And I think that it will probably come up. The thing is, if the concrete has really absorbed the paint, it might be deep into it and if that’s the case, you’re going to have some residual appearance of having it. You can decide.
LESLIE: Discoloration.
TOM: Yeah, you can kind of decide how important that is to you.
TOM IN TEXAS: Well, OK. I appreciate the advice.
LESLIE: Hey, it happens to the best of us.
TOM: Hey, Tom, I’ll tell you what happened to me. My two-year-old son spilled a gallon of paint down the staircase from upstairs; so it gets worse. (chuckles)
TOM IN TEXAS: Oh, no. Well, I guess I’m not the only one, huh?
TOM: That’s right. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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