Cleaning Up After Painting

Use acetone to clean your paint brushes and clean up the drips and splatters after painting.

Painting is a chore, and cleaning up after you’ve finished painting could possibly be the worst part of the project. Acetone is a great DIY tool to help clean up those brushes, splatters and drips that are bound to happen.

Start With Cleaning Your Paintbrushes

First, let’s talk about cleaning the brushes. As we all know, the cost of painting supplies has risen over the years so now more than ever we need to take good care of our paintbrushes and painting supplies. Acetone is an amazing paint remover for brushes and can help extend the life of your painting supplies for years. Here’s a simple step by step process to clean your paint brushes using acetone.

1. Remove as much paint as possible with regular soap and water. If the paint has already dried, large flecks may not be possible to remove with soap.
2. Put on the protective gloves and safety glasses. This helps keep the acetone off skin and out of the eyes.
3. Pour the acetone into a metal or glass container. Pour enough into the container that you can easily dip paint-covered bristles into it, but not so much that it reaches the handle.
4. Scrub the bristles against the bottom of the container or between gloved fingers. If a large amount of paint is hardened on the bristles, leave the brush in the paint for a couple of hours.
5. Remove as much softened paint as possible. Dry the brush on old newspaper to absorb remaining acetone.
6. Wash the brush with soapy water again. Squeeze the water out of the bristles by hand. Shape the brush and set down to let dry.

If your bushes are already dried there’s still hope! Check out our post on how to clean a dried paint brush.

For those random paint splatter that you never seem to notice until 2 or 3 days later, see out post on acetone as a paint remover.

Staying Organized During Painting Clean Up is Key

For general cleanup after painting here’s a great short video that covers many general tips on how to clean up after painting.

How To Clean Up After Painting – Ace Hardware

Here’s a Painting Cleanup Checklist you can run through before calling it quits for the day.

• Remove masking tape. Remove any masking tape before paint has a chance to dry. This will reduce the possibility of lifting the fresh paint film with the tape. If paint has dried, score lightly along the edge of the tape with a utility knife or razor blade before removing.
• Clean tools such as edgers, scrapers and paint trays. immediately after completing the paint job to prevent the paint drying permanently on them, and wipe dry to prevent rust. Use warm, soapy water to remove latex paint. Use mineral spirits or paint thinner to remove oil paint.
• Clean brushes and roller covers before they dry.
• Wash hands carefully. When using a latex-based product, clean up hands and tools with soap and water. Wipe oil paints off hands with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits or paint thinner, then wash with soap and water.
• When cleaning up after painting hang oily rags to dry completely before laundering, or immerse in an open container filled with water. Oily rags, particularly if piled up or placed in a closed container or space, are at risk of spontaneous combustion.

Here’s some tips and trick to keep in mind during cleanup

• Allow paint to dry thoroughly before scraping off glass with a razor or scraper.
• Allow tray liners to dry before discarding.
• Fold the edges of drop cloths and plastic sheets toward the middle to avoid smearing small spills or drips on surrounding surfaces.

In summary, always start the cleanup right after finishing your last stroke. Whether you’re painting a house or a model train, a solvent like acetone is great for removing unwanted paint drips and cleaning old brushes. This solvent works very well at removing oil-based paints, enamels and acrylic paint. It can also be reused several times when stored properly. Acetone works equally well on dried and fresh paint. Often, it is the only solvent available to dissolve and remove these types of dried paints.