How to get paint splashes off...

moneyistooshorttomention

1. A small paint splash on metal garden furniture (matt paint). Has got to come off because that furniture is new and expensive (basically black and has got sort of coppery flecks in it by design). The paint is white.

2. Few paint splashes on some of those concrete patio slabs in the garden (matt paint).

Can anyone please tell me what they recommend, particularly for my garden furniture:eek:

DirectDebacle

What sort of paint is it. If emulsion or masonry try chipping it off with a plastic scraper like an ice scraper for windscreens. You could try softening it with whatever the appropriate thinner is. If anything other than water be mindful it won't also damage the furniture paintwork.

A rag or kitchen towel soaked in the thinner and placed on spots will hold it on the spot and prevent it just running off.

Similar treatment for the slabs but you can be more aggressive e.g. thinner + wire brush.

Buy some dustsheets. They are cheap and quite useful.:D

moneyistooshorttomention

LOL re dustsheets. I have a supply of them and have been using them within the house. I thought my stuff would be safe in the garden and knew workmen would have to be more careful than me anyway not to damage my possessions.

Got that one wrong then...they are the ones who did that.

The paint is standard matt emulsion (ie what has been used indoors on the walls of my house).

Hmmm...icescraper for windscreens:think:. No windscreen scraper, but I do have one of those plastic scraper tools that are the most recent way of cleaning the top of ceramic cookers...worth a try. Its only a tiny speck but, with that furniture being new and I spent a price commensurate with it being something I would keep forever, then :eek: to even a speck on it (even if I were the one that had done it).

I've been scrubbing at the slabs with a kitchen floor scrubbing brush and that has helped to some extent. I don't have a wire brush. Might have some thinner somewhere (paint thinner I guess you mean?). Will try again with scrubbing brush and paint thinner.

Am wondering whether something like a heavy duty electric sander (which is something my workmen have used within my house) would do for a bit of a sand on those flagstones. Do you think that might do the trick? If so, I could get them to tack that little bit of "put their damage right" onto a price job they will be coming back to do for me soon (would hate to be charged an hourly rate for them sorting out their own errors).

DirectDebacle

The hob scraper will be fine. Almost anything with an edge as long as it isn't metal will do. I have removed small paint spots with just my thumbnail.

The thinner is whatever the paints solvent is. With emulsion this almost certainly water. I have had success removing emulsion from unglazed quarry tiles by judicious rubbing with a coarse cloth soaked in white spirit. I would strongly recommend if you use anything other than water on the furniture you test it first on an inconspicuous part e.g. the underside of a chair seat.

Have a go but if you don't have some success initially then leave it for the workmen to put right. I'm sure they'll try their best to avoid deductions from their bill. If they screw up and make it worse then that will be down to them too.