Paint Spills:

The first thing you need to do is try and contain the spill from spreading as soon as possible. Try and scoop or soak up as much paint as possible using old rags making sure to work from the outside of the spill to the centre, this will help contain the paint spill also. A good trick I have used before is Kitty litter as it’s really good at both containing and soaking up spilt paint.

Wet Paint on Carpet:

Most house acrylic paints can be washed out of carpet so long as you can start cleaning it as soon as possible and preferable whilst the spilt paint is still wet. The best method is to continually wet the affected area with water and soak up the paint spill with a sponge – rinsing out sponge in clean water thoroughly helps this process. Keep doing this until you have removed as much of the paint spill as possible, using a detergent can really help as it helps keep the area damp and therefore slows done the paint from drying out.

Oil based paints like All Purpose Undercoat or High Gloss Enamels are a little bit more difficult as you will need a readily supply of solvents to clean this type of spill up. In a similar fashion to the water based paints oil-based paint can be thinned with mineral turps & then washed out with warm water & detergent, then rinsed with clean water.

I highly recommend you test a small area first before pouring thinners or turps onto carpet. I have had the experience where too much solvent can drastically change the colour of a material like carpet and also has an effect on softening the glue that holds the carpet down on the ground and possible warping the carpet also. Just do small amounts of solvent at a time making sure to keep an eye on what’s happening to the surface being cleaned.

Paint Spill that has dried:

If there is a paint spill on a hard surface like tiles, timber floors, or glass then it’s really easy to clean. Just get a sharp scraper, razor blade or window cleaner (the type with a sharp blade in it) and simply just scrap of the paint. For water based or normal acrylic house hold paints, if you have suborn dried paint spots (usually when they are old) you can use a little methylated spirits on an old rag to soften the paint and then by either rubbing the damp rag or using a scraper the paint should come off quite easily.
However for oil based paints they tend to dry a lot harder than acrylic paints do, so I suggest using mineral turps to soften the paint spot – this can be used for new and old paint. Unfortunately if metho or turps don’t work then you may have to use a little paint stripper however this is in very rare circumstances.