Removing Paint from Hardwood Floors

JEREMY: Yes, ma’am. My wife and I, we’ve just purchased a first home and …

LESLIE: Hey, congratulations.

JEREMY: Yeah, thank you very much. It’s been a fun ordeal. (Leslie chuckles) And we just spent, really, the whole last couple of days painting almost every room in the house …

TOM: OK.

JEREMY: … and we had our in-laws come and help with us, which was great. The only downside is not everyone was as careful about splatter and tracking paint around.

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

JEREMY: So I was wondering, what is the best way to get like a latex paint up off of a hardwood floor without ruining the finish or doing anything like that? Because this whole house is just gorgeous hardwood floors.

TOM: And you’ve never heard of the term dropcloth? (Leslie and Jeremy chuckle)

JEREMY: Well, you know there’s something – we caught people stepping in it and tracking it around the house. (chuckles)

LESLIE: Yay! I love a shoeprint.

JEREMY: Yeah, so we had it where I thought we needed it but it didn’t get everywhere else, so …

TOM: What I think you could do is you could use a Scotch pad. You’ll find that the latex paint doesn’t stick real well to the finish, the clear finish, on the hardwood floors. So if you use like a Scotch-Brite, like one of those green pads – it’s like a Scotch-Brite pad on one side and a sponge on the other –

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

JEREMY: Sure.

TOM: – it will probably rub that paint right off.

JEREMY: OK.

LESLIE: Yeah, you might need to dip it into some water and even some like dish soap or something; you might have to do it a couple of times.

TOM: Yeah, but it should come off and it shouldn’t have any bad effect on the finish. You can also …

JEREMY: OK, so it shouldn’t scratch that at all.

TOM: Yeah, you can also take like a credit card or a plastic putty knife or something like that and actually scrape it off, too.

JEREMY: OK.

LESLIE: Yeah, and there’s – you know Goof Off or like Goo Gone; those products that are used to get rid of like stickers when you peel something off of glass?

JEREMY: Sure.

LESLIE: There’s actually – Goo Gone makes one that’s called the Painter’s Pal, which sort of just disintegrates like the latex paint splatter and not harm the hardwood floor. You could try that.

JEREMY: Oh, sure. Yeah. OK, well thank you all very much. Appreciate your help.

TOM: You’re welcome, Jeremy, and good luck with that house. Call us on your next project, OK? (Leslie chuckles)

JEREMY: Will do.

TOM: Alright, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.