How To Get Masking Fluid Out Of Carpet

Painting watercolors is a delightful hobby. It’s a great way to create something beautiful that you can hang on your walls and admire for years to come. 

It’s also a great way to make a big mess. Paints, water, and masking fluid can all get on your carpets and cause pesky stains. 

If you get masking fluid on your carpet you can get rid of it by allowing it to dry before pulling it off. Then, steam clean your carpet to deep clean the fibers. 

What Is Masking Fluid?

Before we jump into how to clean up masking fluid, let’s talk about what this fluid is. That way, you’ll have a better understanding of what it’s made up of so that you can clean it off your carpets. 

Masking fluid is a helpful product for painters who work with watercolors. The fluid is a liquid and is latex-based. 

Masking fluid keeps small areas as well as thin lines white when you paint on water paper. That’s because the rubber in the liquid protects the paper from being penetrated by the paint.

Masking fluid becomes tacky when it dries, much like Elmer’s glue. That makes it easy for artists to remove when they finish painting.

After an artist completes his or her painting, he or she can simply peel the dried masking fluid off the paper. This laves beautiful white lines and areas on the paper that makes for unique designs. 

How to Remove Masking Fluid from Your Carpet

Now that you know what masking fluid is, let’s talk about how to clean it up. If when you’re painting you spill the fluid on your carpets, here are the steps to take to clean it up. 

Step One: Leave the Spill Alone

With most spills, you want to immediately try to scoop up as much of the spilled liquid. That way, you can get the worst of the mess off your carpet before you start tackling stains. 

Masking fluid, however, works a little bit differently. Since masking fluid becomes tacky when it dries, it will actually be easier for you to clean it up if you allow it to dry before working on the spill. 

Step Two: Peel Up the Fluid

After the fluid dries, it should become tacky. At this stage, you can carefully peel it up off the floor. 

The best way to do this is to wedge a table knife or flat object under the masking fluid to help peel it off your floor. You want to make sure you get all the fluid up, which is why using a knife can help. 

It’s also a good idea to peel slowly. If you rip the fluid off, you run the risk of some of the fluid sticking to the table and causing you to have to repeat the process. 

Step Three: Vacuum

After you get all the masking fluid off the ground you’ll want to vacuum the floor. Vacuuming is a good idea because it can suck up any lingering masking fluid that’s on the floor. 

Vacuuming also pulls up any pieces of the fluid that fell off when you were peeling it up. That way, you can get all the debris out of your carpet and ensure there’s nothing lingering. 

Step Four: Steam Clean

Finally, it’s time to steam clean your carpet. Steam cleaning your carpet helps get any lingering dirt out of the carpet and ensures that your workspace is sparkling clean!

To steam clean, start by filling your steam cleaner’s tank with hot water. Using hot water helps speed up the process and lets you get to work faster. 

Then, start in a corner of the room that’s diagonal from the door. Slowly move from wall to wall with your steam cleaner, creating wet lines on the carpet as you go. 

Make sure to slightly overlap the lines as you work. This ensures that you don’t miss any patches and that you get every inch of your carpet clean. 

Finish up by allowing the entire room to air dry. You can turn on ceiling fans or place stand fans in the doorway to blow air into the room and speed up the process. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Masking Fluid Come Off Easily?

Masking fluid easily comes off your carpets and other services. Just allow the liquid to dry and then slowly peel it up off the carpet. 

How Do You Remove Masking Fluid Stains?

Masking fluid spills might look like stains at first glance, but these are actually just pools of fluid sitting on the carpet. You can remove them just by peeling off the dried masking fluid.