Paint Emergency: Help!

Help! I had a paint disaster yesterday, when royal blue paint spilled from a can onto my fairly new cloth winter dress coat, as well as a pair of dress slacks.... The paint is Sherwin-Williams Acrylic Latex Superpaint. The cloth has much polyester and, I believe, rayon. The slacks are basically polyester with some other synthetics but feel like wool.

I immediately tried to run water over each stain and scratch out the paint, with fingers and rag. I later tried Lestoil and a few other standard fabric spot cleaners. I also soaked the two items in a tub for a short time. Basically I could say the thickest globs and drops of paint washed out but there are still significent streaks on the fabric.

I shall consult S-W (which happens to be headquartered right in town) but I'd like to get some ideas from this bunch. Naturally I'd like to get every molecule of the blue out but might settle for slightly less. The slacks I might be able to replace but the coat is a major investment and I really, really must keep it. Thanks!

http://www.chemistry.co.nz/stain_frame.htm

That has some info on paint. I think the general consensus though is that if paint has dried there's no way you'll get all of it off.

Edit* This is the thread that I got that link from: http://www.styleforum.net/t/4084/stain-removal-guide
It has a lot of other links that are also very useful.

Thanks. I'm now finding some websites advocating, for dried acrylic, standard alcohol, hairspray, and pine cleaner. One YouTube demonstrates Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner an Restorer and several other items.

Who has tried any of these and what has been the results? I'm more willing to experiment with the slacks than the coat.

I haven't tried any personally, but from a chemical standpoint I'd go with the simplest option first (alcohol) and if it doesn't work, expand from there. Hairsprays and other cleaners may have all sorts of bizarre chemicals in them that don't damage their intended targets, but may very well damage wool and fabric.

Yes, thanks. I'm finding some who swear by rubbing alcohol on up, and others who say once it's dried that's the end of it. At this moment I'm hoping to take the clothing to a certain dry cleaner/tailor place whom I had gone to a few years ago when the black dye of my new black leather duster had started wearing off far too quickly. I was impressed with the way they said they'd re-dye it, etc. (though it turned out that, unlike what I had been told, the leather chain store I had gotten the coat from gave me a full refund for it.). Anyway, this place impressed me as "above average" and on the phone today someone claimed yes - they could get it out as long as the paint is water-based. We shall see....

So basically the stain spots were allowed to dry a little before you were able to treat the stains with water. A truly fresh spot of water soluble paint would have almost completely left just with hot water and darker paints might have left a small stain that would have completely gone with TSP.

First off: Rubbing alcohol, not sure where the notion comes from but it is about the most useless iquid for removing anything. It's only use is for rubbing sore spots on skin or as a very mild disinfectant.

That said there are many substances that can completely remove paints that have dried centuries ago. The issue though is that some of these will also stip the origianl dye from you garment as well.

1)TSP can be a good start. test to see what a 1 to 20 (TSP to water)dilute solution will do to the stain, TSP is a pretty powerful cleaner that was used in the past in washing machine detergent but was relatively safe on most garment dyes.

2)If 1 doesn't work try pure Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK: lacquer thinner) fairly safe on most garment types and dyes and does not have the shrinking effect that water has on certain garments like wool. MEK completely saved my wifes cashmere sweater that she accidently brushed against a painted wall. Warning: although MEK will be found in any hardware store it is very volatile and an explosion hazard, use only outside. Also MEK will destroy most hard plastics, use only in a metallic or glass or polycarbonate container. Perk (dry cleaning fluid) is quite similar but more difficult to find although much less of a fire/explosion hazard then MEK.

3) DiChloro Benzene (original paint stripper) is also very effective on fully dried paint. The issue with certain suppliers of this is that they also add waxes which will leave a waxy residue that will need to be cleaned off a bit with lighter fluid.

Actually there are a host of specific organic solvents that will disolve all sorts of dried paints but the 2 above are availbale everywhere. Anyone who says that dried paint is permanent doesn't know what they are talking about or don't care to help you.

However Don't be tempted to use chlorine bleach or Sodium Hydroxide. Sodium Hyroxide (NaOH) is an extremely powerful paint stripper but will harm many other substances as well.

Varsol on a terrybloth will remove the paint with patience.

Edit-
terrybloth should read terrycloth.

Thanks. I took the coat and slacks today to that dry cleaners which impressed me with a leather coat problem a few years ago. He had said on the phone, with my detailed description: "if it's water based, we can get it out." Something like that. Yet when I brought the coat he looked it over said there was far more blue paint than he had anticipated, my immediate cleaning with water, etc., had made lighter splotches around the paint, and he'd have to charge $30 with much uncertainty as to how much blue paint he could get out. He even questioned there was no oil in the paint but I repeated to him the exact kind of Sherwin-Williams latex it is. I told him what he had said and he kept saying there's more stain than he had imagined and he really doesn't know what will happen. The guy criticized I used so much water (etc.) for a coat made to dry clean, but I knew timing was the essense and everyone would stay try to catch as much as possible after the spill. I did flot the coat and trousers in the tub for a while but I purposely took them out earlier than I would have done were the coat not labled "dry clean." So "you can't win"....

I pointed out the cloth of this really nice Joseph Abboud coat, which was marked $450 retail last year though I got it for somewhat less, already came with fairly uneven color tones in the fabric. Though I got it on sale and all it's still a major investment to me. If he doesn't get the blue out I can't say what I'll do - try the cleaners the last poster and others have written? Probably only wear it the remainder of this season, anyway. The guy marked the two blue areas of the dress slackes "Stain" and didn't make so much of this garment. Anyway, I'm disgusted and really, really hope he can do a great job. Of course, I'd surely be willing to pay more than $30 if I knew the staff would get all or virtually all the blue paint out. As far as his making so much about how much paint there is, the point is if he can get it out of one are he can probably get it all out.

Fret not, oil based paint burns so putting the thing out of its misery will be easier. The slacks being of other than wool or cotton are expendable anyway. If the painter was careless then sue him otherwise why were you messing with paint without overalls?

You should spray paint your shoes black so you don't appear poor.

I've had a paint accident on my khakis once, i was able to remove 95% of it with a product I frequently use to remove oil, stains, etc:

It's called Grandma's Secret Spot Remover:
http://www.amazon.com/Grandmas-Secret-Spot-Remover-2-Ounces/dp/B0021JD2S0

I highly recommend it! Works great with oil stains from food too!

Naturally I'm not even waiting for the results from the dry cleaner and have started lookin' for another coat, starting with trying to find it I can get as close as coat as possible that that with the paint....[Btw, GBR, it's latex not oil-based....] One habedashery owner swears by a produce called "Picrin," which he says should get out dried latex paint, and I showed him coats he is selling that look similar. So we'll see when I hear from the cleaner's/get the coat back. Will it be a compromise - i.e. they get more of the blue out but enough for me to tolerate wearing it again? Too many splotches? How many are too much in an already somewhat unevenly colored coat? We'll see....

Didn't hear from dry cleaners. He probably finished (so what happened with it - no success?) and doesn't particularly to speak with me. I'll try to get there Sat. Meanwhile, assuming I'm not satisfied with the results, the leading contenders for the coat's replacement are two charcoal topcoats - an Andre Lanzino stated to be a wool/cashmere blend and a Nautica stated to be, I think, 80/20 wool/cashmere.

Andre Lanzino said to be "somewhere around $235 or $245 retail but selling for $149.95 (I think) and Nautica marked as $385 retail and selling at K&P for $129.99. I think the latter is what they call a "brushed wool." Neither comes with the top button but they tell me at both places the tailor/seamstress will sew the button to match the existing buttonhole when I purchase the coat.

Any opinions about the labels, prices?

I picked up the coat and slacks. Dry cleaner labeled the coat "wearable" and, indeed, the blue is down to a very limited number of subtle streaks. Hurray!!! He scolded me for doing anything with water (did I even tell him I had actually soaked the clothing in the tub?) because it is "dry clean" and says no water (it doesn't exactly that and is, after all, a coat made for rain and snow, after all....) - said I should have done nothing and brought it in; he can get out dried latex paint better. I said many sources say to clean latex paint asap[ and I certainly couldn't have gotten the coat to a dry cleaners right away. My gut reaction was to try to get it all out right away, as has worked in other occasions. I knew if I hadn't done that everyone would have said I should have.... He reiterated this is not the case with a dry clean fabric like this. I said I'll try to keep that mind if this every happens again....Etc.

The main thing is, after I'd already pretty much picked out what coat to replace it with it, the coat looks mighty fine and no one would really catch the paint stains without considerable effort! I'm tempted to try more products but probably won't. Meanwhile, the slacks are completely stain free - total success! He said he thought it could get the blue all out of those.

Once I got the coat back I was kind of dumbstruck in the coat's quality and all the great features it has! I had really been seriously considering somewhat inferior coats the past few days. This coat is really higher quality and should cost more, as the full retail price was. The whole experience really makes me appreciate my Joseph Abboud coat all the more. So that aspect of the anxiety is a strong positive. I paid for the cleaning but that's fine. Right away I returned the cash I had withdrawn from the bank and returned it to the account. Success!

I did try Goof Off, as someone suggested, for the subtle blue streaks remaining. Didn't seem to get rid of any. Then later I noticed the areas where I sprayed were still darker. Then went over that area with Lestoil. Rinsed it out a few times and at least the Goof Off dark patches seem to be gone. I'll have the coat drycleaned at least once before the fall. This microfiber material of sort of a browning green really is of uneven tones and one can get away with quite a bit.

Thanks for your help and, again, this - and my search for a replacement - all makes me appreciate the coat more.